The Hawaiian gazette., 1918-08-06

of draft aga, whom the sseleetive draft
ofiicer had expected to induct into SER
vice will remain at plantation work
and will not put on the khaki of Uncle
Sam. How many Of these have been
registered and whether or not any have
already been indlcted into service has
not been ascertaiped. Neitber is Ii
known what steps, win be taken IL any
such men have already been indueted in.
70 the national service, The, seleetive
draft officer who learned of the sitpa
ton, only yesterday, has not had time
10 investigate .. and seems somewhat
perturbed at the information which hhs
come to him. - -taE3{1, 4
\ There isl provision in the draft regu-
latiops that aliens who have entered
the United States since the Seleetive
Draft Law became effective, July 81,
l9l7s in the case Of Hawaii, and have
net applied for citizenship. are not sub
ject. TO- registration. n This clause APP
pears to have been completely over
looked by the seleetive draft officer
until it was called to his attention, by
representatives, of the planters, labor
buresp yesterday morning The clause
applies to all Filipinos who have come
TO Hawaii since the date mentioned and
have not declared their intention of be-
coming citizens Of the United States,
a. such Bilipinos are ,classed as aliens.
Large Number Affected r ~ $feg
Filipino iaborers for the cane feds
come in at the rate of from 200 to
$50 month so that since July 81 Of
last year there must have arrived be-
tween $500, and $500 such laborers.
Assuming that half Of these are Of
draft age, there would be between, 1900
and 1900 FilipinOs that are exempted
from registration and consequently
from. the draft. On one plantation, of
this island. it. has been discovered there
are fifty FIVE such men, so it is evident
they are very, numerous in the, whole
of the Territory. -. 10. ,.,.. ,.,,31
When the first registration was held
in the Islands the plantations neglected
to claim for their employees q defer
ment in class and the laborers, did not
make the claim for themselves. As .
result hundreds have already been
taken in the draft who were entitled
TO deferred classification because en-
pl0yedi in an essential industry and this, !
combined with the calling of the guard,
has oecasi0ned an acute shortage of
labor, estimated at between 1000, and
5000. The action of the labor bureau
is to protect the plantations from loss
Of hundreds more from the compara-
lively few that are left. - (
Registrations Reported
Reports heard yesterday indicated
the draft boards have been registering
these new arrivals as well as the youths
who attained, ma jOrity in the last year.
"a hot Of
men were caught in the "drag net"
in thet rounding up of ,slackers and I'M
registered men Of. the draft age and !
that some of them have thus been in
Quoted into service.
These men are in the position of the
man whose lawyer told him they could !
not Jail him, but who was nevertheless |
occupying q cell. They have been |
illegally indicted into the army and |
are specifically stated to be ineligible |
for, service since they were ineligible ,
for registration. -.
Long Job Entailed
Only ., careful investigation of >he /
draft records win show how man! IN.
eligibles are now registered and .ow |
many have been drafted, twill ces-
state an, examip nation, of all the re- ords /
HlipinOs were registered after, Il first I
registration day, for, among al ! that
were later registered and assifed =
there may be found men who } I've been /
improperly included in. the & aft.
If the production of suga is to be /
kept up to the, maximum which the T
government desires, as indie tied by the I
plans for keeping the fOR Irly leased I
L..
steaded, the planters M Il hold to ey-
cry, possible ,laboFer fG .Ghere is not in
sight any means W Teplenish their [
plantation forces and a further deple.
ton of such forces cannot but mean
Il reduction of the acreage that can be
|
Bisld Has No Figures
Captain Field said yesterday that a
of the planters labor
bureau had called upon him and called
as FlipinOs who had arrived here from
the Philippines last year, since, July 81. +
Iaptain Field said he did not believe
draft registration, although he was not T
then in possession of figures to snpportJ
his statement. "a ..,.l b.
VIM NoAuIOhSo ~ Uip IoBlbtEdtlOu VI u
young men who had attained4the age b.
of twenty one years since. July 80, 1917,
and had arrived here since that time,
Captaih. Field said any such instances
would be caught when these young men
flied out the QUESTIONABLE blanks later
on. Lists Of such young men will be /,
furnished to the draft office by the
planters labor bureau, and these will
be used to check off names when ques,
tionnaires are filed. ~
Dame citations Required
II there are any such instances the Ic
names will be checked, and the regis
ration cancelled, under. the authority n
IF the seleetive regulations. Ii
~ am certain that very few draft. {
Ige men among Filipinos who entered Ia
he Territory since last June were Ef
or are In SERVICE" said Cap, kt
ain Field. "However, am just tax I
ny up the matter to Investigate it,"