Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1917-07-13
WHO is CROWDER
AND WHY HIS VOGUE?

up, which CHANGED to be q bottle OF
catsup. The bottle, of course, broke, and
the catsup splattered indecorously all over
his face and waistcoat. giving him some.
what the appearance Of a burlesqut
comedian. For a moment Crowder swore.
Then he went to a mirror. Individually
the joke was on himself and he began to
laugh. He looked so funny that it seemed
ike a shame to keep it all to himself.
and SO he went and raped at the door OF
CAUSE IS 1 Il 5 e sSs l KS p iSsffT mIsRs give i've
them a good laugh.
And this was Crowder. the supposed
crusty old baclelor.
In connection with the draft prepara-
tions Crowder prepared ii long document
which he submitted to President Wilson
for approval. Being something of a rhet-
orlclan, Crowder took not a little pride
In the language of the document. But 1t
came back to him all marked up like a
school boys theme. Sentences had been
reshaped and words substituted In order
to get the finer standings of meaning. A
man with a false sense Of dignity might
have tried to keep his associates from
knowing that his own way of doing a.
thing had been so open to Improvement.
But not Crowder. He promptly showed the
document to others and remarked with a
chuckle that he guessed he was not nearly
So clever at English as he had always
imagined.
Having been appointed to handle the
draft, Crowder put his whole soul into 1t.
The task was one that appealed to him.
From early morning until night he worked
and then went right ahead working until
after midnight. His title as officer in
charge of the draft was provost marshal
general, but he was still judge advocate
general, chief legal officer Of the army.
He ran both jobs, going from one to the
other-and the offices for the two were
several blocks apart.
Secretary Baker grew actually alarmed
lest Crnwder should break down from
overwork. So he tipped off several of
Crowder's assistants to relieve him as
much as possible and insist on his quit
ting earlier at night. Thus 1t happened
that Crowder left his office one night
shortly after II o'clock. The next morns.
ing he learned that Baker had dropped in
around midnight. To have been found alb
sent from his post even at midnight fllled
Crowder with deep chagrin. He was as
genuinely embarrassed as II he had been
discovered sleeping at a switch.
Crowder's work was made difficult by
the fact that there was no precedent to
guide him. He had to concoct his regis
tration and drafting machinery out OF his
own head. There was a draft In civil war
days, but conditions were SO different that
the system then used was of scant avail
as a guide now. Obviously, as the matter
of state rights was then the big issue of
war, the question of having the registra-
ton through state or federal agencies
had a different angle than 1T would at the
present time. Crowder hit or the plan of
using state and local organizations. with
3 the county for the unit. to accomplish q
t federal purpose. 1T was the frst tune IN
t our history, I believe, that such a thing
had been done. Our federal and state adj
ministrations have always been kept dis
3 tinctly separate, even though working side
by side. We have never used state or
county organization even for the coHec-
ton of taxes. Crowder realized that our
federal government is more remote from
the people, more intangible in its relation
to them, than the state government. For
instance, not one person In 80, perhaps,
, knows exactly what a federal judge has to
? do. And vastly more apart from our every
day life than the federal government
itself is the military branch of it. We are
8 a nonmilitary people by temperament, and
our Anglo-Saxon instinct is to love our
individual freedom, our right to exercise
personal initiative. If a military man
should step up to us i'm uniform and de-
mand our sons, we might SO resent his
t intrusion as to overlook the item of ma
e tional necessity. Crowder wisely saw the
I advantage, therefore. of having both the
( registration and the draft handled by
! civilians, and by the folk right at home,
each community for itself.
s But having settled that question. he
Y had not yet started on his big task. There
were upwards of 1.Nn0, 900 little details to
j think about. The item of registration
s cards alone required much attention.
Crowder felt that they must be exactly
uniform in every way and that they
n should therefore be sent out from Wash
ington. AS it was impossible to forecast
r from the census figures Just how many
t cards would be needed in each county he
t decided to send an emergency supply to
n the governor Of each state, so that they
could be rushed to any county If the local
r supply should give out. Then he had to
figure out just what size and shape Of
! card would be most convenient. The cards
must be thick enough not to wear out too
y rapidly. and yet thin enough to take up
: as little space as possible.
n 1t was necessary-for the sake of gain
Y ing time-to have every possible prepare
n ton made for the registration. even be-
fore the army bill was passed by con-
gress. And this was extremely difficult.
for no one knew until the last minute just
n what kind Of a bill congress would enact.
u In go far as possible had in
readiness at the government printing Of
flee type forms for all necessary printed
matter explaining the operation OF the
bill. He kept pace with events In con.
gress by changing these printed forms
from day to day, according to what con.
IS gress seemed most likely to do.
When Il. bill was finally passed Crow
y der's work 1as SO far along that he HAD
er copies Of the presidents registration
N proclamation addressed to every postmas
IS ter in the United States and In the mai
N on their way almost before the ink wa.
* dry in the presidents signature to tn.
r bill. And meanvhile he had delivered tn,