The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1917-10-18
NEW DRAFT PLAN
IN CONSIDERATION
Classification of Registrars
According to Dependency
and Employment
PROCESS WOULD BE
TRULY SELECTIVE

First Men Taken Would Be Those With
out Dependents and of No Value to
| War Industries - May Cause Delay
of Next Draft.
! WASHINGTON, Oct. 1S.-A compre-
hensive new plan for applying the army
sclectivc draft which would take first
only men without dependents and of no
/ particular value to war industries and
establish various grades of dependence
and industrial value from which future
drafts would be made strictly on the
4 selective basis, has been worked out
tentatively by the provost marshal
general 5 office and discussed with the
/ President. The plan, it was learned
/ yesterday, was submitted recently to
conference Of civilians who directed
exemption board activities III 4 NUM-
her of states and received the approval
of most of them, who are now discuss
ing the proposed plan with their state
governors.
[ - ~ t'lFt''Nt'i ~ lNt iiihitltt III Nh'li
/ local draft district q table of all regis
trants placing each in a column denot-
ling his dependents and industrial value
/ in the war s prosecution. For instance,
/ horizontal columns or elassifications
would be based on dependency. Men
with no dependents would bc placed in
/ the first class. those with dependent
Idistant relatives in the second class.
/ those with wives in the third class,
/ those with a wife and one child in the
\ fourth class and 50 on.
4 Similarly, the vertical columns might
+ represent certain industries arranged
according to their respective merit as
/ war uecessaries. Industrial classes un-
I der consideration in this condition are
farmers, shipyard employees, munition
workers, railway and transportation
/ empIoves, miners, steel plant and motor
industry workmcn and certain other in
/ diyidual plants or industry branches 10
tbe designated from time to time by the
/ President or the war department as
temporarily essential The latter elias
sitcaIon might include plants making
/ milit Il clothing, harness. first aid ma
TERRA or professions such as chemists
and ther scientific men more needed
for war research than 10 carry arms
Thus the table with horizontal de
pendency claasiications and vertical
! industrial claSsifcations would hold a
/ place for each registrant in accordance
1 with his dependency or industrial val
uc claims In selecting men for exami-
nation hUaris would first take physical
I lv fit, having neither dependents nor
value in essential war industries. When
this class was exhausted, draft author
tiles would draw on the classes having
the slightest dependency claims and the
least value i'm essential industries The
oreticallv, the draft would work down
through the table to the classes with
most dependents and highest industri-
al value.
No class would be exempted as such,
bat the valuable men would bc placed
so that they would not be called until
the need for soldiers became more ur-
gent and all the less essential classes
were exhausted. The plan involves a
determination by the governmnt OF
what industries are the most valuable,
and this is giving officials considerable
difficulty. Farmers organizations,
shipping board officials and ship
builders, mnnitjou makers. railroad
lheads, coal operators and many others
are insisting on the prime Importance
OF their own employees in civil work.
It. is understood the entire program
will be made known as soon as il is
completed and approved by President
Wilson, to allav the anxiety prevail
ing throughout many industries over the
next draft Before the new plan was
proposed the next draft was planned
for as early as December, but it now
may be delayed.