The British and American communities are to be called upon to bring up to strength their contribution of man-power to the Shanghai Volunteer Corps. This requirement is self-evident to anyone who realises the: weaknesses of the British and American units within the Corps. Disregarding a fashionable craze, this journal refuses to lame the young generation or the newly-arrived griffin. There ig nothing very wrong with Shanghai's. young British American workers here. They mostly play a very good game of Dall—of one type or the other—they bring with them sufficient seriousness in their outlook: on to-day, combined with a most engayring capacity for: extracting joyousness even out ofa mudbank. The problem of recruiting men to the Volunte Corps lies almost exclusively in the hands of the employers—and chiefly the big employers at that. It has been intensified by the experiences of the "war" of 1932, Then certain firms whose employees were in the volunteers found themselves making to service of the community contribution ch could be readily assessed in terms of work undone, orders lost, returns diminished, while their rivals, burdened by no such conse! tious regard for public duty, went gaily on during the time of dislocation and, perhaps, snapped up business which the preoccupations of others threw in their way. As a result, firms! have become exceedingly chary of iving permission to their employees to join the volunteers, There is no question of the views of the employees. They would be only too glad to enter fraternity which specialists in the art of comradeship and carries on traditions of the 0.T.C. or Territorials or Volunteers in the Homeland. Thi have obviously to listen voice of the authority which determines their professional oF: Dusiness fate, They cannot: help perceiving the justice of the plea that their enrolment in the Shanghai Volunteer Corps actually connotes a considerable potential sacrifice from their employers, If they regret, the Wisability imposed by the ban, they can hardly cavil at its They feel distinctly "out of it"
selves! at Foochow they cannot "present then: find' place assigned to them in Road an
lone ofthe numerous units which serve in a" splendid "spirit of international' harmony ander the bannet of the S.M.C.—in itself 4 experience "unattainable other part of the world.
But! the Counc '8! appeal not mainly to the Feeyuits that might'be. It is essentially to the employers of those -men. And the appeal has to Be appreciative of the' reality of the difficulties which, have led and continue to Jead to hesitation. On. the Council itself there are business Who have x full understand of the problem. Yet the mere fact that th communities principally concerned the two English-speaking: rac the suggestion that an essentially Anglo-Saxon method might be employed. Would it not be ible for the Council to prominent British and business men to form small committee which could investigate the Corps' needs, examine the policy of firms [which definitely ban recruitment and, if possible, arrive at some suitable solution? It cannot be believed that British and Ameri-jean business men are less alive than their fellow-citizens to the fact that, in a time of emergency, sacrifices cannot be measured with scientific precision. "More-lover they must know that, if all employers took care to prevent dislocation of their staffs by reason of obligations assumed for the Settlement's defence, their business would not merely suffer—it would simply fade Jaway into nothingness. It. is because there is no.apparent effort made to reduce the inequalities of the volunteer system that there is this hesitation which has had so bad an effect on the enrolment of British and American recruits in the Shanghai Volunteer Corps. y|A large number of the employers concerned ure ex-servicemen. With them the Council is appealing to the converted. There however, a definite complexity in the problem of releasing men for military training or allow-|f ing them" to" be earmarked for full-time military employ times of trouble. The Corps authorities do every thing in their power to help volunteers by clastic leave rules, In times of trouble office calls ally bighter and often the to provide Shanghai with the Complish'a yood deal la ahect something has to be done volun nace
of emergency periods "of "leave. The Corps' defence. that regular primary duty of defending the troops are being reduced in|Sottlement has, before now been numbers by certain' of the|fulfilied by the moral effect of Powers this need is all the|the precautionary. assembly. greater.
The Council which That call requires the volunteer must be well-seized of the commercial point of view, is inst ent on the obligations thus Weveloped. It has authorised the Commandant, whose untiring Jabours are all the more rexretfully recognised now that his tour of duty is ending, to launch recruiting campaign, If the matter were merely one of appealing to the recruits them-eelyes it would be simple. No man here can fail to realise the value to himself personally of a few hours military instruction for the purpose of fitting him to Become an effective mombersin the defence corps of the International Settlement in time of danger, He knows well that, when the crisis comes, the Corps authorities can have' little use for any except the men whose names stand on their register. There is no time then to find for the untrained, unenrolled man a place in the combatant ranks or even in the ancillary services. The chances are that he has to be aligned with the non-com-Datants for whose special safety his fellow-citizens are charged to make provision. But. young men do not think exclusively in terms of duty; it would not be natural if they did. They find in the Volunteer Corps other attractive allurernents—the soefability which arises from a gathering of men temporarily submitting themselves to discipline and to the accomplishment of' a common task terms of regulated equality. to don his uniform and carry arms but to attend to his civilian duties as usual; in the event of its being necessary to proceed to Fthis period is usually short, and jests, the "assembly" is given,
is often carried on with a skeleton force from each unit, permitting leave to those urgently needing i As for peacetime duties, few. occupations, apart from night watchmen, journalists auh cabaret performers, are affected and even these are iciven opportunities of attend: ing the necessary number of [drills at more convenient times. Without indulging in inquisitory devices, it should be possible for " committee of business men to arrive at rough and ready rules for guidance of both parties—the Corps authorities fand the business men alike. In the time of the last great: emergency which confronted Great. Britain nearly twenty ars ago, arrangements were eventually made to solve this problem albeit on a far bigger Scale. The task here should therefore not be impossible. The regular staff of a volunteer corps: becomes expert. in reconciling the imperative mood of exigencies with the conditional mood of an army of part-time soldiers. Its consultation with a committee such as is now tentatively proposed might produce most satisfactory expedient for meeting the views of both sides. Only by. symp: thetic and intelligent discussion can simplification be achieved.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.