Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1917-06-27
DRAFT TO Be FAIR
METHODS OF SELECTING MEN
y FOR NATIONAL ARMY WILL
BE ABOVE CRITICISM.
NO CHANCE OF FAvoRITIsM
Rules for Physical Examination of
Volunteer Recruits for Regular
Army Will Be Modified for the
Young Conscripts.
BY EDWARD 5. CLARK.


Washington. Washington knows
tnat there is anxiety throughout the
country lest in the drawings here and
there there may be some trick of the
trade by which certain men may be
drawn for the new army and certain
other men not drawn by means Of
some deft straightforward performance.
The last Registration day reports
nave come into Washington. There is
not enough concern left in the results
of registration to shadow the rapidly
looming interest in the methods which
Will be adopted to choose the service
men by u.s. of the rule of chance.
The cor;ntry can at once give over
any apprehension that the drawings
Will not be fair A method will be
adopted by which the drawings will
be lifted from out of any shadow of
suspicion as to the fairness of methods.
Thete will be no possibility that any
one can enter legitimate objection to
the means which are to be employed
to give all men equal chances in the
matter.
The chances seem to be that for the
new army there will be some modifi-
cation of the rules which now are in
volunteer recruits for the regular
army. 1t is not believed that young
Americans for the new forces will be
compelled to measure up to the stand
ards set for recruiting for the regulars.
When 1t was declared a day or two
ago, seemingly by authority. that regu-
lar army standards would be main
tanned for a physical examination.
croakers instantly began to say, "This
will not leave one really stalwart young
American in the country"
Why So Few Are Accepted
1t is pretty generally known that out
Of every five men who have applied
In the past at regular recruiting offices,
only one man has been accepted. No
one has seemed 10 realize the real
reason for this condition of things. In
certain districts in the United States
fully SO per cent of the volunteers of
the regular army have been accepted.
In some other districts only 10 per cent
of the willing ones have been accepted.
II Is matter easily explained
In the past, notably in the city dis
trfcts. there have applied to the re-
crufting officers thousands of men of
whom by far the greater percentage
were seeking enlistment because they
had come to the conclusion that they
could do nothing in civil life. Army
officers. if they would talk, could tell
tales of hundreds of down and cutters,
physical decreplts, who. tired with the
struggle to get living, perhaps not by
the labor route, have applied for per-
mission to serve Uncle Sam, with good
money, good bed, good board, good
clothing and good care 'lrown in. It
was the down and OUTER and the men
who. not willing to consider themselves
down and out, yet through adverse con-
ditions had become run down physical
ly, who applied in largest numbers to
the recruiting officers for regular serv-
ice
It was the inevitable thing there
fore. that the recruiting Office records
in the great cities should show only
about one enlistment for about four
or five applicants. In the country dis
tr4cts the percentage of acceptances
was much higher. because away from
the cities living conditions were better,
and moreover many sturdy young
Americans were willing to enlist to get
chance to see life under new con-
ditions.
To Keep Alive Service Spirit
And still the wonder is growing here
at the results of registration day.
There is an infiowing stream of tele-
grams and letters from the country,
most of which give in enthusiastic de-
scription the marked service spirit and
service desire with which the young
men of all sections of the country went
to their duty.
Belief is strong in Washington to-
day that the war department will take
advantage of the patriotic psychology
of the occasion to move quickly with
selections and exemptions and thus to
give the country its new national army
in short order.
1t is known that officials believe in
stant preparation for the rest of the
work should be made and that no more
time than is necessary should be given
to allow the ardor of youth to cool.
There was q volunteer spirit evident
everywhere Registration day, and 1t is
this spirit which quick action, Wash
ington believes, will keep alive.
1t Is realized that President Wilson
has difficult and delicate task in the
outlining Of industrial class exemp-
lions. Unquestionably he studied the
matter for long time, advising almost
daily with Provost Marshal General
Enoch Il. Crowder and other army
officials as to Just what form the reg
ulations of industrial exemption
should TAXI.
No Glasses of Industry Exempt.
There are still evidences in Wash