The Meridian times. (Meridian, Idaho) 1909-1938, 1918-09-27
CALL TO EMPLOYERS
Paramount Duty to Aid Work of
SeIeGtive Boards.
Can Perform Great Service to coun-
try by Helping Work of Classifying
Registrants Under the Sc
lective Service Act.

n
dressed to employers of labor and 9th
er representatives of Industry through
out the country concerning their share
of responsibility in the classification
of the new registrants under the Sc
lective service act.
General Crowder says:
| have noticed, In the general ex-
pressions of the public attitude which.
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 to a registrant re-
quires merely the filing 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
/. AS to the first mentioned belief,
1t must be pointed out that if 1t were
universally acted upon, the process or
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
An
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 just decision by complete ex-
animation of the QUESTIONABLE, even
where no claim is expressly made.
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
! he furnished by the Indication of
i claim made for deferment. With this
aid, the process will become a simple
and speedy one.
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 phrase9
''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-
five draft Is only one element in the
depletion of a particular tndustry'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 I'm army and navy amount
to some 400.000-nearly three-quar-
ters as many. A third element, very
large, but unknown as to its precise
extent, has been the transfer of labor
|
namely, into the distinctively war in
dustrtes offering the inducement 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 S,700,000 classified regis
trants of January, 1918. the percen
, | foo, NF Ind tein a
, tion represented by the class regis
. trants amounted to only per cent. i
/ ran as low as per cent for some &C
equations, and correspondence higher
for some other occupations; but thu
national average was only 6 per cent
= Any notably larger depletion in partic
ular industries must therefore have
, been due. partly to enlistments. and II
probably greater degree, to voluntar!
! transfers into other industries.
Must Remember Nations Needs.
, These other influences are therefor
to be kept in mind by employers an
others, in weighing the question wheth
er the best solution, In the nationa
! interest. Is to ask for the defermen
of individuals or groups of men. Sue
{ iefeHnents may assist the immediate
situation in the particular establish
ment; but they merely force the arm
and the navy to seek elsewhere for tn
same number Of men thus deferred
The cumulative needs of tn
military forces are known and in
perative; and any given quantity 0
e deferments will ultimately have to b
a made up by the depletion of som
c other occupation. Thus it become
/ the employers duty to consider thes
+ aspects of deferment, in seeking tina
solution of his own problem which bes
= COMFORTS with the national interes
The cessation of enlistments wi
henceforth protect Industry agains
one irregular and uncontrollabl
source of arrangement. 1t will eorr'
spondingly throw upon the selectiv
!. service system the greater respons
| hilftv for an sinfelliQpnt and diScrin