The Washington herald., 1918-08-28
Unanimous Vote for Law
Drafting Men from
10 to 45.
ANTI-STRIKE CLAUSE IN
But Senate Probably Will
Not Insist on 1t in
Conference.
YOUTHS SURE TO BE CALLED
Penrose Amendment Relieves Reg
istrants from Entering Claim
&. for Exemption.

. The man-power bill, extending
the draft age to. 18 to IS, both
inclusive, passed the Senate yes.
terday without a dissenting vote
Senator Gore of Oklahoma
voted against the bill on its
hnal passage because he was op-
posed to calling boys of -I8 to
fight overseas. When at the I'm
ish of the roll-call his vote was
the only one in the negative, he
said that he did not want his vote
TO stand in the way of unanimous
action by the Senate. He said he
could not conscientiously vote for
the measure and asked the Sen
ate to excuse him from voting.
He was excused by a formal
motion and vote.
The bill as it passed the Senate
contains the anti-strike, or work
or-hght provision, but with some
of its teeth drawn. Senator Cum
minis of Iowa. proposed and the
Senate adopted modifying
amendment which will protect
strikers in their deferred classi-
hcation il they will submit their
grievances to the War Labor
Board and agree to abide by its
decision.
Amendments Voted Down.
Amendment after amendment in
tended to free boys under n from the
call Of the new draft. o. to Keep them
In reserve in this country and lot
send them 70 the battle front ui,.t:
they have attained majority. was pro-
posed. only to be voted down as fast
as proposed. The acid test was en- the
amendment by Senator Poi ldexte- to
exempt boys of IS from the draft. 1t
was defeated by a vote Of - to q.
This vote came after Senator Cam
berlain, chairman of the Military AZ
fairs Committee and in charge Of the
bill, had stated that he would not be
a party to a deception Of the Ameri-
can people. and that he wanted the
Senators to vote for or against the
bill with their eyes open. He said
that the talk of deferred classes or
prefernent for the younger registrants
was idle, no matter in what quarter
II originated, and that boys of IS
would be called in the draft and would
be sent to the battle front to meet
the present great crisis an the worlds
history IL the bill became a law as
presented to the Senate.
The bill passed as drawn with re-
gard to the call of the is, 10 and 20
year-old boys. giving them no pref
-erence by law. and although the
War Department insists that the
'1s-year-old boys will not be in the
first groups as arranged by the War
Department, Secretary Eaker does
not say they will not be called with
in a few months or that they will
not be on the battle front in France
by the first of next July. when the
United States expects to have her
maximum army in France.
Badges For Exempted.
An amendment proposed by Sem
ator Penrose and at once adopted by
the Senate. together with an amend
ment by Senator France, of Mary
land. adopted earlier in the day, is
expected to have the effect of up
holding the spirit Of the law. The
Penrose amendment relieves the
registrant from making a claim for
exemption in his questionable and
gives the local board the power to
ho - 6afa
classification on the facts as they
fnd them in the QUESTIONABLE. The
France amendment provides that
men honorably exempted from the
draft be furnished suitable badges
to show their status and relieve
them of embarrassment that might
come from not Joining the colors.
The first sharp fight of the day
came over the adoption of the anti
strike, work-or-hght amendment The
provision had been freely debated
since the INTRODUCTION Of the bill.
Yesterday Senator Mcclellan, of Ten
nessee. moved to strike it from the
bill. His motion was defeated by a
vote OF q to 10
Text of Anti-strike Clause.
The provision as 1t finally passed
the Senate is as follows:
Provided. That when any person
shall have been placed in a deferred
or exempted class for any Of the
reasons in this paragraph set forth,
he shall not be entitled to remain
therein unless he shall in good faith
continue, while physically able so to
do. to work at snd follow such oe-
cupation. employment, or business.
and IL he fails so to do he shall
again become subject to- the draft.
This proviso shall not apply in the
case OF q strike IL the strikers have
submitted or win at once submit the
dispute to the War Labor Board.
agree to abide and do abide by its
decision, and at once to resume and
continue work pending such decision.
The said board shall take up and
decide all such disputes as speedily
As possible
The House rejected a similar pro-
vision offersd while the bill was on
passage. and II Is considered doubt
ful n 1t viii accept the Senate amend
ment. In that case II is understood
that the SeNate viii recede rather
than delay the passage Of the bin.
y and permit such situations to be
handled By regulations as under the
present draft