Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-11-23
THE PROVOST MARSHAL'S
CALL TO ARMS

THE selective principle has amply
proved its immense superiority to the
old draft system and to volunteering and
TO any haphazard combination of the two.
'The wonder is that a people so devoted
to business efficiency should have hesi-
tated to adopt it," says the Provost Mar
shal in his letter to the local and district
boards 1T is of the essence Of democracy
and national effectiveness"
General Crowder's explanation of the
new draft rules, which appears elsewhere
in the lIvENING LEDGER today. deals
frankly with a phase of conscription
about which the public has been much in
doubt. What service did the Government
expect Of married men and of farm and
Industrial workers? 1t is made clear first
of all that no one is permanently exempt
except those obviously incapable of bear.
ing arms. Neither the married state nor
Industrial war work can be pleaded as an
excuse for not donning the uniform
Scientific estimate of each mans use.
.,fulness and of the date when that use
fulness will be called forth is given prec-
edence over the sentiments Of normal
times. II is putting it very mildly to call
the times abnormal" The war is the
crisis of civilization ana now we are at
the crisis Of the war. Perhaps it is well
for US that We do not constantly realize
how critical life is 1t is necessary to
{ stressing the enormous Importance Of get
ting our best potential soldiers into ac.
ton, General CrowderSiSeeps a firm grasp
on the necessity for calm Determinations
In the class first to be called up, he says.
1--WE shall have. in every community, i'm
mediately available for military service
single men and few married men whose
removal will not disturb the reasonably
adequate support Of their dependents"
ls On the same principle, in farm and
factories, I'VE shall have segregated into
this class men who have not especially
fitted themselves for industrial or agri-
cultural pursuits, so that our only in
cursion into the labor supply will affect
but a small percentage of unskilled labor"
General Crowder expects that at most
~ per cent of the skilled workmen may
be called to arms and in defending his
system in advance of that possibility he
says
The problem is not 10 maintain the labor
supply of agriculture and of every indus
try intact. 1t is to make the Withdrawal
of men in the most scientific manner pos
sible. There are those who say
that we must win this war in the economic
field, with an inference that the raising
of an army Is a side issue. I sa; -. you
that with any greater threads into tine
field of recruitmer. of our army. we shall
be sending inferior men to the field. That.
II this nation is not competent to make
the. slight adjustment necessary 10 COM
pensate for this scientific selection, then
it is not competent to enter this war.
Industrial employers and employees Of
the nation are summoned to cast away
the civilian manner of thinking. There
must be harder work and heavier sacrifice
all round. We have not begun to feel the
bite of real war Our farms and work.
shops must at once adjust themselves to
war conditions. If men of muscle are
needed in France, men of less muscle and
women must be prepared TO learn the
crafts our soldiers must quit for sterner
doings. Women Of our stock will not
seek to prevent their husbands from
doing their duty. and women themselves
as In France and England, will be con-
tent with less and in many cases do the
=, work of men.
We must prepare at once TO make the
sacrinces which the new call upon our
man power implies.