Idaho County free press. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho Territory) 1886-current, 1918-08-08
CHANGING DRAFT AGES

The American government, III planning
% increase the draft age, say to A
wears, is taking a step the fairness Of
,b;cb no one can doubt. While some
besitancv is felt in certain quarters as
70 the wisdom of taking for the military
lads of less than q years, the practica
bi6tv of training these boys for army
service also can be clearly shown.
When, in the spring of 1917, the
American congress voted to register for
an enormous draft army, all the men be-
tween the ages of 81 and 80 in the com
mouwealth, calculations were based on
nossibilities for immediate training of
these men, The raising of an army of
millions of men is a stupendous task,
and the equipment and training of such
an army is a task far greater, even than
tbe gathering together of these men for
the military service of their country.
Practically all the unmarried men in
the United States today, between the
ages of q and 80, except those physi-
ealv disqualified for service, and those
engaged in industries regarded as es-
sentia to the conduct of the war, are
wearing the uniform of the American
4 soldier, sailor or marine. Such as has
been the task of assembling, equipping
4 and training these millions of men in
the course of less than a year, is i'm
possible to measure, except in the ag
gegate One can only say that we
have overseas far more than 100000
+ trained soldiers, and are sending more
as rapidly as ships can transport them,
while the gaps made in training camps
and contOnments in the United States by
4 the departure of these thousands and
hundreds of thousands, are Immediately
filled by raw recruits.
If the war program of the United
States is not to jeopardize the industrial
s activities of the country-if it is not
to throw thousands of dependent fam
lies on the government for support
further and prompt action must and will |
be taken by congress. The rank and |
file of the American army today is com
posed mainly of young men. Few men
Of middle age are in the service, com
4 pared with the number of young men
who are sharing their country IS bur
den across the seas.
Can it be said that the older men
many without dependents-ha in~the
past been wholly devoid of military
4 responsibility because fate decreed that
.they did not fall within the imaginary
INES prescribing the draft ages? Now
pat the draft ages are to be increased,
s'ne weight of direct military response
pihty will fall more equitably on the
whole of the nation s manpower, rather
z'nan upon those within a ten-year SPAN
At the outset of the war, it was per
Fecuy proper that, in view of the ap-
FroSimate number of men required to
FOmplete years military program,
young men of certain ages and degrees
r responsibility should be called to the
fOlors. But, as the demands for men in
crease, 1t also is proper that all up to
perhaps 45, should be given the OPP
POrtunity to "fall in'' with the selec-
'hve service men.
with respect to the boys not yet 81,
'Ome have felt that because of rheu
3Ou'h' they should not be put into active
S''ice' This argument probably has c
D'l merit, but, on the other hand, let +
4 also remember the period of training I
~ Is required in order to turn out a /
'paole soldier. Is it not well to have {
rese boys ready for service when their a
S'''S Is called, rather than to have them
''s'y ready for trainingg And, again, [
y know not what the demands of the o
q 'p,e may be. We should prepare for r
ty eventualities. b