The Leavenworth echo. [volume] (Leavenworth, Wash.) 1904-current, 1920-09-03
RUNNING DOWN THE
YELLOW STREAK.
The Governments Machinery in Mo.
ton Against 100000 Draft
Slackers.
By Walter ]. Wood in American
Legion Weekly.

Not so much where is Bergdoll but
what is Bergdollism, is a subject to
which every patriotic citizen of Amer
lea might well address himself with
out fear of wasting his time.
In the great test through which We
have just passed, twenty-four million
Americans put their names down in
black and white as potential defend
ers of the nations honor Nearly
three million of them-2,810,296, TO
be eXact--were indicted by means Of
the process Of selection known as "the
draft into the military service of the
country. Had it been necessary. nil
itary experts figured, the United
States could have created and main
tanned at all times an American
Army of 5,550,000 men.
There was something big and awe
inspiring and terribly splendid about
Americas great mobilization of her
man-power. Many of US joked with
our lips as we joined in the refrain
of the popular ditty, 81 left the win
dow open and they caught me in the
draft" but deep down in our hearts
we were far away singing in shining
armor, GAS He died to make men
holy, let US die to make men free"
There came the call to register, then
the call to camp, then the long
months Of waiting, then for many the
ships, the sea, strange lands and fields
Of flame and victory-for the splen-
did. few, white crosses; for the many.
ships again and home. 1t was all in
deed. as many have remarked, some
thing very near to a crusade, some
thing that lifted men off their feet
and swept them out of themselves.
sent them scurrying from the little
tasks of trade, of getting and spend
ing, to the business of sacrifice and
high endeavor
Well might one wish that here the
picture closed, that nothing base.
mean or unworthy should mar the
beauty Of it, that history's page
should remember only the way Amer
lean manhood rallied to the colors and
served. And so it could have been
except for Bergdollism.
Berdollism was and still is nothing
but yellow straek down the coun-
try's back. If in those whitehead
days of 1917 and 1918 anyone had
dared rise on the public platform or
IN public press and announce that
when the war closed it would be
necessary to run down 695,5 men
Of military age as slackers, and that
nearly half, or more than 100000 of
them, twenty months after the vic
torious close of the war still would
be proscripted as draft deserters and
draft delinquents. he would have been
taken out and dealt the same kind OF
medicine which a company of Ken
lucky folk administered to Mr.. Bige-
low. A chorus of boohs would have
been his only echo. And yet he
would have been as true a prophet as
the unfortunate Cassandra-and as
much unbelieved.
What happened in brief was this.
On paper at least, when twenty-four
million Americans were called on to
register, 318,314 refused to sign up.
and when more than three million of
those who did register were called
upon to proceed TO camp, 377,209 re-
fused to serve. A grand total Of
695,523 slackers The men who re-
fused TO register were known a.
"draft delinquents." while the men
who refused to serve were called
"draft deserters." The former were
subjects for the Federal law and the
Department of Justice of the United
States. The latter were military de-
serters and subject to Army court
martial. The Selective Service Act
Of May 1S, 1917. provided a penalty
Of not more than years imprison-
ment for the "draft delinquent. +"
Army regulations provided for the
"draft deserter" the same punish
ment as for the regular deserter.
The War Department and the De-
partment Of Justice set to work chas-
ing this yellow streak soon after the
Armistice. They have succeeded in
cutting the width of the streak in two
by a tedious process of elimination.
the result Of which. in a nutshell.
has cleared the records Of more than
100000 of the 695,5 men listed as