The Waterbury Democrat., 1942-09-23
' NATIONAL
 SPo IGHT
Governments Draft Confusion Rivals Publics'
(Petef Edsoh is on. vacation. dur. ing which time Robert RuaKk is writing his column).

tEeter EdSOm AS on yaEat tl0n. dur. ing which time Robert RuaKk is writing his colunn).
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 BY ROBERT RUARK
 Waterbury Democrat Washington
 Correspondent
 If you are confused about the draft, and wish that somebody would make, up his mind what is going to be. done, then you can syrnpathize with Washington. The nations capital is all in a dither as to where we should go from here.
 Tn World WarsI we pulled some 4,OO0,0 600 men into the Army and took another 100000 men into the Navy.
 Before the end of his year, Draft Director Hershey says, we shall have in excess of 4,5O0,0OO soldiers. The Navy and its land fighting unit, the 1 Marine Corps, are building up to- ward a goal of two and a half mil Hons. Next year the Army wants enough men to build its aggregate strength up to around ten millions. That means that by the end of 194S, if all goes well, we hope to have some 12,500, 900 men in uni form. Obviously no such organiza- tion 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' classiffo ation- 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 Serv- 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 18-19-year- odds, the bright-eyed youngsters who have not yet had opportunity to sprout their wings and enjoy the delgihts of young manhood, 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.
 CAN'T TOUCH
 YOUNGSTERS
 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 year from now.
 The public, judging from the re- suits of 8 recent poll, is in no doubt what should be done under such circumstances. It voted six to one in favor of calling the 18-19-year- old men into service.
 This coincides 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 bet ter soldiers than these 18-19- 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, uncertain and easily replaceable. The. older men have infinitely more to contribute to war produc- tion.
 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 repre- sentatiyes do not want to make any commitment.
 DELAY IS
 POLITICAL
 It is said freely nere that the req son 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 the other hand, some. re- alists 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 de- pendent children.
 The situation is further con- fused by a couple of other prob lems which receive less public attention.
 One is the question whether we ever will call up the ten million men that are discussed oflcially. There are many ' and General 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 them all with the working force that would remain; and second, IAAaO HC oAAOuA0 A1dtC AAO uoC 4Ol oO many, on any front to which they could be transported and supplied.
 The other is the question wheth- CT recruiting should be stopped entirely, and men drafted for the Navy and the Marine Corps as they now are for the Army
 The Navy is bitterly opposed. Its 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 are taking really substantial bites out of our manpower, instead of the relatively small ones to which they were limited in 1918. there is Q growing sentiment that if conscription Is justifiable for the Army. it ghoalld he anoliAd aiFni.