Fulton County tribune. (Wauseon, Ohio) 1883-1925, 1918-09-20
24,OOO,OOO men
NOW REGISTERED
100000 Names Are Added to
100000 Already
Enrolled.
STATEMENT BY CROWDER
Provost Marshal General Says Great
Problem Now is to Classify
Registrants Justly and
Wisely.

Washington, Sept. 14.-With assur-
ances from every section of the coun-
try that the registration of Americas
millions of men between the ages OF
eighteen and twenty-One and thirty
two to forty-five, inclusive. had been
accomplished with precision, Provost
Marshal General Crowder turned his
attention to the great task of classify
ing this vast army.
Thirteen million names, approx
mately, have now been added to the
100000 already registered, making
ii total man-power census of about "a
100000.
The great problem now, General
CroWder said, is to classify the regis
trants justly and wisely both for the
welfare of the army and for the eco
nomic and industrial good of the ma
ton.
-"An erroneous impression" General
Crowder said, 'is current that the
nonproductive list of occupations con-
taihed in the provost marshal generals
work or fight regulation of last May
corresponds to the group of industries
omitted from the preference list an
nounced by the chairman of the war
industries board on September 8.
Because the former list was brief
| (Only five classes of Occupation),
while the latter group is very large
| Gncluding all industries except the 20
tod
cause the announcement of September
9 stated that the preference list is
the basis for Industrial. exemption
from the draft some persons have
tfOrmed the impression that the small
list of five 'nonproductive' occupations
has suddenly been enlarged by the pro-
vost marshal general to include the ex-
| tensive group of industries omitted by
the chairman of the war industries.
"This impression is so erroneous
and misleading that it calls for prompt
Reputation. The 'nonproductive' list
of five classified Occupations has not
been enlarged. and it will not be en-
larged without the amplest and most
explicit notice.
"An industry omitted from that list
is in the position of not being omitted
to a priority privilege. The relation
of that list to the selective service
system is that an industry included
In it is thereby recommended to the
district boards as being a necessary
industry, and the district boards may
take advantage of that recommends
ton in determining whether an indis-
pensable man in such an industry
should be placed in u deferred class
on that ground.
"But there are, of course, many
scores, perhaps hundreds, of industries
not positively essential to the war pro
gram nor to the maintenance of ma.
tional interest during the emergency
In those industries are, or will be
millions of registrants deferred or
grounds of dependency, and many 9th
ers in class / without deferment.
'At this point the work or fight
order comes into play, but only a few
classes of OccupatiOns-fve in alex
pressly enumerated in that order, anC
to a relatively small number of indi
viduals.
Among this extensive and unlisted
group of 'nonpriOrity' industries, /
finds q few which it designates al
'nonproductive.' The policy involve,
is that those men of draft age woult
serve the country best by getting ou
of those occupations, either into tn
military forces or into some other oC
cupatiOn.
THUS the war industries board i
concerned merely with strengthenin
the priority position of limited mum
Der of industries at the top of tn
, scale, so TO speak, in relation to wa
needs; while the provost marshal ger
| erals regulation is concerned mainl
with Strengthening the army by tax
ing the registrants who choose to sta
in small number of occupations a
the bottom of the scale"