Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1918-08-23
STUDENTS CAN ENLIST
IN TRAINING CORPS
Will BE Furnished Uniforms and
Equipment and Called Into Active
Service for Six Weeks Each
Summer

Letters recently received from
robert l.. Kelly, of the national com
mission on students war service urge
the State College authorities to en-
courage young men under draft age
to enlist promptly in the Students
Army Training Corps upon the open
ing OF college on September 80. En-
listed in the S. A. 7. c., the young
men will be classed as on inactive
duty and receive no pay, although
they will be provided with army
| equipment including regular uni
FORM, hats, shoes, and overcoats; will
be called into active service each
summer for six weeks attendance at
camp, when they will receive the pay
as private; and will not be called
INTO active service, except in a ma
tional emergency.
The regulations cited by Director
| Kelly are based upon the minimum
ana maximum ages of s and 21, the
latter being draft age, and the form
er being the minimum at which col
lege men may enlist in the Students
Army Training Corps.
The director says further that stu
dents need not be disturbed by any
proposal to lower the draft age, since
the commission on Students War
SerVice-of which he is campaign
dlrector-is advised that if the draft
age is lowered the plan of the War
| Department will be to cooperate
with, rather than interfere with this
| educational policy.
If lower draft age is fixed, we
are advised it will be for the purpose
| of registration and not for immedi-
ate service of an active type" he
says.
Accompanying Director Kelly's
communication is an announcement
of the War Department, from the
text of which the following is quoted:
The purpose of the plan is to pro
vide for the very important needs of
the army for highly trained men as
| officers, engineers, doctors, chemists,
| and administrators of every kind.
The Importance of this can not be too
strongly emphasized. The plan is an
attempt to mobilize and develop the
brain power of the young men of the
country for these services which de-
mand special training.
It's object is to prevent the pre-
mature enlistment for active service
of these men who could by extending
the period of their college training,
multiply manifold their value to the
country"
The War Department, Committee
on Education and Special Training,
issues the following:
The military status of the college
man in the ranks of the Students
| Army Training Corps and his relation
to the draft have been cleared up by
War Department decision. The
student soldier is enlisted already in
military service of the United States.
| Upon reaching draft age he becomes
| subject to registration whenever the
| President directs. He is then placed
in class Sd by his local board. The
draft board will not include him in
calls for induction as long as he re-
mains in the S. A. T. C,
On the day the order number of
the student soldier is reached the
fact is reported to the college presi-
dent, to the commanding officer, and
to the adjutant general. A report
upon the mans record as a student
soldier and as scholar is put be-
| fore the War Department Commit
tee on Education and Special Train
| ing with the recommendation that he
be called at once to an officers train
ing camp, called to an army camp, or
permitted to complete college train
ing by transfer to the Enlisted Re
serve Corps.
Induction blanks and an explana-
ton of methods of procedure for
young men to become members of the
students army corps of the State Col
lege of Washington will be sent out
by college officials to all inquirers
within a few days. Many inquiries
concerning the steps to be taken to
| become affiliated with the student
corps have already been received by
| the college, indicating that many
young men will take advantage of the
opportunity to do college work while
preparing themselves for military
service Present indications are that
it will be possible for registrants to
be voluntarily indicted into the stu
dent corps, although the full regula-
tons are not yet available.