The evening leader. (Tarpon Springs, Fla.) 191?-19??, 1919-04-30
Chief Of Staff Says Home Folks
Do Not Understand
Methods.
Big PROBLEMS TO SOLVE
why the Old Draft Boards Could Not
Be Used-ProVision Supplied for
All Those in Distress-Bonus
Given to Discharged Men.

from the Office of the chief of staff:
The present system of demobliza-
Etion does not seem to be understood
by the people of the country. AS a
fundamental starting point, let us as
sumo that all the selected service men
who have been indicted into the SER
vice during the war were removed
from their home communities at one
time, and that upon their departure
and until their return conditions of
labor and industry did not change in
the slightest respect in any portion
iof the country. Again let us assume
that the conditions of labor and in
dustry having remained exactly the
same, all these selected service men
were returned at the same moment TO
the inches previously held by them in
civil life. Under such assumptions
the entire operation would have been
performed without the slightest jar to
the industrial conditions of the coun-
try.
This would be an ideal condition,
but it is based on an utterly absurd
hypothesis. The selected service men
were not all indicted into the service
at one time. Nor did the conditions
of labor and industry remain I'M
changed after their departure from
their home districts.
Tremendous Problem.
Could the history of each particular
job from which employed men had
been withdrawn be traced, could it
be discovered whether the job re-
manned open to him or whether AS
job had been filled by B; could it be
definitely ascertained that B left a
job which remains open to A; it
might be possible, were these return
ing men so many spare parts of a
machine, to assign each returning man
a definite job. But they are not spare
parts of machine. They are human
beings, influenced on the one hand by
home ties, and on the other by vary
ing desires and ambitions; and if no
positions which they want are imme-
diately open to them, they, as we'll as
the original unemployed, must be grad
ually absorbed in the industrial life of
the nation.
This. then, is the tremendous prob
lem that .confronts ns-to return to a
country whose digestion for labor is
not now of the best hundreds of thou
sands of men without employment, not
forgetting that they and their families
deserve the grateful thanks of the ma
ton, and remaining keenly aware that
their patriotism and sacrifice demand
that they be given every possible rec
ignition and favor.
Certain Specific Laws.
AS certain Specific laws govern the
discharge of soldiers, and their inter
psts as well as those of the govern
lnent must be jealousy guarded, the
Use of local draft boards for the entire
rehabilitation of the army would,
among other things involve the fol-
lowing: Necessary commissioned and
enlisted personnel for the preparation
of all records of each man discharged /;
for the reception, storing, care and
shipment of all government equipment
turned in by him; for his physical ex.
animation and final payment. There
would also be needed facilities for
housing and feeding men, including
hospital treatment, while awaiting dis
charge.
The machinery necessary at each
one of the local draft boards would de-
pend upon the amount of work which
it would be required to do. About
1850 local draft boards would have to
be provided with this necessary per-
'sonnel and other facilities mentioned
above. The machinery of each local
draft board would have to be main
tanned intact as long as there were
lin the service men from the particu-
lar district involved, and would have
to be kept at such strength as to be
able to handle such men as were sent
to it for discharge at any time.
The difficulties of transportation
from the port to local draft boards,
assuming the abandonment of the
present rehabilitation camps, would
be materially increased.
The question then arises: If local
draft boards cannot be used for COM
plete discharge of the soldier, cannot
they be used in conjunction with pres
ent camps? And the answer is that it
is not feasible.
The present system of demobiliZa-
ition is that certain camps and canton
!ments throughout the country have
been designated as rehabilitation cen
tiers. These centers are provided with
personnel, temporarily retained in the
service, for the operation of the ma
chinery of discharge. This system OF
rehabilitation necessitates the split
ting up of organizations upon arrival
from overseas and their distribution in
small groups to the various demobili
cation centers.
Experience of Other Nations.
II, The Succession has been made thai