The Republican journal., 1918-08-29
INEQUALITIES OF CLASSIFICA-
TON

INEQUALITIES OF classical
TON.
Some time ago it became apparent
that different local boards were fol
lowing different rules in classifying
married men for military service.
Speaking In general terms, four local
boards had put practically all their
married men in class four while the
remaining twenty boards had followed
the regulations more nearly and had
classified married registrants In class
four or in a higher class according to
whether the family Of the registrant
seemed incapable or capable Of COM
Portable financial support If the reg
istrant should enter the service.
"In the effort to correct this ineQual-
ity, the authorities at Washington sug-
gested to the adjutant generals office
that a general appeal might be taken
from the local boards to the district
boards in all class four cases. 1t was
suggested that an order for similar ap-
peals was under consideration for the
entire country. In his desire to carry
out promptly every suggestion Of the
War Department the adjutant general
prepared an order Of this kind and
sent 1t to the government appeal
agents of some Of the boards. At this
point the matter came to my attention
and had the order Withdrawn and In
structed the adjutant general that we
would not issue such an order in this
state so long as the matter came mere
ly as a suggestion from Washington,
but only In the event Of definite or
ders from Washington.
Some weeks later the definite order
did come from Washington together
with the statement that it was pro-
posed to issue the same order to all
the states and the same order was in
fact issued to many of them II not to
all Of them.
81 not only did not initiate or sug-
gest this procedure But now that the
order is no longer in force l am free
to say that l did not and do not ap-
prove Of it and the fact that General
Crowder and his associates later re-
scinded the order shows that they
finally decided 1t was unwise and that
the desired results could be secured In
another way.
ORDER FROM WASHINGTON.
you will note, however, that the
order was given by Washington and
passed along to the local boards and
appeal agents like any other military
order, that while 1t was in force the ad-
jutant general and myself were In
duty bound to carry 1t out in Maine
and to refrain from discussing It's wis
dom or unwisdom.
you will note also that the order
was never a Redistribution order but
only directed that decisions Of the To-
cal boards in class four cases be re-
viewed by the district boards and re-
classified as occasion might require In
cases where the local board was found
to be in error. Neither the Governor
nor the adjutant general have ever
had any authority to direct decisions
or to influence decisions OF either To-
cal or district boards and no such At
tempt has ever been made in any In
stance.
! ANY statement to the contrary
shows either gross ignorance Of the
law or a deliberate intention to de-
eeive. Had the order remained In
force these cases would all have been
reviewed by district boards upon which
we're sitting such we'll known and re-
spected Democrats as Judge F. Wade
Halliday of Newport, Judge William
H. Newell Of Lewiston and Mr.. Leslie
McIntire of East Waterford.
HOW DEPENDENCY WAS DE-
TERMINED.
AT the time when the so-called re-
classification order was issued from
Washington, we were compelled to
treat any aid which would be paid by
city or town to the relatives Of reg
istrant under the provisions Of Chapter
276, Laws of 1917, as part of the reve-
nue. to be considered in determining
whether his family could be main
tanned in his absence II he were sent
to war. The fact that Maine is one
of the very few states in the Union
which compel the payment OF aid by
cities and towns to the families OF SOL
dfers and sailors created a situation
where the generosity of the Legislat
ure IN this respect would result in our
proportion of class two registrants be-
ing larger than in the average state.
This came about, of course, because
the payment of as much as $40
month to a family from this source
would often make the difference be-
tween dependence and independence
and would therefore place the regis
trant in class two where in the aver
age state he would be in class four. 1t
was not competent for either the ad-
jutant general or the Governor to ar
que with their military superiors from
Washington about this regulation. We