The Yale expositor. (Yale, St. Clair County, Mich.) 1894-current, 1918-09-26
CALL TO EMPLOYERS
Paramount Duty to Aid Work OF
SeIective Boards.
IAN Perform Great Service to coun-
try by Helping Work Of Classifying
Registrants Under the Sc
lective Service Act.

has made public communication adj
dressed to employers of labor aud 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-
presslOns Of the public attitude which
reach this office, two frequent features
which lead me TO 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
ize his responsibility to intervene In
aiding the boards determination, and
therefore to inform himself fully on all
the considerations which should affect
the decision as to deferment.
/. AS to the first mentioned belief.
It must be pointed out that If it were
universally acted upon, the process OF
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
istrants Occupational status. The
boards do not possess a superhuman
omniscence.
Boards Will Make Examination.
The boards viii do all that they pos
sibly can, on their own initiative, to
reach a Just decision by complete ex-
animation of the questionable. even
where no claim is expressly made.
regStrant 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 well
come and will need all the aid that can
he furnished by the indication Of
claim made for deferment. With this
aid. the process VIII become simple
and speedy one.
q Why should the employer, or 9th
or third person, in such cases. make
the claim? Because the employer in
this situation represents the nation.
because lin the statutory phrase)
"the maintenance of the military es-
tablishment 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.
It is often forgotten that the selec-
tive draft is only one element in the
depletion of a particular industry'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 in army and navy amount
to some 1.400, 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
power from one industry to another.
namely, into the distinctlvely war In
dustrles 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 100000 classified regis
trants of January, 1918, the percen-
tage Of the entire industrial pOpula-
ton represented by the class ] regis
trants amounted to only per cent. 1t
ran as low as 3 per cent for some Oc-
equations, and correspondence higher
| for some other occupations; but the
national average was only G per cent.
Any notably larger depletion in partic-
ular Industries must therefore have
been due. partly to enlistments, and In
probably greater degree, TO voluntary
transfers into other industries.
Must Remember Nations Needs.
\ These other influences are therefore
TO be kept in mind by employers and
others, ia weighing the question wheth-
err the best solution, in the national
|
| of individuals or groups of men. Such
deferments may assist the immediate
situation in the particular establish
ment: but they merely force the army
and the navy to seek elsewhere for the
same number of men thus deferred.
The cumulative needs of the
military forces are known and Inn
perative; and any given quantity Of
deferments will ultimately have to be
made up by the depletion Of some
other occupation. Thus IL becomes
the employers duty to consider these
aspects of deferment, In seeking that
solution of his own problem which best
COMFORTS with the national interest.
The cessation of enllstments will
henceforth protect industry against
one irregular and uncomfortable
source of arrangement. II will CORE
spondingly throw upon the seIective
service system the greater response
bility for an intelligent and discrim-