Following both the sinking of the Lusitania and the call for expansion of the Canadian Army, Waterloo County, with its large German population, felt pressured to prove its loyalty. In May, an article in the Berlin Daily Telegraph had boasted that Berlin and Waterloo had together recruited nearly 150 soldiers for active service, and had formed a regiment with over 225.
Nonetheless, there were many inspiring recruitment stories from elsewhere. Reports from Toronto informed readers of their high recruitment numbers, that a man from Stratford tried to enlist eleven times, that many single men in Hamilton were being fired from their jobs to make them enlist; and that by August, 2000 Americans had joined the Canadian ranks.
On August 19, the Waterloo Chronicle published an example of the pressure Waterloo faced when a Chesley, Ontario newspaper falsely accused Waterloo of not yet having a single recruit.
(Norm Threinen, “Canadian Lutherans and the First World War,” Canadian Churches and the First World War, edited by Gordon L. Heath (Eugene, OR: Pickwick Publications, 2014): 203.; “Western Ontario Cities Have Contributed Many of their Sons to Fight Battles of Empire,” Berlin Daily Telegraph, 22 May 1915.; “K. of C. Urge Men to Enlist,” Waterloo Chronicle, 27 May 1915.; “Stratford Man Tries 11 Times to Join Troops,” Waterloo Chronicle, 15 July 1915.; “Weeding out the Single Men,” Waterloo Chronicle, 22 July 1915.; “2,000 Yankees in Canadian Ranks,” Waterloo Chronicle, 19 August 1915.; “Loyalty and Sense of Duty of Waterloo Young Men Seriously Impugned by Chesley Newspaper,” Waterloo Chronicle, 12 August 1915.)
