The Colorado statesman., 1918-09-21
EMPLOYERS HAVE DUTY
SHOULD HELP IN WORK OF
CLASSIFYING THE NEW
REGISTRANTS

Pointing out the duty OF employers
of labor In assuming II proper share
of responsibility for the classification
of new rcgistrnnts under the selective
service net. II communication from FRO
vost Marshal General Crowder has
| been made public. The points empha-
sized are rs follows:
| have noticed In the general eN
presslons of the public attitude which
reacn this office, two frequent features
which lead me to the present COM
ments. one of these features Is the
belief that the process of awarding de-
ferrcd classification To Il registrnnt re-
| quires merely the filling out of the
questionnaire and that the selectiNe
service boards will perceive the pro
priety Of making the deferment. With
out thc assistance furnished by the
registrant's formal claim indicating
the deferment desired. The other fea-
! tire is the employers failurc to real
ize his responsibility to intervene in
! aiding The boards determination, ana
| therefore To inform himself fully ON all
/ the considerations which should Affect
the decision ns to deferment.
l. As tu the first mentioned belief.
il must he pointed out that if it were
universally acted upon, the process of
classification would be seriously ham
percd and delayed. Someone must in
dicate that the individual case is one
which should arrest the special utten-
tion of the boards in respect to the reg
istrant's occupational SIRIUS. The
boards do not possess II superhuman
omniscence.
Boards Will Make Examination.
The boards will do all that they pos
sibly can on their own initiative, 10
reach Il just decision by Il complete eN-
animation Of the QUESTIONABLE. even
where no claim is expressly made.
( regiStrant is therefore at liberty, II he
sees fit. TO trust tn the scrutiny of the
boards to discover the necessity for his
tieferment.
Nevertheless. the boards will vel
= come and will need all the aid that can
lac furnished by the indication of
claim made for deferment.
= Why should the employer, or 9th
or third person. in such cases. make
the claim? because the employer III
this situation represents the nation
because lin the statutory phras)
the maintenance OF tile military es-
tabIishment or of national Interest
during the emergency" requires that
some well-advised third person should
look after that national interest. which
the registrant himself may not have
sufficiently considered.
It Is often forgotten that the selec<
tive draft is only one element III the
depletion of IL particular industry ;
man-power. a second and large Gle
ment is found in the voluntary WITH
drawals for enlistment; how large this
is may be seen from the circumstance
that the total inductions by draft have
reached some 100000, while the total
enlistments in army and navy amount
to some .40O. O.000-nearly three-qunr-
ters as many. \ third element. very
large. hut unknown as to its precise
extent, has been the transfer of lhhor
power from one industry 10 hnothPr'
namely. into the distlnctively war IN
dustrics offering the inducements OF
higher wages. How relatively small
in actual effect. has been the effect OF
the selective draft is seen in the fact
that. for all the occupations represent
ed In the S,7O0.000 classified regis
trauts of January, 1918, the percen-
tage of the entire industrial popula-
tlon represented by the class l regis
trants amounted to only per cent. IL
ran as low as g per cent for some oc-
cupations. and correspondence higher
for some other occupations; but the
national average was only q per cent.
ANY notably larger depletion in partic-
ular Industries must therefore have
been due. partly to enlistments. and In
probably greater degree. to voluntary
transfers into other Industries.
Must Remember Nations Needs.
These other influences are therefore
to be kept in mind by employers and
others. in weighing the question wheth-
er the best solution, in the national
interest. is to ask for the deferment
of individuals or groups of men. such
deferments may assist the immediate
situation in the particular establish
ment: but they merely force the army
md the navy to seek elsewhere for the
same number of men thus deferred.
The cumulative needs of the
military forces are known and I'M
Derative; and any given quantity of
deferments will ultimately have to be
made up by til" depletion of some
other occupation. Thus it becomes
the emplo"er'S duty to consider these
aspects Of deferment, in seeking that
solution of his own problem which best
comports with The national interest
The keynote of purpose for all OF
us ought to be. and | am sure Will be,
+bo+ wise and profoundly significant
phrase in the act of congress uhder
which we operate, the maintenance
of the military establishment or the