Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-07-24
CONSCRIPT CALL
OFF TILL AUG. |
Boards Cannot See Way Out
of Heavy Work Be-
fore That Date
MUST BE VERY ACCURATE
Examination Summons Deferred
( Till Clerical Tabulation
Is Finished

OTdIteu IHtO tne HdtIOnhI army ITOU III
district, which comprises wards il
Kensington. Frankford and Tacony, !,
in vain. General Crowder, provost mar
- :, today announced that the quota
of Congressman CostelIo's district mus
stand, because a change in that district
would necessitate general revision
throughout the State. Congressman
Costello contended that his district was
not given full credit for the number of
men already in the service when the
quotas were fixed.
| Philadelphia conscripts for the new ma
| tonal army will not be summoned to ap-
| pear for physical examinations before the
| local exemption boards until the tst Of Au-
| gust.
That a week Is needed by each Of the
| ffty-one boards TO dispose Of the clerical
work involved In the task .of ARA nging the
| conscripts In proper order and sepding out
| official notices was the gist of a statement
| made today by Clarence l.. Harper, a mem
ber of the board I'm District ..
we expect the master lists from Wash
ngton some time tomorrow" said Mr. Har-
per. We must take that list and strike
off all numbers higher than the highest
number on our local list. When that Is
done we must take the registration cards
and check them off In the order In which
they were drawn last Friday.
THAT is slow work and cannot be rushed,
I for speed often means time lost Errors
must not be permitted and II errors are
to be avoided the work must be done care.
fully and slowly. For instance, the man
holding number i6S on our list must be
given his proper place. Let us assume that
he was in the 500 group drawn.
That does not imply that he will hold
that position because we must eliminate
all numbers not on our list. When that ts
done No 46s may find himself included in
the fourth hundred. but still in his proper
position This performance must be re-
peated with every man on the list and that
means hulk of work. After the list Is
completed and every man checked off notices
must be sent out Personally, don't expect
our board to complete this work in less
than a week"
Members Of other boards made similar
statements, and In no instance was a man
found who expressed the belief that the
conscripts could be summoned for examina-
tions in less than five days after the arrival
Of the master lists.
Tacony has won its fight for a revision
Of the number of men to be drafted for the
national army from that district, according
to Caspar NJ. Titus, chairman Of the ex-
emption board in District a. which COM
prises the Thirty-ffth and Forty-first
Wards.
"Our quota as fixed by the State military
authorities" said Titus, is 301 but owing
to the protest made by Congressman Peter
Z. Costello this number will probably be
reduced to 201. 1t ought to be lower than
that, II the district Is to be given full credit
for Its citizens who have already Joined the
colors."
Colonel Frank G. Sweeney denied that
there would be any revision of district
quotas.
"The State Registration Board has no
authority to change any of the district
quotas without explicit directions from
Washington to do so,' was Colonel
Sweeneys reply to a query to whether
or not Congressman Costello's request would
be granted for n reduction of the draft
quota In his district.
'Washingtons Interpretation Of the law"
said Colonel Sweeney, "is that the district
quotas shall be reckoned on the basis of
credits In counties and in cities Of more than
10000 population. If one ward in a city
or borough township In a county has
sent more men to the military service than
another the fact is unknown to us. Wash.
ington gave us the credits by counties and
cities and We were instructed to reckon |
district quotas on that basis in proportion |
to registration. This we haye done We
have no voice In the interpretation of the !
law as to credits. That is solely up to |
washington, and any change in credits |
must be ordered by Washington. The State
Registration Boards do not interpret the |
law Their duty Is to administer II as |
ordered by Washington"
Congressman Costello went to Harrisburg |
Yesterday to protest against this system. |
on the ground that 1t worked a hardship on |
the men in the industrial sections of |
kensington. Frankford and Tacony. He |
held that these districts have done more |
than their share In recruiting and that they |
should be given full credit
There is but one solution for this trou-
ble," said Titus, "and that is to give each |
district Its individual credit for the num- |
Der or men who have Joined the colors Our |
district has been particularly loyal and |
patriotic and in recruiting has led many |
other districts To overlook this and to give |
US an equal rating with districts that are |
way behind In recruiting is not fair ] un- |
derstand that our au>ta is to be cut down |,
and II is likely that other districts will re- |
ceive similar treatment" |
Titus. like other board chairmen, made
IL plain that the task of getting the desired |
NUMBER OF men would not be an easy task |
because OF exemptions. In the Industrial |
sections" he explained, IA big percentages
OF the men are married and hundreds can |
claim exemption under the rules governing
aliens. Assuming that our quota Is 20l and |
assuming that the War Departments esti- |
"".s' eio 0"'foc,, IL Woulo De necessary for |
us to summon 4o2 men for physical exam
nations. Now the War Department feels
that out Of that number we can get our
quota but ] don't believe It is possible |
owing to the number Of exemptions Per-
sonaily believe we will have TO summon |
nearly al OF the men registered before our |
quota Is reached"
Owing to the failure of the War Denart.
ment to forward the master lists, there was |
but little that exemption boards could do |
today other than to arrange for the distrI- |
button OF draft literature and make a fur |
thsr or study OF the draft regulations
The problem of finding physicians To as
sist the medical member Of each board in |
the examination Of conscrips must be solved |
by the individual boards according 10 ad- |
vices received from Harrisburg today. Each |
board. II appears. is empowered to engage |
member finds 1t necessary.