Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1918-10-23
GERERAL cRoWcER AND ASSIST.
ANTS ARE HAVING LITTLE
TROUBLE THIS TIME.
MEN RESPOND CHEERFULLY
war Draws Attention to the Fact
That Thousands of Citizens of Alien
Birth Do Not Understand the Eng
iish Language.
BY ARTHUR w. DuNN

IN.
"asnlngton.-General Crowder and
1ls assistants in the provost marshal's
once are having less difficulty in put
ing the new draft in operation than
.hey anticipated. Experience with the
nrsi draft has been of great benefit.
me machinery is in good working or
uei ana the men of the country have
responded creditably to this demand
upon them for more man power. One
feature mas been added which is ex-
pecred 10 be of great assistance. This
- the creation of legal advisory
ooards to aid the local boards in the
determination of questions arising I'M
uei the draft law. 1t is expected that
the advice of the legal boards will
save d lot of time at this end of the
lilc.
FroDabiy the most gratifying cir
ctinStance in connection with the new
ulaft is the cheerful response of the
men. The provost marshal general
does rot expect as much difficulty in
regard to slackers as in the first draft.
The whole country has grown more
patriotic as the war has progressed.
war has taught the lesson that more
attentiOn should be given to immi-
grants in the future. When it is found
That thousands upon thousands of men
OF alien birth but who have become
American citizens and been drafted
into the army, are get unable to under
stand the language of the country. it
means that there has been a faulty Sys-
ttn somewhere. These men could not
understand the orders given them, nor
did they understand why they were
called into military service. Hereaf-
tel it would be well to see that immi-
grants are taught the English lam
guage, or at least that they should be
compelled to learn it when they be-
come citizens. 1t might be we'll also
to see to it that the aliens living in
this country should become citizens,
Or leave it. We have found a much
too large alien population as a result
of the draft law.
Congressman Walsh of Massacbu-
sets, who has made himself unpopu-
la with the members who want to
print everything under the sun in the
Congressional Record and at the same
time popularized himself with those
who would like to see less waste in
government printing, made a strong
plea in the house for saving paper and
printing bills. He showed that while
the government was trying to curtail
the use of paper, it was at the same
time wasting paper in many ways
Congressman Mapes of Michigan in
teriected remark to the effect that
the government printing office work
this year would cost $12,000,000, while
many bureaus go outside and get
great amount of printing done by con-
tract.
Because somewhere in the neighbor-
hood of $4,000 physicians have wholly
or partially withdrawn from private
practice to engage in war work, the
public health service has appealed to
our people to remember that taking
care of themselves is one way of ex-
pressing patriotism. One-third of the
men registered under the first draft
were rejected for physical disability,
and in a majority Of these cases the
cause of rejection was some easily
preventable or durable defect.
Besides making things hum at the
producing end, the government is urg.
ing firemen in factories and large
buildings to aid in avoiding any repe-
tition of last years uncomfortable coal
shortage. According to Van H. Man.
nirg, director of the bureau of mines,
100000 tons of coal can be saved
yearly by proper building and adjust
ment of fires, and this without the as
sistance of any miraculous agencies.
Anything that will save 45,000.000 tons
of coal for the United States is doing
good deal more than its bit in these
war times.
Probably the most astounding thing
the Germans of higher intelligence
have encountered is the manner
in which this country has gone
into war. They never believed If was
possible for the United States to mobil-
iZe equip, train, ship and put into the
fighting lines anything like an army.
Just why they could not bark back to
Civil war days and see how a divided
nation raised two armies of great fight
ing material is a mystery. The Ger
mans have made other errors First