Lord Derby's announcement .seemed at first sight explicit enough. It
brought compulsion a long step nearer—so the average reader said. Yet it led to considerable dispute, which culminated in the Commons on Tuesday. In answer to questions, Mr. Asquith then said that he did not know Why it should be assumed that married recruits would not be called up until all the unmarried men had gone. The local tribunala would no doubt decide that some unmarried men ought not to go. Compulsion could beadopted only by Act of Parliament. All this, however, was not exactly an answer to the doubt in people's minds. What the country wants to know is : " Will married men who have offered themselves on the strength of Mr. Asquith's statement of November 2nd after all be called upon to serve while any appreciable number of uiastarred unmarried men hold back?"'
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