xo 
LAND & WATER 
The Polish Recruitment 
Movember ib, iQib 
THE German proposal to recruit troop;^ in Poland 
is a matter which will require more detailed study 
and more evidence than is available for the 
moment, and to which therefore we nuist later 
return. But it is as well that we should appicfiate the 
possibilities of the situation and at least tlie maximum 
number with which the ene.my has to deal. 
The Russian proNances of Poland, occupietl at the 
-present moment by the enemy, furnished at the last 
census a total popuiatioai of about 12,800,000. say, in 
round figures, for the moment, a population of 13,000,000. 
These were divided into two <|uite distinct sections, the 
Polish Jews, who are for the most part German-speaking, 
and the Polish population proper. 
Since the proposal is to erect (though the Germans are 
still vague) a State autonomous on paper at least, of the" 
Russian provinces called " the Kingdom of Poland," 
and since the object is clearly the need of men in \\hich 
the enemy stands, we may for the purpose of this calcula- 
tion lump together the two completely distinct elements 
and regard them both as part of the recruitine laid which 
the enemy envisages. 
Of this recruiting field the men of military age, young, 
and including class 1915, were mobilised, all but an 
insignificant fr.iction, in. units of the Russian army with 
the outbreak of war. It is. therefore, first and foremost, 
to be recognised that the enemy will only deal (save for 
an insignificant margin of rejected or exempted men) 
M-ith the younger classes, the classes of 1916, 1917, and 
iQiS. The total number of available men of these 
classes that can pass the doctor is about 115,000 
per class, but well less than 120,000. That is a 
ma.ximum. It is, of course, much more than the 
actual recruitment in time of peace. It is a maximum 
based upon the proportionate amounts reached for the 
younger classes in the German and Austro-Hungarian 
Empires and in France in the course of the war. Three 
such classes, even after all the immature lads rejected 
had been ultimately included, that is, say, up to the 
autumn of next year, would give one rather less than 
450,000 men. 
The Price of Conscription 
Now of those 450,000 men as a possible maximum, 
supposing that there was no attempt at forcible im- 
pressment, and supposing that the Poles accepted the 
scheme of autonomy and paid for it the })rice of con- 
scription, a certain number have been evacuated from the 
territory' before, during and even after the Russian 
retreat of last year. Of that number again, a very con- 
siderable proportion leaked back home before the 
Eastern front finally consohdated into its jircsent form. 
We are, unfortimately, entirely without figures even 
of the roughest sort as to these two factors in the problem ; 
the number of young'men who left the country with the 
Russian armies and of these the number who, in one way 
or another, returned to their homes. All we can say is 
that the figure of 450,000 potential recruitment from 
the Kingdom of Poland, representing the three younger 
classes, is more than the enemy can obtain, even if all the 
Poles were willing and the full maximum were reached, 
but how much more we have as yet no figures to guide us. 
The Germans have put it about through their agents, 
especially through Switzerland, that they saw their way 
to a much larger figure. But these reports were so con- 
tradictory, had an obvious bias and object and may be 
neglected. Arithmetic and the census are a surer basis 
than political pronouncements of such a kind. 
Now is there any other recruiting field besides the 
recruiting field just mentioned ? 
There are, of course, the territories belonging to the 
Russian Empires and now within the German lines, and 
therefore imder German occupation, which do not form 
part of the Russian Kingdom of Poland jnoper. These 
between them bring the total population from nearly 
13,000,000 to rather over 17,000,000. 
Nothing has been said either of impressment or of 
autonomy in the case of the German-speaking and 
Lithuanian populations, which provide the margin in 
Courland and in Suvalki, in the Kingdom of Vilna, etc. 
But they do provide a potential recruiting field which 
we must not neglect, and we may regard them as an ulti- 
mate additional 30 per cent., or rather less to the total 
maximum figure which could possibly be obtained, 
supposing full recruitment for all the occupied districts 
were feasible. 
Russian Polish Prisoners 
To this must be added yet another category. ' Let us 
suppose (all this is, of course, mere hypothesis and pre- 
sumes all elements to be as favourable to the enemy as 
they can possibly be) that the whole Polish population 
has accepted the German scheme and is willing to come 
forward, then there would be a further margin of recruit- 
ment obtainable from the Russian Polish prisoners no 
longer sick or wounded and in German or Austrian hands. 
Of these we ha\e again no precise figures. We can, upon 
the analogy of the general Russian recruitment in the 
proportion of valid prisoners obtained therefrom, estimate 
it at anything from 150,000 to 200,000. 
Wo ha\e there the full table of the recruiting field open 
to the eneni}', suppo.sing this experiment of his to be 
entirely successful. That he will be thus entirely success- 
ful is, of course, impossible. It is far more likely that the 
whole clumsy scheme will break down. 
Nor is it easy to see how^ having made a plan of this 
kind, the enemy can go back upon it and substitute the 
press gang for autonomy without, as has been said before 
now in these columns, an expenditure of effort greater 
than the results would warrant. 
But we are not concerned with these practical details for 
the moment ; we are only dealing with the arithmetical point 
of discovering the total maximum recruitment, and we find 
it for the occupied Russian Polish field up to next autumn, 
less than 450,000, to which, if we add the occupied districts 
outside the Kingdom of Poland, we obtain somewhat 
less than 600,000, and if we add again the valid prisoners 
who might conceivably be incorporated, of the very 
greatest total maximum of such forces, We make some- 
thing between 750,000 and 800,000, but of these various 
figures it is the 445,000 to 450,000 of the younger Polish 
classes which alone seriouslj' concern us. 
It is from them that the recruitment is proposed under 
this new scheme, and it is, therefore, their power of 
furnishing new drafts which the enemy is alone con- 
sidering at this entry into the third winter of the war. 
^^ The sale of Bechsteins' last week has been described as 
"one of the most remarkable ever held in London." Tliu 
whole of the business and property concerned was purchased 
by Messrs. Debenhams for £'56,500. 
Many kindly acts of hospitality were shown to soldiers 
and sailors during the Lord Mayor's Show, but none was 
more appreciated than the gift of 30,000 " Greys " cigarettes, 
which were distributed on behalf of the manufacturers. 
Major Drapkin and Co., to fighting-men taking part in last 
Thursday's procession by members of the V.A.D. 
Round the military hospital a literature of its own is grow- 
ing into existence. Some of its magazines are of genuine 
merit, containing really cle\'er and witty writings and draw- 
ings. And the publishing houses are now awakening to 
their merit. From the Bodley Head Mr. John Lane has just 
sent forth Our Hospital A. B.C. ; pictures by Joyce 
Dennis, verses by Hampden Gordon and M. G. Tindall (3s. 6d.). 
Both artist and writers have evidently enjoyed the fun ; it's 
excellent fooling all through, and where is the convalescent 
whose heart-strings will not vibrate to this couplet : 
V. is the Visitor : " Cover my head 
And take her away from the "foot of my bed." 
Counl Raven, by Agnes and Egerton Castle (Cassell and 
Co., 3s. 6d.), shows how a storv mav be made thoroughly 
interesting and yet concern a German spy, for the combination 
of the two characteristics is a rare one in the multitudes of 
spy stories now appearing. Count von Raben is the very best 
type of spy, a thorough gentleman, and one whom nobody 
would suspect, while Rose, the linglish giri who married liiin. 
and hersistcr Jane, are a pair of well-drawn characters. The 
book will increase the great popularity of its authors. 
