There is no doubt, however, that this new Army scheme
makes a further inroad upon the plans of demobilization as they were originally conceived. The original plan was to release first the " pivotal " men and " slip " men—the men upon whose employ- ment depended the employment of less skilled or experienced Men. This plan was broken in upon when the War Office began to release " contract" mon, men who could show that they had definite jobs waiting for them of whatever kind these might be, and also when the claim could not be resisted that the most war- weary soldiers should be allowed to come home, no matter what their occupations might be. If the men who joined the Colours at the latest possible moment were really mon who were held back by their trades because they were industrially the most valuable, it is evident that yet another plank has been knocked out of the original demobilization programme. For these very men are to be kept now in the Army. We are inclined to think, however, that what seems to be the logic of facts may be rather misleading. We fancy that among the men who rushed to the Colours in the early days of volunteering was much of the cream of industry as well as of the cream of manhood.
