The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1918-08-23
Field, Admits His
Responsibility
In Draft Mixup
Exonerates HiIo Board From
Blame But Has Nothing To
Say About Secretary Of Medi-
cal Board Whose Discharge
Was Result

Captain II. Gooding Field, and he
alone, Is responsible for the East Ha-
waii draft board mixup which resulted
in the sending here from Hawaii Of
men who should not have been called.
tic admits it. 1t was out of this mixup
that grew the incident as a result Of
which Captain Field succeeded in hav
ing John c. Bridwell, secretary Of the
medical advisory board, dismissed but
as to this feature the selective draft
head is silent. He says that he does
not wish unmerited blame to attach to
the draft boards but he says nothing
about unmerited blame attaching to Mr.
Bridwell.
Admission was made yesterday by
Capt. Field, head of the seIcctive draft
service in the Territory, that he com
mitted a glaring error when he wire.
lcssed to the East Hawaii draft board
sometime ago to send all Class l draft
mon to Honolulu for induction into
military service, and he further admits
that instead of calling for all Glass
men, he should have asked only for
Class IA draftees.
As result of this error the board
sent over every Glass ! man it could
round up, and from this error grew
the incident which resulted in the dis
missal of John G.. Bridwell, secretary
Of the medical advisory board. Many
Of the draftees sent by the board were
physically and otherwise disqualified
from being indicted into the army, and
some would have been east adrift on the
town on a Saturday afternoon without
money, had not Secretary Bridwell out
Of sympathy for the men asked The
Advertiser to take up the question of
their temporary maintenance with the
Governor.
Bridwcll was denounced by Field as
dislOyal,' and, for the good of the
service" peremptorily discharged by
him.
Issues Signed Statement
Captain Field issued statement yes
tcrday, and signed it, in which he shoul.
aered the blame for the mistake in call
ing for disqualified draftccs. Whether
or not Mr.. Brdwoll will he reinstatcd
was not stated by Captain Field, nor
did he refer to this part Of the Incl
dent in his statement.
81 would be the last to allow any
miscOnceptiOn to arise regarding what
might he considered an omission on my
part in issuing instrpctions to local
boards, - said Captain Field, resulting
in any unmcrited blame to such boards.
In justice to the Illo Draft BOARD, and
upon second reading of my Geographic
Instructions to this board, regarding the
filing of their last quota for draftees,
might state that the exact words used
by ne were as follows:
War department has just issued a
pCrcmptory call for one thousand addi.
tional draftees from this Territory to
he indicted at Camp Armstrong this
month or as soon after as physically
'ossibIc. To fill this Quota, all Class |
men in the Territory not already draft
Cd must he called Immediately.
81 fully acknowledge that the in.
sertion of the letter A by me after
the words Glass |, and before the word
! Men in the above telegram would
! have made it impossible for any mis-,
understanding to have arisen, and | am
! glad to he able to make this statement.
High Pressure Blamed
"All those who are engaged in the
! draft work, in this Territory, as well as
on the mainland, are working under
high pressure. That this strenuous work
/ is increasing Washington authorities
, fully recognize, and the plan to draft
additional clerical stats from indicted
men for draft headquarters here and all
the boards in the Territory is but one
means Of relieving this pressure.
! All the volunteer members of the
various boards are doing heroic work
and | feel can speak with confidence
that, despite errors in judgment, which
will arise, AZ no one is infallible, that
we are all giving the best we have in
us to the cause Of raising an army fol-
CncIr Sam.
~ weIcom" this opportunity of cx
onCrating from any blame the HilC
draft board, for the members Of which
have the highest personal regard ant
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