The Lakeland evening telegram., 1917-11-23
Gen. CrOwder Outlines New Selective
Draft Plans to Local and Dist. Boards
Continued from Page H.

demand even from agriculture and in
dustry an adjustment to replace a
small percentage of skilled labor af-
fected by the draft-men who, while
occupying no pivotal or important po-
sition, can serve industry or agricul-
ture better than unskilled men.
Should the pinch of military neces-
sity increase beyond Glass II, it would
mean that the Nation would have to
begin to commit itself to hardship and
to an adjustment in agriculture and
industry to meet the paramount ne
cessity. We take in Class II very
small class Of persons upon whom
others are dependent for support, but
we do not break up the closest and
most sacred of the family relation
ships We also invade the field of
agriculture and industry to the extent
of taking, in the small percentage af-
fected, men who have specialized
themselves or who occupy rather piv-
otal positions.
In Glass w we find the men whom
we shall take as last resort. Be
fore that class is reached it is per
fectly safe to say that by the addi-
tion of other classes as to age, say
those who have attained q since reg
nd od hn
classes of IS and 10 and 20 years old.
men, we shall have included two or
three million men in our available
list and thus have saved Glass w.
Glass V comprises the field Of alb
solute eXempts.
There is one thought that must inn
press to eradicate an erroneous view
that may be taken of this classifica-
ton:
We are dealing in the field of labor
supply. Presuming that the labor
supply of industry and agriculture
comprises men between the ages of
IS and so, and assuming. for the pur
pose of this exposition, that there are
| 10000 900 men of each of these ages,
1--WE are dealing with 80 classes, appur
tenant to agriculture and to the vari-
Gus industries. The draft affects ten
thirty seconds of this supply or only
about 81 per cent Therefore, turn
ing to Glass II, when we find skilled
farm labor listed there, 1t does not
mean that when Glass II is exhausted
all skilled farm laborers will have
been taken. From these figures, 1t
would seem to mean that 8 per cent
of all skilled farm labor will have
been taken. But even this figure is
misleading Without the definite sta
tistics that the present draft will
eventually afford I can say, l think.
that within this class of skilled lab
orers at least 62 per cent Of those IL
able to draft will be found in class
es more deferred than Glass II by rea-
son Of dependents. alienage, and the
like. The result is that when we
have exhausted Class II, we shall
have taken only 2 per cent of the
skilled labor appurtenant to agricul-
ture. The same figures apply to
other industries
To raise an Army comprising hun
dreds of thousands Of men necessi-
rates an inroad into the man power
Of the Nation. We are committed TO
this war and we ought to fight 1t In
the most effective fashion possible
to us The necessity of raising an
Army is paramount The decrease in
labor supply must be adjusted in
some way other than by shutting off
recruitment. That it can be adjusted
there is no question. We see what
England has done, what France has
done and most of all what Germany
has done. The problem is not to
maintain the labor supply of agri-
culture and of every industry intact
It is to make the withdrawal of men
| in the most scientific manner posi-
BILE | think we have done that, and
that what is offered here is the basis
| for a nice balance between our two
necessities. ] feel that we can go
no further. There are those who say
| that we must win this war in econom
! ic field, with an inference that the
+. raising Of an Army is side issue.
say to you that with any greater in
roads into the field of recruitment oil
our Army. we shall be sending infer
! ior men to the field That, If this
Nation is not competent to make the
slight adjustment necessary to com
pensate for this scientific selection
then it is not competent to enter this
| war A vast production in our farms
! and factories is necessary. 1t Is nee