Mexico Missouri message., 1918-10-03
CAN SERVE NATION
Provost Marshal General Makes
Appeal to Employers.

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:
/ 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 filling out of the
questionable, 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, and
therefore to inform himself fully on all
the considerations which should affect
the decision as to deferment.
I. AS to the first mentioned belief,
II must be pointed out that If It 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-
tion of the boards in respect to the reg
istrant's occupational status. The
boards do not possess superhuman
omniscence.
Boards viii Make Examination.
The boards will do all that they pos
sibly can, on their own initiative, to
reach a just decision by complete ex-
animation of the QUESTIONABLE, even
where no claim is expressly made. A
reglstrant is therefore at liberty, II 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
claim made for deferment.
2. Why should the employer, or 9TH
er third person, In such cases, make
the claim? Because the employer in
thisS 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 reglstrant himself may not have
sufficiently considered
1t Is often forgotten that the selec-
tive draft Is only one 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 be seen from the circumstance
that the total inductlons by draft have
reached some 100000, while the total
enlistments In army and navy amount
TO some 1,400,0 ,000-nearly three-quar-
ters as many. A third element, very
large, but unknown as TO Its precise
extent, has been the transfer of labor
power from one industry to another.
namely, into the distinctively war In
dustries offering the inducements of
higher wages. How relatively small,
in actual effect has been the effect Of
the selectiye draft is seen in the fact
that, for all the occupations represent
ed in the 100000 classified regis
trants Of January, 1918, the percen-
tage of the entire Industrial popula-
tion represented by the class ! regis
trants amounted to only per cent. 1t
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 partic-
ular industries must therefore have
been due, partly to enllstments, and In
probably greater degree, to voluntary
transfers into other industries.
Must Remember Nations Needs.
These other influences are therefore
to be 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 deferment
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 viii ultimately have to be
made up by the depletion Of some
other occupation. Thus It becomes
the employers duty to consider these
aspects of deferment, in seeking that
solution Of his own problem which best
eomports 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 military
forces or the maintenance Of national
| interest during the emergency.