Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1917-08-10

Short shift of court-martial and
perhaps the firing squad will be the
lot of those who persist in resistance
to the draft.
The iron hand of the full military
power of the nation is ready. The
opportunity is now presented to those
who do not wish to serve to appear in
orderly manner and present the gov
eminent with their excuses. Should
they fail to take advantage of this
opportunity, they are automatically
enrolled as soldiers. If they then fail
to appear for duty, they are desert
ers. The punishment for desertio1
in war time is death.
And the full military power of the
nation will be employed if necessary
to impose the penalty. Brigadier
General Enoch H. Crowder. the pro-
vost marshal general, outlined this
procedure this week. General Crow
der's statement, formulated after
conference with officials of the de-
partment of justice, follows:
General Crowder's Warning.
"Press reports and other advices
received indicate that in one or two
widely separated districts, individ
uals, misinformed as to the purpose
of the law and misguided as to its
result. are threatening forcible resist
ance to the draft.
"There is nothing to resist at this
stage in the execution of the law. All
male persons between the ages of 81
and 80 inclusive have been enrolled
for military service. A preliminary
call has gone forth to some such per-
sons, but the immediate and actual
object of this call is merely to pro-
vide an opportunity for such persons,
or for someone else in respect to
them, to present to the government:
reasons why they should not be final
ly ordered to report for military duty.
IL SuCA pei w nOI dPPCot anu
present these reasons, they have sim
ply neglected to take advantage of an
opportunity that was offered solely
for their benefit. The failure Of per-
sons to take advantage Of this oppor-
tunity does not interfere with the
raising of the army, and interests the
government only as punishable
crime of omission. II they do not
desire to make any such claims, or II
for any other reason they fail to ap
pear, their names are automatically
posted as having been called to mill
tary duty. Failure to appear merely
hastens the automatic process.
COurt-Martial Their Fate.
"When the time allowed for
making these claims has elapsed,
these persons will be enrolled As
in the military service. They will
then be ordered to appear rs sol
diers. From this point on they
will be under the swift and sum-
mary procedure of cOurt.martial.
Failure to report for military
duty when ordered to do so con-
stitutes desertiOn. In time Of
war this is q capital ofYense. De-
serters may be apprehended by
either civil or military authority
and after the mandate of the fed
eral government has gone forth
the whole strength of the mill.
tary arm of the government Is
available to apprehend the de-
serters II necessary to use such
force.
Demonstrations against local
boards are simply futile strokes in
the air. All records necessary to hold
such persons are already on file with
state headquarters and with the ma
tional capital. and since local boards
have had no occasion to use any force
in simply offering beneficial oppor-
tunity to registered persons, there IL
no field for resistance. If resistance
is attempted when the army seeks to
apprehend deserters 1t will instantly
encounter troops of the federal gov
eminent"
In practice, under General Crow
der's construction of the law, regis
tered men who do not appear for ex-
animation will be posted to the dis
trict boards as selected for military
service as soon as the five-day period
allowed them to put in an appearance
after they have been summoned has
elapsed. Two days more will elaps,
after their names reach the district
board to await appeal action by the
individual. They then will be posted
to the adjutant general of the state
as selected to fill the quotas of their
district.
Mobilization Process.
Orders for the mobilization of the