http://dx.doi.org/10.14288/1.0373765
data provider: CONTENTdm
contributor: Blakemore, William
issued: 2017-03-21
issued: 1914-04-11
aggregated CHO: https://open.library.ubc.ca/collections/pwv/items/1.0373765/source.json
format: application/pdf
note: The Week il British Columbia Newspaper and Review. Vol. XII, No. 7-Twelfth Year The British Army and Politics ON Page Four of tlie current issue of Tlie Week will be found an interesting article on "The British Army nnd Politics," from the pen of a retired army officer. The article wus written by request in order to clear up several points which have irison in connection with the recent attitude of tho British Govern- ) lent and certain army officers towards military service in Ulster, le cry hns been raised by the Liberal press that the army is gov- od by aristocrats, that it is ont of touch with the people, and that ) 1 reality its sympathies are entirely pro-aristocratic aud anti-demo- r atie. The former statement contains half a truth; the latter is v holly false. A careful perusal of thc article referred to will show i tat, while il; is inevitable under the present military system that the ■ ■st majority of the officers must be drawn from the upper classes, ' 6 reason is purely economic, and thc difficulty of drawing officers ' ,1'ully from tbe ranks could be removed hy Liberals, Radicals and labourites combining their forces. All that is necessary is to raise he rate of pay and to provide other facilities for dealing with the financial obligations of accepting a commission. The article shows hat officers' pay is practically the same now as in the time of Queen \nno, and that every attempt to raise it has boon strenuously opposed | all political parties, so thai it is not possible to lay at the door • the Tories, or of any one party, the blame for the defectiveness of '• o present system. The step taken by Disraeli in tho 'seventies for e abolition of army purchase chronicled an important move in the ■ght direction, but its corollary in the form of increased pay hns been efused by all parties. One thing is clear, that the present system loos not, as thc Radical press claims, tend to a division of feeling or pinion.between officer and men. Tbe army is a unit; th…
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