Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1918-08-29
DRAFT BILL HAS PASSED
AS ORIGINALLY DRAFTED

The man power bill, extending
the draft ages Is to As, both inclus-
i've, passed the Senate at Washing
ton yesterday without a dissenting
vote.
Senator Gore of Oklahoma voted
against the bill on its final passage
because he was opposed to calling
boys of IS to fight overseas.
When at the finish of the roll call
his vote was the only one in the
negative, he said he did not want
his vote to stand in the way of unan-
linus action by the Senate. He said
he could not conscientiously vote for
the measure and asked the Senate to
excuse him from voting. He was
excusedby a formal motion and vote.
The bill as it passed the Senate
contains the anti-strike, or work or
fight" proposition, but with some of
its teeth drawn. Senator Cummins
proposed, and the Senate adopted
modifying amandmen with will
protect strikers in their deferred
| classifications if they will submit
their grievances to the National War
| Labor Board and agree to abide by
! it's decision.
| Amendment after amendment
intended to free boys under II from
| tie call of the new draft or to keep
them in reserve in this country. and
not send them to the battle front
until they had attained their major
ity, was proposed only to be voted
down as fast as proposed.
The acid test was on the amend
ment proposed by Senator Poindex-
ter to exempt boys of Is from the
draft. Il was defeated by a vote of
81 to 81.
This vote came after Senator
Chamberlain, chairman of the mill
tary affairs committee and in charge
OF the bill. stated that he would not
be a party to a deception OF the
American people and that he wanted
the Senators to vote for or against
the bill with their eyes open. He
said that the talk of deferred classes
or preferment for the younger reg
istrants was idle and that boys of
IS would be called in the draft and
sent TO the front to meet the present
great crises in the worlds history If
the bill became a law as presented
to the Senate.
The bin passed as drawn with re-
gard TO the call of the IS, 10 and 20
year old boys, giving them no pref
erence by law, and although the War
Department insists that the 1S-year-
old boys will not be in the first
groups as arranged by the War De
partment. Secretary Baker does not
say they will not be called within a
few months, or that they will not be
on the battle front in France by the
first of next July, when the United
States expects to have her maximum
army in France.
An amendment proposed by Sen
ator Penrose of Pennsylvania. and ri
once adopted by the Senate, together
with an amendment by Senator
France of Maryland. adopted earlier
in the day, is expected to have the
effect of upholding the spirit of the
law
The Penrose amendment relieves
the registrant from making claim
for exemption in his QUESTIONABLE
and gives the local board the power
to pass upon the question of deferred
classification on the facts as they
find them in the questionable. The
France amendment provides that men
honorably exempted from the draft
be furnished suitable badges to show
their status and relieve them OF
embarrassment that might come from
not joining the colors.
The first sharp fight of the day
came over the adoption of the anti
strike, work or fight" amendment
Provision had been freely debate,
since the introduction of the bill
Senator Mcclellan of Tennessee
moved to strike it from the bill Hi
motion was defeated by vote of 2!
to 40.