New Mexico state record. (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1914-19??, 1918-09-27
CALL TO EMPLOYERS
Paramount Duty to Aid Work Of
= SeIective Boards.
Can Perform Great Service to coun.
try by Helping Work Of Classifying
Registrants Under the Sc.
Iective Service Act.

or the new reEiStrlL.S under the sc
lective service act.
General CrOwder says:
I have noticed, In the general eX
pressions of the public attitude which
reach this office, two frequent features
which lead me to the present com
ments. One of these features is the
belief that the process of awarding de
ferred classification to a registrant re-
quires merely the filing out of the
questiOnnaire, and that the selective
service boards will perceive the pro-
priety of making the deferment, with
out the assistance furnished by the
registrant's formal claim indicating
the deferment desired. The other fea.
ture is the employers failure to real
lie his responsibility to intervene In
aiding the boards determination, ana
therefore to inform himself fully on all
the considerations which should affect
The decision MS to deferment.
!. As to the first mentioned belief,
1t must be pointed out that if 1t were
universally acted upon, the process OF
classification would be seriously ham,
pered and delayed. Someone must in
dicate that the individual case is one
which should arrest the special atten-
ton of the boards in respect to the reg
Istrant's OccupatiOnal status. The
boards do not possess n suberhuman
OmniscPnce.
Boards vii Make Examination.
The boards will do all that they pos
vibly can, on their own initiative, to
reach n just decision by n complete ex-
animation of the questiOnnaire, even
where no claim is expressly made. A
fegistrant Is therefore at liberty, If he
sees fit, to trust to the scrutiny of the
boards to discover the necessity for his
deferment.
Nevertheless, the boards will well
come and will need all the aid that can
be furnished by the indication of a
claim made for deferment. With this
aid. the process will become a simple
and speedy one.
2. Why should the employer, or 9th
er third person. in such cases. make
the claim? Because the employer in
this situation represents the nation.
because lin the statutory phrase)
1.-THE maintenance Of the military es-
.ablisnment 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.
It Is often forgotten that the selec-
tive draft is only n element In the
depletion Of a particular industry's
man-power. A second and large ele-
ment is found in the voluntary with
drawals for enlistment: how large this
Is may he seen from the circumstance
that the total inductions by draft have
reached some 1000. 900. while the total
enlistments in army and navy amount
to some 1,4OO, 000-nearly three-quar-
tiers MS many. A third element. very
large. but unknown as to Its precise
has been the transfer Of labor
power from n industry to another,
namely, into the distinctively war in
dustrles offering the inducement of
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 S.7OO.OOO classified regis
of January, 1918, the percen-
Of the entire industrial pOpula-
tiOn represented by the class ! regis
amounted to only 6 per cent. It
ran as low as 3 per cent for some &C.
cupations, and correspondingly higher
For some other occupations: but the
national average was only 6 per cent.
Any notably larger depletion in partic-
Mar Industries must therefore have
been due, partly to enlistments, and in
probably greater degree. to voluntary
transfers into other Industries.
Must Remember Nations Needs.
These other influences are therefore
20 be kept in mind by employers and
others, in weighing the question wheth.
the best solution, in the national
interest. is to ask for the deferment
Of individuals or groups of men. Such
leferments may assist the immediate
situation In the particular establish
nent; but they merely force the army
ind the navy to seek elsewhere for the
'ame number Of men thus deferred.
The cumulative needs Of the
forces are known and i'm
perative; and any given quantity of
leferments will ultimately have to be
made up by the depletion Of some
other occupation. Thus 1t becomes
The employers duty to consider these
Of d%eferment, In seeking that
of his own problem which best
COMFORTS with the national interest.
The cessation Of enlistments will
protect industry against
irregular and uncomfortable
,ource of arrangement. 1t will CORE.
,pondingly throw upon the select!ve
system the greater responsi.
.:Hty for an Intelligent and discrim.
mating selection made in the light OF
Industrial groups Of workers. To full.
iii this responsibility they must now
themselves even more care
'ully than hitherto. They will find
he boards heartily ready to cooperate
With them to the utmost.