The Clio messenger. (Clio, Mich.) 1907-current, 1918-10-18
DRAFT MACHINERY
WORKS SMOOTHLY
GENERAL CRoWDER AND ASSIST.
ANTS ARE HAVING LITTLE
TROUBLE THIS TIME.
MEN RESPOND CHEERFULLY
War Draws Attention to the Fact
That Thousands of Citizens Of Alien
Birth Do Not Understand the Eng.
lish Language.
BY ARTHUR w. DUNN.

BY ARTHUR w. DUNN.
Washlngton.-Gen Crowder and
MS assistants in the provost marshals
once are having less difficulty in nut.
',hs me new draft i'm operation than
lhey anticipated. Experience with the
nrst urait has been of great benefit
Inc machinery is In good working or.
uer ana the men of the country have
responded creditably to this demand
upon them for more man power. One
feature has been added which is ex
pected 10 be of great assistance. This
- tle creation Of legal advisory
po1rus 10 aid the local boards in the
determination Of questions arising un.
def the draft law. It is expected that
me advice Of the legal boards will
save q lot Of time at this end of the
ilc.
PROBABLY the most gratifying cir.
cImstance in connection with the new
draft is the cheerful response of the
men. The provost marshal general
does not expect as much difficulty In
regard to slackers as I'm the first draft.
The whole country has grown more
patriotic as the war has progressed.
War has taught the lesson that more
attention should be given to imml'
q ants in the future. When II Is found
that thousands upon thousands Of men
OF alien birth but who have become
American citizens and been drafted
into the army, are yet unable to under
stand the language of the country, II
means that there has been faulty sys
ton somewhere. These men could not
understand the orders given them, nor
did they understand why they were
called into military service. Hereaf.
tel II would he well to see that immi-
grants are taught the English Ian
guage, or at least that they should be
compelled to learn il when they be.
come citizens. II might be well also
to see to II that the aliens living in
this country should become citizens
or leave il. We have found much
too large alien population as result
Of the draft law.
Congressman Walsh of Massachu
sets. who has made himself unpopu
la with the members who want tC
print everything under the sun in the
Congressional Record. and at the same
| time popularized himself with those
who would like to see less waste in
government printing, made strong
| plea in the house for saving paper and
printing bills He showed that while
! the government was trying to curtai
the use Of paper, 1t was at the same
time wasting paper in many ways
Congressman Mapes of Michigan in
terjected q remark to the effect that
the government printing office work
this year would cost S12,000,000, while
many bureaus go outside and get Q
great amount of printing done by con
| tract.
Because somewhere in the neighbor
hood of $4,000 physicians have wholly
or partially withdrawn from private
practice to engage in war work, the
public health service has appealed &c
our people to remember that taking
| care Of themselves Is one way of ex
pressing patriotism. One-third of the
men registered under the first draft
were rejected for physical disability
ard in a majority of these cases The
| cause Of rejection was some easil.
rreventable or durable defect.
| pnSiHnc n,a1.in0 thinUS hun, n th.
producing end, the government is urg
| ing fremen in factories and larg,
buildings to aid in avoiding any repe
tition OF last years uncomfortable Goa
shortage. According to Van III. Man
nirg, director of the bureau Of mines
! 45,000,000 tons of coal can he SAVED
yearly by proper building and adjust
ment of fires. and this without the as
sistance of any miraculous agencies
| Anything that will save 45,000,000 tom
of coal for the United States is doin,
good deal more than its bit In thes'
war times.
Probably the most astounding thin
the Germans of higher intelligenc
| have encountered is the name
in which this country has gon
into war. They never believed II wa
possible for the United States to mobll
lie, equip, train, ship and put into tn
fighting lines anything like an army
Just why they could not bark back t
Civil war days and see how a divided
nation raised two armies Of great fight
ing material is n mystery. The Ger
mans have made other errors. Firs
they did not believe this country woul'
go to war; and second they did not be
lieve we could put an army in Europe.
They had some reason to believe w
would not go to war for the pacifis
sentiment was very strong. Then tn
Germans were misled by the pro-Ger
man element In this country. The.