By Field Marshal Earl Kitchener, Secretary of State for War
State registration of all persons, male and female, between the ages of fifteen and sixty-five, the particulars to include each person's age, work, and employers, and his registering to be accompanied by an invitation that he volunteer for work for which he may have special fitness, was the provision introduced in the House of Commons on June 29, 1915, and passed by that body on July 8. In explaining the bill's intent its introducer, Mr. Walter Long, who is President of the Local Government Board, replied on July 9 to the objection of critics who saw in it the first steps to compulsory service. He said that the National Register stood or fell by itself. So far as the use of it went, so far as the adoption of compulsion went, he declared frankly that the Prime Minister would be the last man in England to say, in the face of the situation in which Britons found themselves, anything which would prevent the Government adopting compulsory service tomorrow if they believed it to be right and necessary in order to bring this war to an end. Their hands were absolutely free. On the same day Earl Kitchener opened a recruiting campaign with a speech in the London Guildhall, which appears in part below.
The Lord Mayor of London, in calling upon Lord Kitchener, said the Empire had indeed been highly fortunate in having him at the head of the War Office in this great national crisis. Earl Kitchener was received with cheers as he said:
HITHERTO the remarks that I have found it necessary to make on the subject of recruiting have been mainly addressed to the House of Lords; but I have felt that the time had now come when I may with advantage avail myself of the courteous invitation of the Lord Mayor to appear among you, and in this historic Guildhall make another and a larger demand on the resources of British manhood. Enjoying as I do the privilege of a Freeman of this great City—(hear, hear!)—I can be sure that words uttered in the heart of London will be spread broadcast throughout the Empire. (Cheers.) Our thoughts naturally turn to the splendid efforts of the Oversea Dominions and India, who, from the earliest days of the war, have ranged themselves side by side with the Mother Country. The prepared armed forces of India were the first to take the field, closely followed by the gallant Canadians—(cheers)—who are now fighting alongside their British and French comrades in Flanders, and are there presenting a solid and impenetrable front against the enemy. In the Dardanelles the Australians and New Zealanders—(cheers)—combined with the same elements, have already accomplished a feat of arms of almost unexampled brilliancy, and are pushing the campaign to a successful conclusion. In each of these great Dominions new and large contingents are being prepared, while South Africa, not content with the successful conclusion of the arduous campaign in South-West Africa, is now offering large forces to engage the enemy in the main theatre of war. (Cheers.) Strengthened by the unflinching support of our fellow-citizens across the seas, we seek to develop our own military resources to their utmost limits, and this is the purpose which brings us together today.
Napoleon, when asked what were the three things necessary for a successful war, replied: "Money, money, money." Today we vary that phrase, and say: "Men, material, and money." As regards the supply of money for the war, the Government are negotiating a new loan, the marked success of which is greatly due to the very favorable response made by the City. To meet the need for material, the energetic manner in which the new Ministry of Munitions is coping with the many difficulties which confront the production of our great requirements affords abundant proof that this very important work is being dealt with in a highly satisfactory manner. (Cheers.) There still remains the vital need for men to fill the ranks of our Armies, and it is to emphasize this point and bring it home to the people of this country that I have come here this afternoon. When I took up the office that I hold, I did so as a soldier, not as a politician—(loud cheers)—and I warned my fellow countrymen that the war would be not only arduous, but long. (Hear, hear.) In one of my earliest statements made after the beginning of the war I said that I should require "More men, and still more, until the enemy is crushed." I repeat that statement today with even greater insistence. All the reasons which led me to think in August, 1914, that this war would be a prolonged one hold good at the present time. It is true we are in an immeasurably better situation now than ten months ago—(hear, hear)—but the position today is at least as serious as it was then. The thorough preparedness of Germany, due to her strenuous efforts, sustained at high pressure for some forty years, have issued in a military organization as complex in character as it is perfect in machinery. Never before has any nation been so elaborately organized for imposing her will upon the other nations of the world; and her vast resources of military strength are wielded by an autocracy which is peculiarly adapted for the conduct of war. It is true that Germany's long preparation has enabled her to utilize her whole resources from the very commencement of the war, while our policy is one of gradually increasing our effective forces. It might be said with truth that she must decrease, whilst we must increase.
It would be difficult to exaggerate the value of the response that has been made to my previous appeals, but I am here today to make another demand on the manhood of the country to come forward to its defence. I was from the first unwilling to ask for a supply of men in excess of the equipment available for them. I hold it to be most undesirable that soldiers, keen to take their place in the field, should be thus checked and possibly discouraged, or that the completion of this training should be hampered owing to lack of arms. We have now happily reached a period when it can be said that this drawback has been surmounted, and that the troops in training can be supplied with sufficient arms and material to turn them out as efficient soldiers.
When the great rush of recruiting occurred in August and September of last year, there was a natural difficulty in finding accommodation for the many thousands who answered to the call for men to complete the existing armed forces and the New Armies. Now, however, I am glad to say we have throughout the country provided accommodation calculated to be sufficient and suitable for our requirements. Further, there was in the early autumn a very natural difficulty in clothing and equipping the newly raised units. Now we are able to clothe and equip all recruits as they come in, and thus the call for men is no longer restricted by any limitations, such as the lack of material for training.
It is an axiom that the larger an army is, the greater is its need of an ever-swelling number of men of recruitable age to maintain it at its full strength; yet, at the very same time the supply of those very men is automatically decreasing. Nor must it be forgotten that the great demand which has arisen for the supply of munitions, equipment, etc., for the armed forces of this country and of our Allies also, as well as the economic and financial necessity of keeping up the production of manufactured goods, involves the retention of a large number of men in various trades and manufactures, many of whom would otherwise be available for the Colors. In respect of our great and increasing military requirements for men, I am glad to state how much we are indebted to the help given to the Recruiting Staff of the Regular Army and to the Territorial Associations throughout the country by the many Voluntary Recruiting Committees formed in all the counties and cities, and in many important boroughs for this purpose.
The public has watched with eager interest the growth and the rapidly acquired efficiency of the New Armies, whose dimensions have already reached a figure which only a short while ago would have been considered utterly unthinkable. (Cheers.) But there is a tendency, perhaps, to overlook the fact that these larger armies require still larger reserves, to make good the wastage at the front. And one cannot ignore the certainty that our requirements in this respect will be large, continuous, and persistent; for one feels that our gallant soldiers in the fighting line are beckoning, with an urgency at once imperious and pathetic, to those who remain at home to come out and play their part too. Recruiting meetings, recruiting marches, and the unwearied labors of the recruiting officers, committees, and individuals have borne good fruit, and I look forward with confidence to such labors being continued as energetically as hitherto.
But we must go a step further, so as to attract and attach individuals who from shyness—(laughter)—or other causes—(renewed laughter)—have not yet yielded to their own patriotic impulses. The Government have asked Parliament to pass a Registration Bill, with the object of ascertaining how many men and women there are in the country between the ages of fifteen and sixty-five eligible for the national service, whether in the navy or army, or for the manufacture of munitions, or to fulfil other necessary services. When this registration is completed we shall anyhow be able to note the men between the ages of nineteen and forty not required for munition or other necessary industrial work and therefore available, if physically fit, for the fighting line. Steps will be taken to approach, with a view to enlistment, all possible candidates for the Army—unmarried men to be preferred before married men, as far as may be. (Loud cheers.) Of course, the work of completing the registration will extend over some weeks, and meanwhile it is of vital and paramount importance that as large a number of men as possible should press forward to enlist, so that the men's training may be complete when they are required for the field. I would urge all employers to help in this matter, by releasing all men qualified for service with the Colors and replacing them by men of unrecruitable age, or by women, as has already been found feasible in so many cases.