Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-07-17
Draft Paralyzes
Labor in Mines


ferred classes or any other classes when
| cant get n ruling to support me-"
Mr.. Stevenson meant that he wanted
not only free hand for the boards, but
n ruling that mine iaborers, such as
slope men, top men. bottom men and
mule drivers, should receive deferred
! class ification
/ Law Intentionally Elastic
Major Conklin answered:
The seIective service law was pur-
posely made elastic. 1t could not pos
sibly be made to fit perfectly every dis
trict, for they all have their peculiar
conditions. Although these men are not
regarded as skilled lanorers you can call
them such and put them in deferred
class, s,fcation when they are needed in
from General Crowder would do more
harm elsewhere than II would do good
here, II would be used in other sections
by men who wanted to keep out of the
army"
John Harvey. of Luzerne County
| Local Board No. H. the Hazleton board.
! declared that the problem Of n,ine-labor
shortage will never be solved until the
draft law--that is. the selective service
LAWS amended by creating power to
! select men for essential industry.
THE same authority that takes man
needed for the army and says. You shall
| fight must be able to take man
needed in the coal mines or in any other
: industry and place him there and say.
! You shall work there declared Mr..
| Harvey, and applause greeted him.
Must Follow EnGiand's Example
We have got to come to what Eng
| land came to-" he went on. We have
| got to- take coal miners out of the mu-
nitlons factories and put them back into
the coal mines where they belong. even
! If they don't get as high wages. The
sooner we come to a realization of that
+ the better"
! Adjutant General Frank d. Beary. Of
hcial chief of the draft in Pennsylvania.
presided. and Major W. G. Murdoch,
disbursine officer and active chief of the
draft In the state. served as secretary
and answered some of the numerous
questions
4 William Richards. vice president ana
general manager Of the Philadelphia a.
Reading Coal and Iron Company. opened
the conference by giving facts and fig
ures on the necessity of ending the drain
/ on anthracite field labor.
He said his company already had suf-
Tered loss of 5000 men and there were
none to take their places. The anthracite
region had suffered a loss of $4,000 men.
the number having been reduced from
$4,000. The selectire draft. he said.
contemplated putting men where they
can do the most good. but in many cases
it has not done so. for the mine labor
ers are needed more in the mines than
anywhere else. He said 527 men en-
ployed by his company had registered
! for the draft last June 5 and of these
400 refused to join their employers in
asking deferred classification.
I Drafting Dlminishes Output
I Of $4,000 mine workers now employed
( by his company. Mr.. Richards said, 1900
are now subject to draft and when these
60 to follow the 5000 already gone to
I the army there must be a diminution
Of production. His company was typica,
he said,
Other speakers said it was dtfficul
to persuade the mine laborers that theil
duty was In the mines. The men want tr
tight. They declare they will not sta,
here and be called slackers. Many can
sIo.Lars M,n,. ~. -. so - . - :.
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ferred classification for needed mer
many Of them simply send letters sayin
,nes WIN hNs 70 Keep 'ne men and lie
fcient
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