The Elbert County tribune., 1918-09-27

pricty of milking the tlefermcnt. With
out the assistance furnished nv the
regIstrant's formal cImim Indicating
the defermeut desired. The other fea-
ture Is The employers failure TO real
lie his responsibility to Intervene IN
aiding the boards determination. and
therefore to inform himself fully ON all
the considerations which should affect
Tho decision as to defcr1nent.
]. As to the first mentioned belief.
II must be pointed out that If it were
universally acted upon, the process of
classification would he seriously ham
pered and delayed Someone must In
llcate that the individual ease Is one
which should arrest the special atten-
ton of the boards in respect To the reg
lsirant's occupat!onnl status. The
boards do not possess II superhuinan
omniscencc.
Boards Will Make Examination.
The boards viii do MI that they pos
sIbly can. an their own initiative. to
reach n Just decision by n complete OK
animation OF the QUESTIONABLE. even
where no claim Is expressly mnde.
regisirant Is therefore at liberty. II he
secs ut. to trust to the scrutiny Of the
boards to discover the necessity for his
deferment.
Nevertheless. the bonrds viii well
come and will need MI Tho aid that can
he furnished by the Indication of
claim made for dcferment With This
aid. the process will become simple
and speedy one.
.. Why should the employer or 9th
er third person, IN such cases. make
the claimf Because the employer in
this situation represents the milton.
because lin the statutory phrase)
"the maintenance OF the military es-
Establishment 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.
II Is often forgotten that the selec-
tive draft is only one element In the
depletion OF particular industry's
mnn-power A second and large cIe-
ment is found In the voluntary with
drawals for enlistment how large this
IL may be seen from the circumstance
that the totnl inductions by draft have
reached some 100000. while The total
enlIstments in army and navy amount
TO some 1,400.000-nearly three-quar-
ters as many. \ third element. very
large. but unknown as 10 its precise
extent. has been the transfer of lr5or
power from one industry to another
namely, into the distlnctiyely war In
dustries offering the inducement 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 100000 classified regis
trants of January. 1918. the percen-
iage of the entire industrial popua-
ton represented by the class ! regis
trants amounted to only 9 per cent. 1t
ran MS low ms 3 per cent for some &C.
equations. and correspondence higher
for some other occupations: but the
national average was only 6 per cent.
Any notably larger depletion in pnrtic-
ular industries must therefore hive
been due. partly to enllstments. 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.
err the best solution. in the national
interest. is TO nsk for the deferment
of individuals or groups of men. Sucb
deferments may assist the Immediate