The Mt. Sterling advocate. (Mt. Sterling, Ky.) 1890-current, 1918-08-06
IS TO as AGE LIMITS IS
PROPOSED DRAFT BILL

War Department recommendations
for charging the army and for the
extension of draft age limitations in
order to provide new reservoirs or
man power to back up the forces al
ready at the front will be laid before
Congress this week. Members of the
two military committees have been
recalled to Washington by the chair
men in order to expediate the BILL
Draft ages of from Is to As years
will be recommended to Congress in
the bill embodying the war depart
ment's new man power program
which will be introduced in both
houses of Congress this week, and
expedited by committees with view
to prompt consideration when regu-
| lar sessions of the Senate AMI
House are resumed late this month.
After formally announcing the
new draft ages, Secretary Baker
said all the possible combinations Of
age limits were carefully studied and
it was found that in order to get the
men into class one for the program
proposed Is to AS was necessary. He
said, however, that the bill, as rec
commended to Congress, will contain
a provision authorizing the President
to call men out of class one by class
es according to ages, so that if ii is
found possible the men between Is
and 10 will be called out later tl,sn
the older men who are found eligible
to class one.
"Any suggestion to extend the
draft ages is to produce in Glass
an adequate number of men for the
enlarged military program. If the
ages are revised they will have to
be either below 81 or above 81, or
both. I think it will be both"
Chairman Dent was even more
reticent, but said he was willing to
go either up or down in extending
age limits of the draft to win the
war.
"My personal preference is to go
up first" he added.
There are several features of the
draft age discussion that stand out
clearly. In presenting the original
Selective Service Bill Secretary Bak-
er and his advisers fixed 10 as the
proper minimum, and Mr.. Baker has
said repeatedly since then that he
has seen no reason to change his OPP
inion in that regard. Congress ruled
against taking men below the voting
age of 81, however, and sought to
make up the deficit by increasing the
War Departments suggested maxi
mum from 81 to 81, where it now
stands.
The reluctance of many members
of Congress to go lower than the 81
limit is still apparent, although there
is evidence of a strong sentiment to-
ward carrying the maximum up as
high as As. There is no doubt, how
ever, that War Department officials
would prefer to draw on the classes
of 10 and 2O-year- youths to fill
the ranks and see no decided military
advantage to be gained from any
considerable extension upward.
Secretary Baker has heretofore
announced that his policy in recon-
mending any change in draft ages
would be to seek sufficient number
of men to meet the army's needs in
such ages as would least disturb the
economic situation at home. The
bulk of the new forces, in his view,
should be drawn from the youngest
class of men, physically able to
stand the strain of modern warfare.
From the purely army standpoint
this has been a boys war from the
start. The quick recuperative pow
ers of youth have been vitality nee
essary to the military machine un-
der the conditions Of modern war
fare.
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