New-York tribune., 1919-02-06
Crowder Suggests
Taking of Census
By Draft System
Second Annual Report of
Provost Marshal General
Shows u. S. Planned to
Tighten the Work Ruling

WASHINGTON, Feb. 5.-While The
second and probably the final annual
report on the selective service system,
prepared by Major General Enoch II.
Crowder. Provost Marshal General, and
made public to-day. contained only one
specific recommendation the draft
machinery be used to take the decen-
nial census-the 600-page document
gave the first inkling of drastic ex
tensions of the work or fight regula
f.ons which had been planned Just be-
fore bostilitics endee
The report showed that specific plans
we're before Secretary Baker last No
vember under which a minimum work
ing week for the essential industries
would have been fixed in order that
industrial slackers' mi ght be reached.
and that plans were shaping for the
mandatory dcferment of registrants
in essential industry, denying them alb
solutely the right of military service.
scheme for supervising labor distri-
button through an industrial furlough
system also was being evolved.
As 10 the accomplishments of the
sclective system, credit for which was
given to the patriotic devotion of
thousands upon thousands" of Amer-
can men and women who aided, General
Crowder said:
"To enroll for service more than
% 600, ,0OC. TO mobilize 4 select army
of more than 2.S0o,0oC, a million OF
them within the space of 90 days. to
have presently available for military
duty 100000 additional fighting men,
TO classify this vast man power in the
order Of it's military and industrial
Importance so as 20 preserve the do
mestic and Industrial life Of the ma
these are results which would
be instantly rejected as impossible,
did no. the actual facts stand as IL
REPUTABLE testimonials of their &C
complishments."
In suggesting that the census might
hereafter be taken through the Sc
lective service machinery General
Crowder said he believed the machin-
cry for the census was wholly prac-
teal and added that 100000 We're
registered in a single day and 24,00o.-
O00 in four days. including a complete
survey and classification of their do
mestic and industrial status.
The draft regulations toward which
General Crowder was moving when the
war ended. he said, included the man
datory industrial deferment because
we had almost reached the time when
it would have been necessary to make
it as impossible for the men deferred
for industrial reasons to obtain mill
tary service as it had been for the
rcgistrants in Glass l to avoid it."
4,791,172 Men in Service
On November II, 1918, the repor,
showed, the United States had in its
military and naval service 4.791, ,172
men, or 19 per cent. of the male popu-
lation. On the same day england had
already called to the colors 5,S54,359,
or nearly so per cent.
The final official total for all regis
trations was 24,234 ,02l. Of these s.
Z0S446 had been examined and event
TALLY 80 men out of every one hundred
we're found to be physically disquali-
fed. Oklahoma and Arkansas return
Ell the highest ratio of men under the
physical requirements and Rhode Is
land and Arizona the lowest.
Men granted exemption because of
religious creeds totalled $3.50, as com
pared with the census estimate Of
saONo
Under the head of "aliens" 1877. .083
rlen were registered, or 1872 per cent
Of he total These were divided into
co-belligerents, $40 per cent; neu-
trails. 1872 per cent, and enemy and
;.llied enemy, 26.0e per cent.
Ten per cent of the married regis
.
Seyenty-four cf every hundred men
thus classified were granted deferment
because of dependency. and about 16
per cent on other grounds. Cases of
nAen marrying after the draft law was
Passed coming within the notice Of
draft officials tctalcd 344.S72, and Of
those men 35.5 per cent were rc-classi-
fed into Class One.
Class One, in its entirety, would
nave taken orly $40 per cent of the
Industrial workers of ali ages. Defer
ment for essential occupation ranged
from , per cent in the industrial
ural
Examination into the causes of
lhyslcal disqualification brought many
surprises. Alcohol and drug addicts &C
counted for only 1873 per cent of the
total; nervous and mental disorders
Tor 1875 per cent; tuberculosis for 8.5
and mental deficiency for 9.4 per cent.