tell what anybody was free to pick up on French soil. I asked an
English officer of good rank how many men the English had at the front
and he responded promptly 220,000 at the front, and 50,000 on the lines
of communication. He was right for that date in early December, but
later more troops were sent over. Indeed, they were quietly going and
coming all the time across the Channel, and, notwithstanding losses,
the number at the front was being steadily augmented. There were also
troops in training on French soil, and 550,000 in condition for
shipment from England.

Kitchener is one of the greatest reserve-supply men in the world. He
is a natural-born banker; he keeps his eye on his reserves fully as
much as on his activities, and perhaps more so.

When he called for 100,000 troops the British public became weary and
demanded to know how long before he would get them. This gave an
impression throughout the world that English recruiting was very slow;
but when forced to show down his hand, Kitchener had to admit that
under the call for 100,000 men he had accepted many more and was still
accepting.

Then they raised the call to a million, and in December Kitchener had
more than 1,000,000 men under that call, but I was particular to
ascertain that he had not made a call for a second million. It was all
under the call for 1,000,000 men to arm.

But I did learn from authoritative sources that a house-to-house
canvass, and millions of circulars sent out, had received responses
that showed the War Office where the number of recruits, or men in
training, could be quickly put above 2,000,000 the moment there was