Seward daily gateway., 1924-12-18
UNIVERSAL DRAFT LAW

 the Universal Draft be made prime order of the Legion business at the next session of Congress- This session convened on December 1st. The convention declared that the enactment into law of this measure twill help insure our country against war and pro- vide that in any future emergency there shall be no slackers profiteers and that we shall have equal service for all and special profit for none'
 The Legion is not thus advancing to the field of Congressional action the most farreachng legisla- tive contest in it's history without painsaking pre- limnary preparation Such preparation is of great importance. More frequently than otherwise it spells the difference between victory and failure The Legion has been engaged for three vars prepar ing for the time when 1t should launch its active fight in the halls of Congress. It has canvassed every aspect of the tremendously involved question of national military effort It has sought the counsel and has collaborated with the most eminent specialists in every branch of that subject. It has taken advantage of independent studies made by the War department, and these studies still progress sing More than fifty specially qualified staff off cers have been continuously engaged in these re- searches since 1921
 The result is that the Legion sponsors a bill which at the outset has the endorsement of the Sec retary of War This gives 1t valuable prestige for piece of legislation in the pn-feather stage which has the tedious route of progress through commit tees, subcommittee and conferences yet before it. The Legion bill is brief simple, concise explicit It authorizes the President in time of war or when he deems war to be imminent:
 1. To draft men for the armies, providing that
 there shall be exemptions between the ages of
 of twenty-one and thirty, such other limit as the
 President may fix, of industrial occupa-
 tion.
 2. To take control of "the material resources in
 dustrlal organizations and services which Gov
 ernment control is necessary the successful term
 ination of the emergency"
 3. To stabilize prices of services and all con-
 modtes declared to be essential, whether such
 vices and commodities required by the Govern
 ment of by the civilian population"
 Thus the socaled Universal Draft for war which places at the disposal of the nation manpower for the armies and labor and capital for the services of supply. Manpower for the armies is drafted as before, except more sweepingly. The stacker loop hole of industrial exemptions is nailed shut ''AIa- terial resources and industrial organizations may be taken over and controlled; that means capital Services taken over by the Government that means labor Prices of services are fixed That means wages. Prices of commodities are tixco That the price the war contractor gets for his goods; 1t means control of profits
 The bill goes farther. It would do away
 
 the $15,O0O and $2OO 900 day munitions contractor but 1t does not stop there It would also clip the wings of the soaring cost of living which is so especially hard on the great run of the public which does not participate in the profits either at the capital or labor side of the trough Of course liv- ing costs are bound to go up in wartime and wages are, too But they do not have to fly out of sight as they did during the last war. An application of the economic astrngents which the Legion bill provides would take care of that.
 This is the bill upon which the Legion will be- gin it's fight. It will be introduced in the Senate by Senator Arthur Capper of Kansas and in the House by Representative Royal c. Johnson of South Dakota. The Legion, however is for the realiza- ton of the principle of universal obligation and ser vice in wartime non-proft7 taking basis, regard less of what particular bill embodies this principle Aside from the Johnson and Capper bills several other universal draft measures are being prepared for introduction, and if any of them is better bill than the Capper or Johnson entries that fact will soon become apparent. The Legion will support any and all measures which will bring any nearer the realization of its aims to take the pro- fit out of and put all war service on plane of equality with no price tag attached
 The trend of informed opinion favors the Le- zion bill because 1t has been so thoroughly worked out and because it is the result of the compos thot and endeavor of so many persons. But, whatever the bill, the drive for the principle has begun It will be great fight and possibly not short one It IS fight which, before it is concluded will call for the support of every Legion post and of every Legionnaire. It is fight which offers to the Le- zion and to all who will participate exceptional op- portunties for distinguished service to the naton.-