The sun., 1919-02-06
ARMISTICE HALTED
DRASTIC DRAFT ACT
Crowder's Report Reveals Gov
eminent Aimed to Seize
All Workers.
HAD "TURLOUGH" SYSTEM
100000 Enrolled, 4,791,-
172 Taken Into Army, "a in
Each 100 Deferred.

WASHINGTON, Feb. 5.--While the Sec
end and probably the final annual report
on the selective service system. prepared
hv Major-Gen. Enoch II. Crowder, Pro-
vost Marshal General, and made public
to-day, contained only one specific REQ
ommendation--that the draft machinery
b used to take the decennial census
the 900 page document gave the f,rst
inkling of drastic extensions OF the work
or fight regulations which had been
planned Just before nostilities ended.
The report showed that specific plans
were before Secretary Baker last No
vember under which a minimum work.
Ing week for the essential indus ries
would have been fixed in order that lin
dustral slackers' might be reached. and
that plans were shaping for the manda-
tory deferment Of registrants In essen
tial industry. denying them the right OF
military service. 4 scheme for super
vising labor distribution through an In
dustrial furlough system also was being
evolved.
As TO the accomplishments Of the Sc
lsctive system. credit for which was
given 10 the patriotic devotion Of chou
sands upon thousands" Of American men
ard women who aided. Gen. Crowder
said:
we are too close upon tho events
accurately to assess them. How great
part American selective service played
IN the drama Of the world war history
alcno can tell.
100000 Enrolled.
ITO enroll for service over $4,000. 900;
10 mobilize a select army of more
than 100000 a million OF them within
the space OF ninety days: to have pres
entity available for military duty 2.000.-
900 additional fighting men; to classify
this vast man power in the order Of its
military and industrial Importance so
as 10 preserve the domestic and indus.
trial life Of the nation: TO speed UP war
time activities, to maintain them in a
status OF maximum efficient production
and to pave the way for a speedy re-
urn to normal peace time pursuits while
recruiting the full fighting strength Of
the nation-these are results which
would be instantly rejected as tmpos-
Sihle did not the actual facts stand as
irrc'utable testimonials of their &C Cm-
p!shments'
In suggesting that the census might
hereafter be taken through the selective
service machinery. Gen. Crowder said
the feasibility OF many theories diver
gent from the pre-war conception of
things has been demonstrated. Although
he question of how far these principles
should he projected after the war was
"a matter of vital national Importance
He said. however. he believed the ma
chnery for the census was wholly prac-
teal. and added that since 10000
we're registered in q single day and "a,
100000 in four days, including a COM
plete survey and classification OF their
domestic and industrial status, the CEN
sus data should be obtainable in DAYS
instead OF months, as is now the case.
What They Had In View.
The draft regulations toward which
Gen. Crowder was moving when the
war ended. he said. included the man.
datory industrial deferment because we
had almost reached the time when Il
would have been necessary to make &
as impossible for the men deferred fol
Industrial reasons to obtain military ser.
vice as 1t had been for the registrant,
in Class l to avoid it,
Conservation Of labor already en-
gagged in essential industries would hav,
nus been provided, the report said. bu
H3 the nation was not prepared for a?
ildustrial draft the equally necessar,
augmentation of labor had to be solved
IN some other way.
II was here that extension OF tn,
work or fight principle and OF the in
dustrial furlough would have been in
voked The shifting Of labor in tn.
essential industries would have beer
stopped by calling men into the military
service and .urloughirg them only fo1
he time they engaged in a particular
industry.
Another element OF the plan wa,
aimed at industrial slackers." men wht
worked day or two at war wages onl,
. lay on" succeeding days The mini
mum working week of eight hours
DAY. the report showed, would have beef
avolved and the furloughs of men WHIT
failed to give that weeks work withou
proving good cause would have beer
cdrcelled
On November II. 1918, the repor
showed the United States had in il
military and naval service 4.7S1.17R men
or 70 per cent. OF the male population
on The same day England mad alread!
called TO the colors 5.S54,359, or nearl,
so per cent.