The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1917-08-31
YOUTH NEEDED
 TO SAVE LAND SAYS GENERAL
Now Proposes Draft From IS to 21 Years for
 Reserve.

Washington, Aug. S1.-In a signed statement given out recently, Lieut.. Gen. s. B. M. Young, U., S. A., Com man1er in Chief of the Military Order l of the Loyal Legion of the United States, and president of the National Association for Universal Military Training. advocated the early draft 1 ing of youths between 19 and A' years, l to form the national army 1 General Young says that of the g.
 COG, 900 men registered, fully 80 per
 cent. of the married men have not l hesitated to walk Up, and claim ex-5 emptton on that ground alone, which i means that only small percentage 1 of the married men in the nation are 1 willing to bear arms in defense Of It. l This is a condidtion which was not tonly surprising, but which is full of l menace, and to which there can be i but one answer-the young, unmar- T r1ed men must save thlA country even as they saved it in the civil war. N 1 After quoting statistics. to show that l the bulk of the union army was com 1 posed of youths under n, Gen. Young ! analyzes the results of the present tdraft and concludes:
 After the first and second drafts
 are made there will fbe approximately ffi 626, ,000. men available for purely mill itary service who will not have been
 included in the first two drafts: Now, since the first and second drafts will total about 1874, 900, and the expeTi- ence shows that three men are re- quired in reserve for man on the fir ing line, the 626,O0 left over from the first registration will not be adequate for even a reserve force for the men actually on the firing line, but will fall short of the number which ex- perfel1ce has proved necessary by ! some s,496O0o.
 By using the comprehensive na- chinery set up by the War Depart ment for carrying out the provisions of the draft law, and which is still in existence and in perfect working or der the remedy which have to pro- pose can be immediately. realized This remedy is embodied in <tale fol. q lowing amendment to the draft law: S All male persons resident in the United States who are 19 years of ags ! and not more than 3f years of age oI & the date when this amendment shaI ! go into efrect), and who were not reg 8 l istered in pursuance of the act of Ma. T IS. 1917, shall be registered at sucl 41 time and place as the President ma. 3 by proclamation direct
 7 s Of the men affected by the law s
 amended should be called for activ T military service before reaching tn S age of 21 years.
 sGranting that the proposed amend & ment shall be adopted by Congress 2 the same to go into effect June 5, 1s1s z Ia startling and illuminating compar # ison with the figures of the recen T registration and draft given above J ifnm mediately presented: On June 8 1918, there would be three classes ' males: 19, 20, and 21 years of age-at * fected by this proposed amendment = These three classes would total 5000 | 900 men, and after rejections woul $ net approximately 1,920;OO men fit fo & training for military service. In thes
 three classes there will be a muc
 smaller average percentage of exen1p
 ton than in the older classes whic - were .conprehemded in the recent reg q istration.
 "In round numbers, 1,0o0. 900 men ar & rive at the age for military servic # ech year. Allowing for proper deduc
 tions on. account of. physical and men
 tai unfftness and for the exclusion Q / tonly sons of widowed mothers, W
 would have as, result about 640, %
 men fit for training for. purely n1ifi
 tary service, and these men could 10 # tcaIled into the cantonments for train
 ling as rapidly as these cantonnneat
 fwere evacuated by the final incre
 ments of the new National Arm & which were produced by the draft ' under the registration of June 5, 1s1s # By utilizing these splendid camp % as permanent training quarters fo 7 our young men from 19 to 21 years c 1 age we would not only conserve ou
 young manhood but would profit b
 the immense equipment. provided a
 such an enormous initial outlay. ] E is our plain duty to so use these camp
 and thus it our youth to become req
 defenders of the nation. It is the "a
 tional, the obvious thing to do.
 'sOf course. the logic of the foregoin
 points with unerring accuracy to uni
 versai military training as the funda # mental principle of permanent, con Fl tinuing military policy. The draft Ia,
 is the first great stride toward thi # goal, and the amendment above SUE
 gested, when realized, will form th
 second. The third and final step wi
 have been taken when the principle
 of the draft law as amended along tt
 Ines suggested shall have been mad
 the permanent military policy of tf
 United States"