For Better, for Worse

In World War I, Colonel James Layton Ralston, then a battalion commander in the trenches, demanded that Canadians at home be conscripted to fight overseas. Last week in Parliament, Colonel Ralston, now Canada's National Defense Minister, told Canadians no conscript would fight overseas--so long as Canada had enough volunteers.

Minister Ralston had been baited, by a purely political maneuver, into restating Canada's compromising manpower policy. The Parliamentary Opposition had demanded that Canada's 73,000 "zombies"--home defense conscripts--be made available as overseas reinforcements or released for war jobs. Minister Ralston flatly rejected both suggestions.

Soldier's Defense. Ex-Soldier Ralston offered a soldier's defense of the voluntary system. His defense: 1) 35,000 of the zombies were on operational duties, from Prince Rupert to Jamaica; 2) "where we have an army overseas which is 100% volunteer, it will be a better army if we keep it that way"; 3) the soldiers themselves want it that way.

Concluded Minister Ralston: "I know that other countries have drafted armies. That is true of the United States, of Britain and of New Zealand, and I know the magnificent way they have fought. . . . For better or for worse, that was not our system."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.