The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-12-07
THE TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
ENFORMATION BUREAU
BY FREDERIC j. HAsKIN. Director
Washington, D. c.
THE SECOND DRAFT.

actively Deg1n, WIN Ine thdAith6
first set of missionaries to registered
men. The mailing will continue Tor
twenty days, and the whole process OF
classification should be over IN aoouL
sixty days, so that by the m1ddle OF
February we expect to nave over u
OOO, 900 men listed for service, each
knowing his place in the line OF call
The scheme for the second draft,
and all future drafts, represents a
great improvement and refinement
over the system of the first dra1t
It is based on the experience OF
that first draft, with the added ad-
vantage of freedom from the need Tor
pressing haste. 1T is more genuinely
selective, and it will result in drawing
men on the whole better fitted foT
army service, and in less disturbance
of industry and family life.
The scheme for the first draft was
conditioned by the need for haste.
War was declared early in April
To-day, early in December, eight
month later, all of the first draft is
well over a year before the last of the
first drafted men has completed
his preliminary training. II the
process had been further delayed
by prolonging the process of selection
unduly, our first million men in Eu-
rope would have been a tardy con-
tingent. Hence as General Crowder
says, the first was hacked out with
a broad-ax."
The Selectiye Service.
The only way to apply the selective
service principle completely is to ex-
anime every registered man oerore
selecting the army. This meant ex-
amining 100000 men on the first
draft for which there was no time
So the rules of the first draft were
framed to attain the maximum or
speed with the minimum of hardship.
49, xrrfI1 he o.
cordance with the better way. Every
registered man will be examined be-
fore the next selection is made.
The chief means of examination
will be the QUESTIONABLE, with the
idea of which the country is already
familiar 1t is simply a booklet of
questions. with blanks for written an
swers intended to show the local
boards where each man belongs in
order of liability to draft. If the
board wants more information, 1t may
summon any witness it likes. Under
the new system, the local board be-
comes a court, empowered to ahmin-
lister oaths and take testimony. II
the registrant is not satisfied with
his classification, he can appeal to the
district board, and in certain cases
he can appeal again to the president.
Theoretically, the principal of Sc
lection becomes more and more per-
feet as the number of classes for the
registrant is increased. Thus, if all
the registered men were divided into
three classes, with class one called
first, and class three last, a certain
degree of selection would obtain. On
the other hand, if they were divided
| into thirty classes, a much greater
degree of selection would operate
The order to call in any particular
class is determined by the master list
which selected the men of the first
draft, which is to say, by chance The
more classes, the less is left to chance.
| The Five CIassifications.
For practical purposes, after care
full study of the situation, the office
of the provost marshal general de-
cided that five classes would be suf-
ficient to assure the operation of the
! selective principle. Since class five,
the last class. is made up of men
such as alien enemies who are com
pletely exempt under the law, there
men available for service. OF these
classes, the first and the fourth will
probably be far the largest.
The first class will be called into
the army first. 1t will furnish the
men for the next draft, and for all
succeeding drafts until it is exhaust ed
in each district. The fourth class will
be called last, and quite possibly it
will not be called at all. The greatest
distinction between these two classes
IS on The GROUNDS OF dependency. Inc
system makes industrial usefulness
secondary to the family ties in determ-
lining. order of liability.
The first division of the first class
is the one which will make up the
bulk of the class. 1t consists of single
men without dependent relatives.
True, there are fourteen possible
grounds why such a man might be
claSsed in class two or class three, but
none of these fourteen reasons is OF
such a character that it will affect any
great proportion of the 100000 men.
in the first division of that class,
which consists of married men whose
wives or children are mainly depend
ent on their labor for support.
1t seems probable that these two
characterization one of class one,
and division one of class four, will
be by far the largest of the thirty
seven divisions provided in the new
system. Viewed broadly. it is evident
that our new armies will be made uI
principally OF unmarried men without
dependents, while the married men
with dependent families will stay al
home.
At first glance this may seem a
sentimental rather than a cold-blooded
basis of selection Viewed from the
standpoint of military efficiency, is il
not better to let d single man who is
efficient in some war industry stay
at home. and take married man with
J children away from his family and
put him in the army, if he is not pro
ficient in a war industry? To thi!
question General Crowder has replied
with an analysis of the actual situa'
ton.
How the Men Are Placed.
Men skilled in necessary industrie!
are placed for the most part in elias:
2. This class is not to be called unit
class l is exhausted, but it will bt
called if necessary long before elias:
, 4. which includes married men in non
essential industries with dependen
families. But General Crowder points
out that the draft, covering the age
: from 81 to 81 years, affects only abou
, 81 per cent of the labor supply IN an!
given industry. OF this 81 per cent
: unite largs numher will be found il