Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-12-01
CORPORATIONS FAIL
IN EXEMPTION PLEA
Provost Marshal General Re-
fuses to Order Reconsid-
Grafton of Claims
NEW REGULATION A POSER
District Board No. Struggles Vainly
to Prepare Alphabetical List
of Registrants

Efforts of the large corporations to have
their employees exempted from iniiitary
service. pressed to the point of requesting
reconsideration of the decisions OF District
Appeal Board No. Q. In this city. have been
frustrated by orders from the provost mar
shall general.
District Appeal Board No. has jurisdic-
ton of the portion Of the city that en-
braces virtually all of the Industrial pla'iS'
with their complex labor problems brought
about by the draft. and 1t has given near
ings to many representatives of these plants
seeking to retain their forces on the pretext
that they were necessary to the continued
manufacture of Government contract ma
teral.
Tn some cases the men for whom exemp-
tion Is sought are the only available eN.
perienccd skilled mechanics or workers. ana
their draft would seriously cripple the
speedy delivery of the Government supply.
In other instances 1t is not 10 much the
question Of patriotism. but rather imam
cal loss on the part of the corporation.
which will have TO pay more TO get an
other man to fill the place Of the selected
man.
District Appeal Board No. has received
instructions from Provost Marshal General
Crowder not to reopen any case or recon-
slider its decisions. This Is the answer
that the board Is now giving TO all the
corporation representatives that are press
character.
There is another order promulgated by
the War Department, however, that has
rot met with such consideration by the two
district appeal boards of this city. The
new regulations require the lists OF regis
trants to be made UP in alphabetical order.
Heretofore they have been listed accord
ing to the sequence of their Serial num-
bers
District Appeal Board No. has absc-
lutely declined to carry out this order, and
District Appeal Board No. tried to follow
the instructions but after 1t had compiled
all but five Of the local boards within its
jurisdiction 1t gave 1t up as aa impossible
piece of work.
The obstacle In the way OF carrying out
the plan arises from the very bad inscrip-
tioa IN many cases of the registration
clerks, so that the name Of the registrant
is almost impossible to decipher. In one
or two instances the clerical force of Dis
trict Appeal Board No. . has tried to trace
the registrant by name and has failed to
discover any record thereof but upon
looking for that PERSONS card on the num-
ber list found that the name was spelled
different from that which was supposed.
District Appeal Board No. is resting
on it's oars just at present. for II Is con-
sdering only the comparatively few cases
that come to It from day to day. all of
the back appeals and claims having been
cleaned up TO date All Of the appeals
to the Provost Marshal General from local
board discharges on grounds of dependency
presented by the Government attorneys at
tached to those boards have been returned
to the boards without change. In accord
ance with orders just received from WASH
ington.
1t has been found unnecessary TO review
the discharge cases. inasmuch as the new
regulation cover the ground by requiring
all persons who have received discharges
OF any nature to fill out the questionable
and place them subject TO call as If they
had never been exempted