The daily banner. (Cambridge, Md.) 1897-2008, 1918-06-26
TWO BILLS TO MAKE
DRAFT AGE IS TO As

Senator France, of Maryland, Want
All Men Betwee Ages of 1S AM
45 Drafted, And Classified Fo
War Work.
Washington, June 24.-Two pro
posals to change the draft age wer'
submitted to the Senate today in de
bate on the $4,000, 100000 Arm.
bill. Both came from Republican
members, Senator Fall, of New Mexi
co, and Senator France, of Maryland
Both would make the enrOllmen
ages Is to As years. But this is tht
only respect in which the proposal:
resemble each other. Senator Fall'i
proposed amendment is purely ;
military service proposal, while Sen
ator Frances is bill providing thai
every male in the country between
| the ages specified shall be enrolled
and classified and then may be call
ed for any sort of service the Presi
dent deems necessary.
The Fall measure provides:
THE age limit fixed in said ac1
! (the Draft act) is hereby changed
and shall be and is hereby fixed at Is
and As years, in lieu of 21 and 81
Provided further, that those regis
tered under the age of 21 shall moi
be drafted nor used for service upon
the firing line till they shall have
reached the age of FL"
Senator Fall explained that his
purpose in lowering the age limit tC
! eighteen years was to provide q
large force for training under regu-
! lations to be prescribed. This force
would be available for service in the
front ranks the very moment its
members became twenty-one years
old. This would give the country a
great reservoir of trained and equip.
ped men to draw from, and would not
entail long delay while the men were
being trained after having been call
ed for active service, the Senator
pointed out. 1t would also remove
the danger to industry and agricul-
ture which now exists, Senator Fall
contended, and would show the
whole country the value of univer-
sal military training as a prepared
ness and health measure.
Senator Frances bill is that which
Provost Marshal General Crowder re.
Gently discussed before the Senate
Military Affairs Committee, and tc
the principle of which he gave his
hearty approval. 1t is in effect a
"work-or-fght" order carried out in
terms of the draft. 1t would re
quire every male between 18 and 45
years to register. All wopid.-
t,-.-bvrrrverJ Jurr- pUr5ent, eXceps
that instead of being limited to
availability for military service, the
classification would extend to indus
try, agriculture, and every form OF
war activity.
General Crowder has assured the
Military Affairs Committee that pas
sage of bill like this would not dis
arrange the draft machinery in the
least, and would be exceedingly easy
of administration. If such a meas
ure became law, he said, there would
be no difficulty in getting labor for
any sort of war work, for all that
would be necessary would be to i'm
press a certain number of men into
that particular sort of work.
Strikes on war work would then
be impossible, General Crowder ar
gued, because d strike would lay ev-
cry striker open to court-martial in
stantly, and the penalty would be
death or long Imprisonment.
Though the two amendments sub
mitted today did not come from Ad-
ministration sources, they opened
the whole question of changing the
age limits Congress realizes that
this must be done, inasmuch as Glass
1 will be exhausted soon after the
first of the coming year, and, accord
ing to General Crowder, serious dis
arrangement of the war work pro-
gram will follow invasion of deferr.
ed classes to any considerable ex
| tent.
Secretary Baker has said he will
not oppose such legislation. Whether
he will accept the France or Fal
proposal or will now be moved tt
permit General Crowder to submit tt
Congress his idea as to how the ages
should be changed, is not known.
There will be much debate on the
proposal, centring on two points. One
of these will be the age limits, the
other the need for and wisdom o.
changing the age limits at this time