We have already viewed this problem through the eyes of the West Riding Association, when we saw that the full numbers were never reached, and that a big new scheme was devised, and brought to the notice of the Prime Minister, in order to render the terms of service more attractive. We propose to look at the problem here through the eyes of the men themselves: not of those who did not enrol, but of the personnel which actually joined up. It is important to emphasize this aspect. A sermon preached at absent congregants always hits the regular church-goers; and the repinings of Associations at a deficiency in establishment are apt to distract attention from the merits of the men on the strength. Thus, the keen inheritors of the tradition of the 4th West Yorks Rifle Volunteers were not less but, rather, more praiseworthy because their strength as a Territorial unit, after April, 1908, was always below establishment. Take the three last returns before the war:— 4th BATTALION, WEST RIDING REGIMENT, HALIFAX. -----------+--------------------+--------------------+------------------- | Establishment. | Total Strength. | Deficiency. Date. +-----------+--------+-----------+--------+-----------+------- | Officers. | Other | Officers. | Other | Officers. | Other | | Ranks. | | Ranks. | | Ranks. -----------+-----------+--------+-----------+--------+-----------+------- 31-12-1912 | 29 | 985 | 20 | 747 | 9 | 238 31-12-1913 | 28 | 978 | 21 | 596 | 7 | 382 31-5-1914 | 28 | 978 | 20 | 613 | 8 | 365 -----------+-----------+--------+-----------+--------+-----------+------- This was the kind of disheartenment which General Wright,[12] Commanding the Division, had to face at the outset of his task; and, since it was the function of the Association to rebuke the absent 37 per cent., let us praise the present sixty-three. When three or four men in ten abstain, the virtue of the assentients is more conspicuous.