July 27, 1916 
LAiND & WATER 
17 
The Value of a Club 
A Suggested Kitchener Corridor for the Union Jack Club 
THE suggestion has been made that in the forth- 
coming extension of the Union Jack Ckib at 
least one corridor {i.e.. ten bedrooms costing 
each £100), should be named the Kitchener 
t orndor, it having been specially constructed in his 
memory. The suggestion is an excellent one • it is 
singularly lifting that the name of this great soldier 
should be conjoined for all time with the biggest Club of 
the Services, the Club of five million members, every one 
of whom IS a fighting-man. We have mentioned this 
suggestion should any subscriber desire to help more 
particularly in this one section of the Extension. The 
idea may, of course, commend itself to one or more 
persons who arc wilhng to undertake the whole expense 
or at least the greater part of the expense, of a par- 
ticular corridor to associate for all time the fame of 
Lord Kitchener with the Union Jack Club. 
A Service Club has something of the nature and 
character of a regiment or a battleship. It partakes in 
the achievements of its members ; it absorbs unto itsel f 
all that is finest and best in their careers ; what it re- 
ceives it gives forth again with cumulative influenc;-. 
While the members constantly change, the Club is fixed. 
Traditions are born and multiply, customs are created, 
its fair fame becomes the special pride of all its members, . 
and whatever glory it may gain through any one in- 
dividual, directly or indirectly, it bestows on all whose 
names are on its roll of membership. The Union Jack 
Club is at the very beginning of its career, so these rather 
obvious quahties are not at the moment as manifest as 
they might be. But already experience has proved that 
the members talk of their Club with the same affection 
and pride that they speak of the naval and military 
unit to which they may happen to belong. Small wonder 
then is it that those who have realised this and who 
have the best interests of the. Navy and Army at heart, 
are so anxious to see the Club placed on such a solid and 
broad foundation that nothing in the future can interfere 
with its well being. 
Not Oblivious of Gratitude 
Money for this Extension, which is essentidl if this 
object is to be attained, continues to come in steadily. 
The demands on private purse;, often attenuated by 
the condition of the times, are exceedingly numerous, 
but one sees with pleasure that the nation is not oblivious 
of the practical gratitude which is due to its sailors and 
soldiers. These nords will, we know, be read in number- 
less homes beyond the seas whence have come so many 
gallant men to Europe's battlefields. We could ask these 
readers to envisage the inevitable isolation of such 
men when perhaps for the first time they find themselves 
" alone in London " with a few days' holiday and no 
home to turn to. Here it is that the Union Jack Club 
flings open its doors, and invites these Overseas men to 
come and make a home beneath its roof, a home that is 
not only comfortable, but which appeals to their self- 
respect, in that once members,., the place is their own ; 
they pay scot and lot, and make good friends with good 
men from all parts of the Empire. 
This independence is in some ways even more highly 
rated overseas than here, and it is the outcome of those 
sound principles which underlie the very existence of 
the Union Jack Club. It is run for its members on 
business lines ; their convenience and needs are studied, 
their means considered. The Club pays for itself and has 
done so since it was opened. For these reasons we believe 
that this appeal to help forward this lixtension will meet 
with peculiar sympathy overseas, and receive very 
generous support. Whatever mistakes civilians have 
made aforetimes in callous treatment of the Empire's 
sailormen and soldiermen, an earnest endeavour is for- 
ward towards reparation. The Union Jack Club is 
proof of it, and the attainment of its present' aim will go 
far towards making adecjiiate provision for all time for 
the defenders of our homes and ideals, at least in so far as 
the mother city of the Empire is concerned. In the future 
we may see Union Jack Clubs springing up in other cities, 
but the first thing is to place the parent institution on a 
financially sound basis so that it may be looked on as 
the model for all others. 
Healthy Growth of F"rccd()m 
It was John Stuart Mill who wrote : " Human nature 
is not a machine to be built after a model and set to do 
exactly the work prer-cribed for it ; but a tree, which 
requires to grow and de\elop itself on all sides according 
to the tendency and inward forces which make it a living 
thing." This truth is emphasised nowadays in half-a- 
hundred different ways ; for " the machine built after a 
model " is the German State-])lan for gov'erning men, 
while Britain deals with them as "living trees." So often 
has this verity been repeated recently that it has come 
to be something of a platitude. But it'is well to remember 
that the vei-y largesse of freedom given to citizens of 
this Empire renders it -the more incumbent that the 
means for exercising and developing this freedom in a 
right and healthy manner should be available for all. 
If anyone must needs go to the devil, he must, but 
let him not be able to say he was forced there because 
he was denied the privilege of enjoyment in a rational 
manner, which was granted almost as a matter of course 
to his brethren in more fortunate circumstances. A 
Club has been regarded for many years as a social neces- 
sity for " men about town." in the narrow terms of the 
phrase ; we now know it to be equally an essential for 
men about town, in the widest sense possible. The 
value of the Club lies not merely in restraining an in- 
dividual from foolish ways, but in fostering that develop- 
ment of character which comes from social intercourse 
with one's fellows in similar walks of life. This cannot 
be too strongly insisted on. Only those whose davs for 
long periods of time have for one cause or another been 
passed in solitude, know to the full the loss which arises 
from such enforced isolation. 
The readers of Land & Water have shown themselves 
generous towards the Union Jack Club, and we hope 
to see a still larger measure of support. We may perhaps 
be permitted again to mention that the money is only 
required for constructional purposes. Once the Exten- 
sion is finished and handed over to the Club, no further 
help will be needed. Surely this is the hour and the 
occasion when all should do their best to make this Club, 
this London home for the Empire's sailors and soldiers, 
efficient and capable of discharging its full duties both 
now and hereafter. On this point of hereafter it is 
well to be explicit. The Union Jack Club, as it stands 
to-day, will not be large enough for the Navy and Army 
when peace returns, not even when these Services shall 
shrink to their size before the war. How soon this can 
happen is exceedingly questionable. But the value of 
the Club having made itself so manifest during the last 
two years, its membership will be largely increased. 
So we venture to press this appeal -for further contri- 
butions, which may be addressed to the Editor, Land 
& Water, Empire House, Kingsway, London, cheques 
being made payable to the Union Jack Club and crossed 
" Coutts and Co." The enlarged Club ought to be 
finished before the war ends, and it should be a privilege 
to any man or woman to be permitted to help in this work, 
seeing that it will stand for all time as a small tribute of 
national and Imperial gratitude to British sailors and 
soldiers for their splendid self-sacrifice, and also will be 
a recognition of the cheerful manner in which thev 
have gone to the fight and returned from it, often wounded 
and broken. So let us enlarge without delay this Club- 
house where these gallant men, these cheerful spirits, 
foregather, and see to it that never again shall men be 
turned from its doors because there is no room for them. 
It is up to us to provide the bigger roof-tree, the larger 
floor space. Shall we fail in this mild job when they 
succeeded in vast enterprises of supreme peril ? 
