Denver labor bulletin., 1918-09-14

partment framed bill extending the
upper age limit to forty-five, they
weren't fooling themselves. They
didn't have any idea that men from
forty to forty-five would be of much
of meeting German shock troops on
the fighting front. Barring the occa-
sional one who has kept himself in
exceptional physical condition, men of
forty-five have not the snap and
resiliency to make acceptable soldiers.
The war department didn't name for
ty-five for the purpose of any direct
effect on the man of that age; they
wanted the indirect effect. They
didn't want to make him fight; they
merely wanted to make him work.
They wanted to put him in a position
where they could hold the work or
fight" rule over him. They wanted
to catch the idlers and those engaged
in non-essential industries. They
wanted to make them get into indus
tries that would help win the war.
They wanted control over all males
between eighteen and forty-five, the
young and fit ones to go into the
trenches, and the older and unfit, or
semi-fit, to go into war industries.
That work or fight" rule of General
Crowder's has proved to be very pop
ular-that is, popular among the
neighbors of the men caught in it
and extremely effective within the
ages where it is already in operation,
from twenty-one to thirty-one. 1t is
really an admirable device for mobi-
lizing the man power of the country
into essential war industries. There
were elements of craftsmanship in
the conception of it. The chief busi-
ness of craftsmanship, as a French
philosopher said. is the invention of
new names for institutions which
have become odious under the old
names Transcription of labor" is an
odious phrase Work or fight" is a
popular one. But isn't work or fight"
a mere euphemism for ~conscription
Of labor?" In practice they mean
about the same The country and
Congress have realized in a vague
way that ultimately all the man power
OF the country must be mobilized for
war. in the proportion of about one
man in the trenches to four men in
the factories Seeing this necessity.
there have been various proposals to
draft everybody and then let the
army officials formally assign the less
fit to shipbuilding. munition making
and the like. Senator McCupber.
Senator Cummins, Senator France.
Congressman Ramseyer, and others
introduced various bills for register
ing everybody from as low as sixteen
to as high as siXty-two or siXty-five,
the fit ones to be sent 10 the army, the
less fit to be sent to the factory.
These proposals were seriously de-
bated. and there cannot be any ques-
hot ftlta talN xx-n xh IN a
come to that il less drastic way had
not been found. Doubtless General
Crowder and his associates realized
that such direct and drastic conscrip-
ton of labor would have been unpop-
ular. for America is not even yet deep
enough into the spirit of the war to
realize that these things must be; I;
doubtless also General Crowder and
his associates didn't care to take on
the appalling amount of routine it
would have added to their already bur-
dcned shoulders. The work or fight"
rule is satisfactory substitute. That
rule merely says to the individual:
You must find an essential indus
try and get busy in it" That is GER
tainly more practicable. and probably
better in every way than to try to
say to a specific man: "You, Jones,
must 20 TO work in Smiths factory
at z n. m. next Monday morning"
To be sure, the work or fight" rule
will operate only up to the age of for
ty-five; but the end is not yet. More
over. this rule is supplemented by the
governments very complete control of
labor, thru the United States employ
ment serviceA In any event, we may
be sure that when the war department
named fortyfive. it was merely for
the indirect purpose of making the
men of the older ages go into essential
industries, and not with any optimistic
idea of making soldiers of them. To
be sure. Congress may. now or here
after. surround the draft law with
such detailed restrictions as will COM
pei General Crowder TO take an un-
married man of forty-five before he
takes n married man of twenty-five.
II this is done, we may see the bach
elors of forty-five wearing uniforms
in the fifth or sixth million of our
soldiers. But let us not fool our
selves: we shall be doing it not be-
cause that is the best way to win the
war quickly, but because of humani-
tartan and social considerations which
have nothing to do with killing Ger
mans. OF course these older men
will all have to register, If the present
plans are carried out, and after they
are registered some of them will be
drafted. and of those that are drafted
some may find themselves, in the
course of time, in the trenches. But
the underlying idea is not to take
these older men as soldiers, but merely
to get them into essential industries
by enforcing the work or fight" rule
against them. As General Crowder
- ,,xl-
the effect of additional registration
will n, 70 ya.r,,,. ;,JpStry nm tn fbo