The Washington herald., 1918-08-06
IS TO As DRAFT
BILL, INTRODUCED,
WILL BE PRESSED
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thoried to. call the men out In Sc
quence of ages. That Is to say. II he
desires he may call out these between
the ages OF 80 to 40 or all those Of the
age OF 20 before calling out persons
between 10 and IS or between the ages
OF 40 and As. The system follows that
In effect in some Of the European
countries.
Another change in the law strikes
out the words 'in Industries including
agriculture" and substitutes the
words .''in occupations or employ
ment found to be necessary to the
maintenance Of the military establish
ment." etc. This amendment Is made
to the section OF the act which pro-
vides for the deferred classification or
temporary discharge OF persons en-
gagged in useful work
An amendment of the present law
Is also made to permit the President
to appoint as members of the dis
trict boards persons residing with
out the districts to which they are
appointed.
Senator Chamberlain made public
a letter written by Gen. Crowder TO
Gen. March explaining the needs of
the army and the necessity of hav-
ing the age limits fixed at .1S to as.
In this letter Gen. Crowder said:
Numbers According to Age.
The combined ages of 80 to 40
and 10 to 20 revealed only little
over 100000 men, or a half million
less than the total amount called
FOR by the program for the nine
months. October 1918 to June 1919
BY including IS at the top. the sec
ond combination would yield only
1.750,000 electives. By taking the
extreme step and adding age IS a,
the bottom. and including age as
at the top, something over 2,25e,0
electives would be obtained.
This seems to Indicate that the
bill as drafted should at least pro-
vide authority to call into service
the extreme age of IS at the top and
Is at the bottom; and II Is accord
ingly recommended that the draft
of the bill be prepared with those
ages as the limit"
General Crowder also emphasized In
his letter to General March that
authority to call out the new men
should b obtained Immediately. He
stated thath the number of men in
class one might fall below 10000 by
September l, after filling the calls for
July and August He said that II
might become necessary to have
weekly registrations OF the men as
fast as they reach the age OF q In
order to fill up the gap.
this WaV we COnld hnna to Uat
under a rush procedure, approximate
ly 5000 men available for September
call. which. added to those remaining
in class one, would give a total barely
sufficient to fill the September CALL"
General Crowder explained.
Members of the Military Affairs
Committee of the Senate are not alto
gethef satisfied that General Crow.
der's prediction I'm the matter OF the
shortage OF class one men is justi.
fed. They point to the fact that the
original design of the United States
was to have a reserve force oi
!. 900, 900 men in the United States.
There are now 100000 men in the
cantonments and camps in this coun'
try. so that IL the maximum OF 5000
should be sent abroad in each of the
months Of September, October. No,
vember and December. the reservoir
in this country would be down only
to 10000. On. the other hand. il Il
more likely that 10000 may be SEN
abroad in September. and only 5000
and only 10000 in each OF the othel
three months, leaving still 100000 mel
lin camp as in the original program.