The Idaho Springs siftings-news., 1918-09-20
CAN SERVE NATION
Provost Marshal General Makes
Appeal to Employers.

IL a. sitltll ihltHuSd lpi t'V
guidance of employers of labor and
other representatives of industry. in
the matter Of their responsibility in
the classification of new regiStrantS
under the Selective service act, Pro- ,
vost Marshal General Crowder says:
l have noticed. in the general eN-
pression> 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 II regiStrant re-
quires merely the filling out of the
questionable. and that the seiec'iv"
service honrdS will perceive the pro
rriety of making the deferment, with
OUT the assistance furnished by the
registrants formal claim indicating
/ the deferment desired. The other fea-
ture is The employers failure 10 real
ize his responsibility To intervene III
aiding the boards determination. ana
therefore to inform himself fully on I'LL
the considerations which should affect
the decision as to defermcnt.
1. As To the first mentioned helief.
universally acted upon, the process of
classification would be seriously ham
pered and dclnyed 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 II :uperhunan
omniscence
Boards Will Make Examination.
The buardS will do all that they pos
Sibly can. on their own initiative, 10
reach Il lust decision by n complete en-
animation of the queStionnaire. even
where no claim is expressly made.
registrant Is therefore mt 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 Il
claim made for deferment,
4 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)
"the maintenance of the military es-
tablishment 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.
1t 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 ele-
ment is found in the voluntary with
drawals for enlistment how large this
Is may be seen from the circumstance
that the total inducrions by draft have
reached some 100000 while the total
enlistments in army and navy amount
to some 400. .000-nearly three-quar-
ters as many. A third element v""N
large but unknown as tn its precise
extent. has been the transfer of labor
power from one industry to another
namely. into the distinctively war in
duStres offering the inducements or
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 S.7OOOOO classified regis
trants of january, 1918. the percen-
tage of the entire industrial popula-
ton represented by the class I regis
trants amounted to only 6 per cent. II
ran as low as per cent for some oc-
cupations, and correspondingly higher
for some other occupations; but the
national average was only per cent
Any notably larger depletion In partlc-
ular 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
to he kept in mind by employers and
others. in weighing the question wheth
er the best solution, in the national
interest Is to ask for the defermenI
Of individuals or groups of men. Such
deferments may assist the immediate
situation in the particular establish
! ment: but they merely force the army
and the navy to seek elsewhere for the
same number of men thus deferred
The quantitative needs of the
military forces are known and i'm
perative; and any given quantity OF
deferments will ultimately have to he
made up by the depletion of some
other occupation. Thus II becomes
the employers duty to consider these
aspects Of deferment, in seeking tha,
solution Of his own problem which best
comports with the national interest
The keynote Of purpose for all OF
us ought to be. and am sure will be
that wise and profoundly significant
phrase in the act Of congress under
which we operate, "the maintenance
Of the military establishment or the
effective operation of the militar,
forces or the maintenance of national