Conscription

From Los Angeles Times, November 17, 1918:

Infantry

"ENGLAND is carrying conscription too far," said P. G. Wodehouse, the English humorist now living in New York. "She's calling on the men of 50 and 52. 

"Why, at a Craydon tribunal the other day, the chairman said that men of 55 were just in their prime. At this rate we'll soon be too young at 40!"

He is speaking of the Military Service Tribunals where men of military age could apply for exemption from conscription; and the Military Act of April 1918 that extended the eligibility age to 17-51 (18-41 in the original 1916 Act).