The Celina Democrat. (Celina, O. [Ohio]) 1895-1921, 1918-10-04
CAN SERVE NATION
Provost Marshal General Makes
Appeal to Employers.

other representatives Of Industry, III
the matter Of their responsibility in
the classification OF new reglstranis
under the Selective service act Pro-
vOst Marshal General Crowder says;
have noticed, In the general cN'
pressiOns of the public attitude whlch
reach this office, two frequent features
which lead me 10 the present com
ments. One Of these features Is the
belief that the process of awarding de-
ferred classification 10 registrnnt re-
quires merely the filling out OF the
QUESTIONABLE. and that the selectiNe
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, ana
therefore 10 inform himself fully on all
the considerations which should AFFECT
the decision as to dcfermcnt.
/. As TO the first mentioned belief
II must be pointed ont that If II were
universally acted upon, the process or
classification would he 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 Supcrhuman
omniscenCe.
Boards Will Make Examination.
The boards will do all that they pos
sibly can. on their own initiative, 10
reach just decision by a complete eN-
animation of the questiOnnaire, even
where no claim is expressly made. A
registrant is therefore at liberty, If he
sees fit, to trust 10 the scrutiny OF IN"
boards to discover the necessity for his
deferment.
Nevertheless. the boards will wei
come and will need all the aid that can
be furnished by the indication of
claim made for deferment.
.. Why should the employer, or 9TH
err third person. in such cases, make
the claim? Because the employer in
this 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 registrant himself may NOT have
sufficiently considered.
II Is often forgotten that the Selec-
tive draft Is only one element in the
depletion of 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 inductions by draft have
reached some 100000. while the total
enlistments in army and navy amount
to some La O0OO-nearly three-quar-
ters as many. 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 or
higher wages. How relatively small.
in actual effect. has been the effect OF
the Selective draft is seen in the fact
that, for all the occupations represent
ed in the S.70O000 classified regis
trants of January, 1918, the percen-
tage of the entire industrial pOpula-
! ton represented by the class l regis
| trantS amounted to only 6 per cent. 1t
ran as low as 3 per cent for some oc-
! equations, and correspondence higher
| for some other occupations: but the
! national average was only 6 per cent.
Any notably larger depletion in partic-
uIar industries must therefore have
been due, partly to enlistments, 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. I'm weighing the question wheth-
pr the best solution. in the national
interest. is to ask for the deferment
of individuals or groups of men. Such
dcfcrmentS 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 quantitatiYe needs Of the
military forces are known and i'm
perative; and any given quantity OF
defermentS will 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
compOrtS with the national interest
The keynote of purnoso 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.
Would Return 1t.
,,,,., =, vary bnt hoV and the kind.