The Nome nugget., 1942-11-16
WHY THE TEEN-ACF DRAFT

WHY THE TEEN-ACE DRAFT
 If yoQ are confused about the draft and wish that somebody would make up his mind what is going to be done then you can sympathize with Washington The nations capital is all in dither as to where should go from here.
 In World War l. we pulled some 100000 men into the Army and took another 000 into the Navy
 Before the end of this year Draft Director Her shey says shall have in excess of 4500000 soldiers The Navy and it's land-fghtng unit, the Marine Corps are building up toward goal of two and half mil lions. Next year the Army wants enough men to build it's aggregate strength up to around ten millions.
 That means that by the end oI l943, if all goes well we hope to have some 12500 GOO men in uniform. Ob- ViousT such organization can be built without up- setting the civilian economy pretty thoroughly.
 Up to now SelectiVe Service has found most of its men in what might be called the "dspensabIe cIassi- ication young, healthy, without dependents who would suffer unduly from absence of a bread-Wnner.
 But we have about reached the bottom of that bin.
 The burning question right is which of two classihcations should be drafted first the l8l9year ods the brheyed youngsters who have not yet had op portuny to sprout their wings, enjoy the delights of young manhood or even to complete their educatons; married upon whom wives and children de- pend for the very bread they eat.
 General Hershey says that from million to million and half men must De taken next year from one group or the other.
 Under the law as it now stands, he cannot touch the youngsters.
 The public judging from the results of a recent poll is m doubt what should be done under such circumstances. H voted six to in favor of ceiling the l3~l9-Tear~old men into service
 Ths comedies with the Armys preference The generals would much prefer having strong, alert adapt able, reS.llen. youngsters, who leave no disrupted homes about which b worry
 Industry too, would like to the law changed. The younger men have not yet made places for them- selves in production. Such skIIs they have are new, uncertain and easily repaceabIe
 Senator Taft of Ohio, Senator Gurney of South Da- kota and Representative WadsWorth of New York have taken the lead in seeking to have Congress amend the law that the 18-l9-year-olds class can be called right away. But President Roosevelt has not given the word, way another
 ' s said freely here that the reason for the delay is political that both President and Congress fear that the voters would take political revenge in November if the law is amended.
 On tae other hand, some reaiSts believe that the political slaughter will be even worse if nothing is dcne a1a & draft reaches into homes and plucls out mil lion oa more fathers of dependent children
 The situation Is further confused by couple of othe problems One is the question whether we ever Will ca ap the ten million men that discussed of- hcaIly he other Is the question whether recruiting should be stopped entirely, and drafted for the Navy and the Marine Corps as they are for the Army.
 The Navy is bitterly opposed It's argument rests upon tradition Sailors and Marines have always been volunteers say the admiras and the Navy wants no se-ec.ee5 Now that the Navy and Marines are taking reaVy substantial bites out ol our manpower instead of the relatively small to which they were limit ed in l9l8 there is growing sentiment that if con- scripton is justfabe for the Army it should be ap- piled similarly to all the armed forces.
 
 H:ui,.