The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-05-20
Topeka STATE JOURNAL
MORN A TION
BURE AU
\ YEAR OF sELECTIvE SERVICE
Washington. D. C.

| men and now reaches out from Wash
] ington to every part of the United
| States, and it's possessions; national
employment agency year old, which
! has now placed in service 100000
men with prospects of placing three
million more in another year-such Is
| the division of the war department
known as the department of the Pro-
vost Marshal General, which handles
all the work connected with the draft
! until the men summoned are actually
! in camp.
1t was on May Is, 1917, that Presi-
dent Wilson signed the selective ser
vice act Six weeks after the declara-
ton of war America had taken the
| step to which England was more than
a year in coming, and which the
| north did not adopt until the Civil
war had been in progress for two
years. All over the country there
| were gloomy phophecies that con-
ure and that on registration day only
small percentage of the nations
young manhood would enroll @or SER
vice.
But the results have amply justified
the foresight of those who realized
that in a conflict such as the present
the whole power of the nation must
be modified without stint or hesita-
ton. The manhood of America re-
sponded promptly to the call, and old
| making as fine a soldier as has ever
fought Americas battles. Drafted
men are already in the trenches, have
borne their share of recent heavy
prisoners. Before King George IN Lon
don on May IL, five trainloads Of them
marched in review on their way to
France. Lloyd George, prime min
| lister of England, has said that the
outcome of the war depends largely
he ,f nf
| lea = theirs is the opportunity to turn
| a crisis in world history.
Here in Washington, at the office of
Provost Marshal General Enoch M.
Crowder. all the work connected with
the draft is centralized. Not even in
existence a year ago, today this offlce
is probably the most perfectly organ
| ICED branch of the war department
General Crowder and his staff have
never received wide publicity for their
gigantic work; neither have pages of
the newspapers ever been filled with
accusations and charges that their de-
rartment had broken down. They
have not been harangued by investi-
eating committees; they have not
been called before congress to spend
valuable time in explaining the expen--
ditures of vast sums of money. The
total appropriations for the provost
marshal generals office up to July 1
and of this sum, General Crowder in
formed congress the other day.
100000 is still unspent because
5000 local boards have done their
" ork at their own expense.
This does not mean that no mis-
takes have been made. and that in a
year of operation the policy govern
ing the draft has never undergone
change. But it does mean, what is
really higher praise, that when the
provost marshal general has realized
that to meet a changing situation new
methods must be adopted, necessary
adjustments have been made without
delay or hesitation.
Much unfair criticism has been
1eveled at the army officers who are
forced to stay in Washington in charge
of administrative work. and the bright
saying of Uncle Joe" Cannon, Who re-
marked that he supposed these Of
ficers wear spurs to keep their feet
from sliding off their desk tops, has
gone the rounds of the country. But
if you could walk thru the draft head
quarters in the old land office build
ing in Washington and talk to the
officers In charge, you would discover
that the life of at least a few Of these
| swivel chair officers" is by no means
q bed Of roses. There is no room for
spurred boots on the top of a desk
piled with plans for special calls or
acquisitions on states, which must be
apportioned by previous calls, ad-
| justed to population, and sent i'm
n,ediatefy by wire.
This ONCE is entirely different from
any other branch of the war depart
ment. Instead of dealing with coal,
steel, explosives, ships and machinery
in terms of production and shipment,
human beings, everyone of whom is
efficient in some employment and USE
less in others, are the units to be con-
sidered. Instead of long and short
tons, General Crowder and his staff
must think in such terms as machin-
j lists and farmers, shipwrights and dem
fists, carpenters and wireless opera
tors. Not only is the modern army a
highly specialized organization, where
the ma jority of men must be skilled in
other things than the handling of
bomb or bayonet, but great care must
be taken not to dislocate the indus
| tries and farms which feed and sup
line of defense. Every effort is being
made to fit the right man in the right
place and to take none for military
service who would be more valuable
in his work at home.
The Industrial. agricultural and
military classification of registrants,
which is being worked out under
the direction of General Crowder
| for this purpose. has been the
| source of a very annoying miscon-
ception in the public mind. Hearing
that the government is classifying
registrants, thousands of people whose
relatives and friends have left home
and disappeared, are writing to the
provost marshal general describing
the lost one in the belief and expec-
tation that Uncle Sam has him listed
and will Immediately forward his lat
est address. Every day hundreds of
these letters are received in Washing
ton. While the government has check
on every registrant and will call him
when his services are needed, draft
headquarters were never intended as
detective agency for missing rela-
tives.
A busy and interesting branch OF
the draft office is the appeals divi
sion. The whole selective system is
SO organized that much authority is
given the local boards, few individual