Imperial Valley press., 1942-09-29
by
Peter
Edison

| nations capital Is all in dlthe
as to where we should go fron
here.
In World War I we pulled som
100000 men into the Army an,
took another 100000 men into tn
Navy.
Before the end of this year,
Draft Director Hershey says. we
shall have i'm excess of $780,
900 soldiers. The Navy and its
land-f lighting unit, the Marine
Corps, are building up toward
goal of two and a half millions.
Next year the Army wants enough
men to build its aggregate
strength up to around ten mil
lions.
That means that by the end ol
l943. if all goes well, We hope tC
have some 12,5O0,000 men in uni
form. Obviously no such organiza-
ton can be built without upsetting
the civilian economy pretty thor
oughly.
Up to now Selective Service has
found most of its men in what
might be called the "dispensable
claSSification-young, healthy, with
out dependents who would suffer
unduly from absence of a bread
winner.
But we have about reached the
bottom of that bin. Selective Ser
vice is going to have to begin taking
men who are less "dispensable."
The burning question right now
is which of two classifications
should be drafted first: the 1919
year-olds, the bright-eyed young
sters who have not yet had oppor-
tunity to sprout their wings and
enjoy the delights of young man
hood, or even to complete their
educations; or married men upon
whom wives and children depend
for the very bread they eat
General Hershey says that from
a million to a million and a half
men must be taken next year from
one group or the other.
Under the law as it now stands,
he cannot touch the youngsters. If
this law is not changed very soon,
he will be forced to call out fathers
of dependent children about a year
from now.
The public, judging from the re-
suits of a recent poll, is in no doubt
what should be done under such cir
cumstances. 1t voted six to one
favor of calling the 18-19-year-old
men into service.
This comedies with the Army's
preference. The generals would
much prefer having strong, alert,
adaptable resilient youngsters,
who leave no disrupted homes
about which to worry. Experience
has shown that there are no
better soldiers than these 1919
year -Olds.
Industry, too, would like to see
the law changed. The younger
men have not yet made places for
themselves in war production. Such
skills as they have are new, un-
certain and easily replaceable. The
older men have infinitely more to
contribute to war production.
Senator Taft of Ohio, Senator
Gurney of South Dakota and Rep
resentative Wadsworth of New
York have taken the lead in seek
ing to have Congress amend the
law SO that the 18-19-year-old class
can be called right away.
But President Roosevelt has not
given the word, one way or an
other, and his congressional rep
resentatives do not want to make
any commitment.
1t is SAID freely here that the
reason for the delay is political,
that 10th President and Congress
fear that the voters would take
political revenge in November If
the law is amended.
On the other hand, some realists
believe that the political slaughter
will be even worse if nothing is done
and the draft reaches into homes
and plucks out a million or more
fathers Of dependent children.
The situation is further con-
fused by couple of other prob
lens which receive less public at
tention.
One is the question whether we
ever will call up the ten million
men that are discussed Officially.
There are many and Genral
Hershey is said to be among them
who question the wisdom of
taking so many into the Army.
These argue, first, that we shall
not be able to equip and maintain
the mall with the working force
that would remain; and second,
that we should have no use for SO
many, on any front to which they
could be transported and supplied
The other is the question wheth-
er recruiting should be stopped en-
tirely, and men drafted for the
Navy and the Marine Corps as they
now are for the Army.
The Navy is bitterly opposed. It's
argument rests upon tradition.
Sailors and Marines always have
been volunteers, say the admirals
and the Navy wants no selectees.
Now that the Navy and Marines
ORG takino really substantial bite.