Mohave County miner., 1917-08-11

IOdl, Cll6 war uGpdT TCIIlSIlG Say
 The first necessity of the nation, ii is pointed out, is to raise an army Men are offering all kinds of excuses to keep from serving in the army says the statement, and the exemption priviledges are being abused.
 The direct threat is made that if those drafted continue to try to evade the selective service law, the measure will be applied literally and all claims for exemption will be ignored.
 The provision in the new law that only persons who actually have de- pendents who would be thrown on the mercies of the world or the govern ment is pointed out. Exemption, it is said, was provided only through ex- ecutive clemency and generosity of the president. The positive warning is is- sued that all local boards must en- force the law strictly and pay less heed to unmeritorious claims set up for exemption.
 The telegram to the local board is as follows:
 Mote the following department in- structions:
 "Section two of the selective service law exempts no persons from military service on the ground of dependency It only authorizes the president to ex- clude or discharge from draft Those in a status with respect to persons dependent upon them for support which renders either exclusion or dis charge advisable
 'The controlling necessity is to raise an army. It is advisable to dis turb persons just as little as the nee essity of raising an army will permit To this end, section IS of the regula- tions was compiled carefully and after the most earnest consideration. Ii experience is to prove that the gen erous conditions prescribed by section IS, or any abuse of them, will inter, fere with the raising of an army, ther it is no longer advisable to discharge so wide a class and the conditions stated therein will have to be restrict ed until an advisable rule is reached
 Nothing has happened to change the belief that the persons enumerat ed in section IS could be discharged without interfering with the raising of an army, but there are indications that abuses of section IS may render its continuance no longer advisable.
 Reports are to the effect that il some districts, as high as 80 per cen of persons called before local boards are filing claims for discharge on tht ground of dependent relatives. Sucl a percentage of claims when viewed in connection with all available statis tics indicates beyond question that ad vantage is being taken of the provis ions of the law and regulations whicl were intended to reduce to minimum the misery at home normally attend ant upon war.
 f'There is a moral certainty, in tn extravaganza of this percentage, tha hundreds of unfounded claims are in .cluded in totals. This state of affair greatly increases the burden of loca boards for, if so high a percentage O registrants claim exemption, only tn uncompromising action of local board can prevent a new regulation on tn subject of dependency, which shall re duce discharges for dependency to far more restricted class and yer -necessitous and clearly defined cll .cumstances.
 "In the absence of a stern repres sion by local boards of unmeritorlu claims, this result is inevitable, sine any such percentage of exemptions 3 renorts of claims indicate would null fv the law and prevent the raising an army. .
 sIt is thus apparent that the filin of these improper claims will rea' directly and injuriously on persoI whom the present regulations wei designed to protect and that the we fare of persons who have filed bor fde claims under the present generol clauses of the regulations IS serious imperiled by persons who have hl' claims without merit, and that the O Iy protection of persons whose cas