The Challis messenger. (Challis, Idaho) 1912-current, 1918-10-23
CAN SERVE NATION
Provost Marshal General Makes
Appeal to Employers.

III d communication intended for the
guidance of employers of labor and
other representatives ns industry, in
the matter Of their responsibility in
the classification Of new registrants
under the selective service act Pro-
vost Marshal General Crowder says:
l have noticed. in the general ex-
pressions of the public attitude which
reach this Office, two frequent features
which lead me to the present COM
ments. One Of these features is the
belief that the process of awarding de-
ferred classification to a reglstrant res
quires merely the filling out of the
questionable, and that the selective
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, and
therefore to inform himself fully on all
the considerations which should affect
he decision as to deferment.
l. As to the first mentioned belief,
1t must be pointed out that If 1t were
universally acted upon, the process Of
classification would be seriously ham,
pered and delayed. Someone must in
dictate that the individual case is one
which should arrest the special atten-
fton Of the boards In respect to the reg
tGfrQnf'0 fotv T1,e
boards do not possess a superhuman
N,nniscence.
Boards viii Make Examination.
The boards will do all that they pos
sibly can. on their own initiative, to
reach just decision by complete ex-
animation of the questionable, even
where no claim is expressly made. A
registrant is therefore at liberty, If he
sees fit. to trust to the scrutiny Of the
boards to discover the necessity fer his
deferment.
Nevertheless. the boards will well
come and will need all the aid that can
be furnished by the indication Of a
claim made for deferment.
2. Why should the employer. or 9TH
er third person. in such cases. make
the claim? Because the employer in
this situation represents the nation.
because Tin the statutory phrase)
'the maintenance Of the military es-
Establishment 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 frem the circumstance
that the total inductions by draft have
reached some 1900. 600. while the total
enlistments in army and navy amount
to some 0,0OO-nearly three-quar-
tiers as many. A third element. YER.
large, but unknown as to its prec
extent, has been the transfer Of lat
power from one industry to anoth
namely, into the distinctively war
dustries offering the inducements
higher wages. How relatively smd
in actual effect. has been the effect
the selective draft Is seen in the I'd
that for all the occupations represe
ed in the $4,000 classified reg
trants Of January, 1918. the perez
tage of the entire industrial popu
ton represented by the class / reg
trants amounted to only 6 per cent.
ran as low as 8 per cent for some
equations, and correspondence higf
FOR some other occupations; but
national average was only per ce
An? notably larger depletion in part
ular industries must therefore ha
BEEN due. partly to enlistments. and
probably greater degree, to volunta
transfers into ether industries.
Must Remember Nations Needs.
These other influences are thereto
to be kept in mind by employers
others. in weighing the question wheth-
er the best solution. in the national
interest. Is to ask for the deferment
of individuals or groups Of men. Such
deferments 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 cumulative 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
COMFORTS with the national interest.
The keynote of purpose 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.