The Hays free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1908-1924, 1918-09-26
CAN SERVE NATION
Provost Marshal General Makes
Appeal to Employers.

In communication intended for the
guidance OF employers OF labor and
other representatives OF Industry, in
the matter OF their responsibility In
the classification OF new registrants
under the selectiEe service act, Pro
vOst Marshal General Crcwder says:
have noticed, in the general ex-
| pressiOns OF the public attitude which
reach this Office, two frequent features
which lead me to the present CON-
ments. Cne Of these features is the
belief that the process Of awarding de-
ferred classification to q registrant re-
! 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
| the decision as to deferment.
1. As to the first mentioned belief,
/ it must be pointed out that if it 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-
ton of the boards in respect to the reg
istrant's Occupational status. The
| boards do not possess a superhuman
Omniscence
Boards VIII Make Examination.
The boards will do all that they pos
sibly can, on their own initiative, to
reach a just decision by q 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 for his
| deferment.
Nevertheless, the boards will vel
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 lin 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
1t is often forgotten that the selec-
| tive draft is only one element in the
depletion of a particular industry's
man-power. a second and large eIe-
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 I 40OO00-nearly three-quar-
| tiers 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 OF
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 100000 classified regis
| trants Of January, 1918, the percen-
/ tage of the entire industrial popula-
ton represented by the class 1 regis
| trants amounted to only per cent. It
ran as low as per cent for some Oc-
equations, and corresponding1y higher
for some other occupations; but the
/ national average was only per cent.
Any notably larger depletion in partic-
/ ular 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, 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 VIII 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.