Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1921-05-14
Adjutant General Holds I'm
Justly Accused Men
Responsible
REPLY TO CRITICISM
Puts Blame on Men-Claims Waa De-
partment Used Every Effort to
Avoid Mistake

Washington, May 14.-The princi
pal responsibility sor the serious er
rors in the War Departments "slacl
er list" was run down yesterday
1t was, according to the department
the fault of the men themselves N'h'
are falsely branded rs draft dodgert
and rot the fault of the departn' en-
Even though errors have beer
found in the comparatively brief list
so far made public and though in
justice has been done to the men wht
served honora5ly in the war, ye
have been officially branded as de-
serters, the War Department make:
no apology for its policy of publica
tion. 1t still feels that the value OF
exposing those whose names ought
TO be pilloried ovcraalances the mis-
fortune which is visited uron those
who were mistakenly listed.
Also the department continues to
insist thai it checked and double
checked the lists before requesting
the newspapers to publish them; that
all possibles precautions we're taken
not 10 rillory man as & desertsr
unfairly, and it IS, after all. an adj
vantage to the man unjustly dealt
with to publish his lame and give
him the opportunity to correct the
record rather than to allow the re-
cord to remain wrong for Rll time.
In substance these are the views
of the War Department and its an
swer to the sharp criticism which has
been passed upon it as a result Of
the blunders made in the draft lists
Newspapers al over the country are
refusing to print the names, even
though urged to do SO by the Gov
elnmcnt, for the reason that they re
fuse to be parties to such injastices
as have been discovered. Some news
papers which began printing the lists
have Suspended their publication ua-
til such time as further checking for
errors has been done.
!Adjt Gen. Peter c. Harris, of
the army, who has jurisdiction over
the whole of the War Departments
records and who is Immediately re-
sponsible for the lists rs now au-
thorized, makes this answer TO the
charge o. ircomrleteress on the Part
of the departments draft records:
"The question Of the completeness
Of official records is only indirectly
involved IT. this matter. 1t may be
stated, however. that the records Of
the men who served in the army dur
ing the World War are as nearly
complete as it was possible to make
them under wartime conditions and
it is practically certain that a rec
ord. which is readily accessible. ex-
lists of the services of every individ-
aal who served during the war.
"The principal source of the diff
Guilty encountered" General Harris
adds. "in determining whether or
not registrant, though failing to
respond to the call of the local board
actually did enter the army and pei
formed military service, is directly
attributable to the men themselves
who failed to apprise th-ir rcSpec.
tive local board Of that fact.
at must be realized that in ar
army of more than 100000 It wa:
common occurrence to find man!
mon bearing exactly The same name
There were over 2.100 John John
sons. over $1,000 William Johnston
and more than 5000 John Smith
with variety of middle initials. Il
many cases men of the same nam
entered the service from the SAM
locality and ofttimes their phvsica
descriptions do not serve to distin
guish h IN F. equently their wive
have identical given names.
"Under these conditions the Wa
Department naturally. very naturally
found it impossible at times to ide,
iify reeistrant charged with de
sertion with man of the same nam
who voluntarily enlisted. say, in III
navy in some other State
Continued on Page Four)