Emmons County record. [volume] (Williamsport, D.T. [i.e. N.D.]) 1884-current, 1918-03-07
DEFERRED CLASSES
NOT TO Be CALLED

Inc following was taken from the
report Of the Provost Marshal Gen.
eral to the Secretary of War on the
first draft under the selective-service
act, 1917, in regards to the incoming
age 21 and the attained age. 80, and
will be of great interest to those who
are in the deferred class:
No human mind can forecast the
resultant numbers in Class l, but
las the roughest guess based on the
experiences of the first draft) it is
estimated that Class / will comprise
a list of physically acceptable men
in number close to one million
enough for any call in present pros
pect. Whether this guess be justified
in practice or not, it can be announc-
ed now as the policy and belief of this
Office that in all probability it will be
possible to fill our military needs
without ever invading any class more
deferred than Class L; and this is the
promise, the standard, and the goal,
here for the first time announced, to-
ward which every administrative ef-
fort of this Office shall be directed.
1t is admitted that the fulfllment
of this hope will require further leg
islation (as shall be presently ex-
plained), and the requirements of the
war may propose problems that will
demand much more profound adjust
ments; but as u rough measure of pro-
lection it is not too much to say that
than those who within the present
possibilities that have never been at
tanned by any other nation in the his
tory Of war.
1t is perfectly demonstrable that the
fosetering of our industrial and ag-
ricultural institutions requires the
deferment-not of the younger men,
who have not yet become integrated
with the domestic, industrial or ag-
ricultural life of the Nation-but
rather of men who have passed be-
yond their majority and who have
assumed domestic or industrial or
agricultural relations which demand
their discharge from the obligations
fof military service. Therefore, pre-
suming that the military needs of
the Nation should require more men
than those who within the present
draftable ages, and under the pres
ent rules would be in Class /, the
problem would instantly present it.
self whether it were better to invade
the deferred classes or to add an
other class of younger men.
Between the two alternatives there
can be little hesitation. Against the
proposition to add the class of men
who have reached 81 since last reg
istration there can be urged but a
single objection that among the
younger men will be found those who
are just completing their education
and, as has already been forcefully
urged, that where the education is
technical (medical, chemical, or en-
gineering) the completion of the
training of men so skilled is neces-
sary for war purposes. As to such
technical students the arguments are
overwhelming and they have pre-
vailed.
In other fields of education diff
ferent considerations are controlling
If nation is to make any sacrifcial
adjustment it is here. The value OF
an educated youth is not to be un-
derestimated, but war is an emerg.
ent condition which by the very ma
ture of the problem can not last for
ever. While due provision must be
made for the future, the obligation
of military service is not lightly to
be passed over. 1t is not difficult to
find that the relations of a man to
the war industries of a nation are
sufficient to defer his call to military
service and in his place to send an.
other man to a stern and vicarious
sacrifice; but it is much more diff.
ficult to reach the conclusion that
either the interests of the nation o,
the interests Of the favored man, are
sufficient to justify sending forth ir
the place of college student less
fortunate youth at the imminent ant
great peril of life-not because he
is better fitted to defend his countr,
(for admittedly such is not the easel
but because the national life ha:
; vouchsafed him fewer opportunities
Yet that idea is rampant in the Ma
ton. 1t is unfair and uniustly par
tial. Human lives and destinies ar,
at stake. There is too great dis
position to weaken on this ground
and the sooner the Nation comes t
] an eyact realization of the iss,,es i'm