Evening star., 1942-11-21

amounts to ." @>>>''
confirmation of David Lawrence.
the points made at various times In
these dispatches concerning the
operation of the Selective Service
Act.
Mr.. Roosevelt referred first to what
he observed on his recent inspec-
tion trip. He said that there were
some operations in factory, for
example, which do not need lot
of skilled workers-in other words,
that you could teach girl to do
such work in three or four weeks
Then man holding such a job
could not be deferred, but, If a girl
could not be obtained or taught that
kind of work, the job holder would
be deferred.
There are the cases of two FORE
men, In one of the plants visited
by the President. He said they were
not only skilled, but they were in
charge of 25 to 80 machines-they
not only had the managing skill and
knew all about machines, but they
also had leadership.
Mr.. Roosevelt pointed out that
these two men happened to live in
different ends Of town. One had a
wife, but no dependents. The draft
board gave the man in the north end
of the town all exemption but did
not give an exemption to the other,
and the two cases were almost SINH
lar in every respect.
Uniformity Possible.
The President added that there
was no uniformity but that the Gov
ernment was doing the best it could
under the circumstances and that
probably later, when the next steps
are taken, it may be possible to get
some uniformity from the draft
boards.
A further suggestion came from
the President that by having the
manager OF the plant or supervisor
of particular kind OF work certify
to the board as to whether a man
Is irreplaceable. some uniformity
might be obtained. He declared that
he didn't think we had enough of
that kind Of cooperation and that
the local boards do not consult
enough with the manageemnts OF
businesses as to their personnel
training practices, but that the stu
alton was getting better all the time.
What the President may not know
Is that members Of some local draft
boards do not even acknowledge let
ters from employers and some do not
grant hearings at all, simply declar-
ing that hearings are optional and
not mandatory.
Some members OF local draft
boards, when presented with the
facts concerning key employees, ask
this question: "Well, what would you
do If the man died?" On that basis,
of course, every one can be replaced,
but 1t also means that training new
employees slows up the work for a
year or more, until such time as
skills are attained equal to that of
the man drafted
Board Overworked.
In the last war there were re-
gional appeals boards which ham
died occupational deferment prob
lens almost entirely and this per-
mitted of more coordination and
more familiarity with employer EN-
ploye problems than Is possible un-
der the system today.
The local draft boards are over
worked and are understaffed. They
operate in inadequate quarters, and
some one who has access to billions
for lease-lend might we'll have done
a bit of lending or leasing inside the
United States to enable these draft
boards to function more smoothly
Their clerical stats are inadequate
and their facilities insufficient. The
draft system should have the benefit
of experienced personnel men at
tached to the regional or district ap-
peals boards.
The President seemed to think
that many appeals would be avoided
If, as he said, more information
were given to the local boards. 1t is
doubtful whether he knows OF the
efforts of employers to inform the
local boards and of the indifference
nf such boards, in many instances, to
written or oral information furn-
lshed.
The President is right in saying
the present arrangement lacks uni
formity and that evidently more in
formation is needed to act on de-
ferment cases. 1t is true, OF course
there has been some chiseling and
some draft-dodging and even some
untrue information given by en-
blowers, but in the main the local
boards have been given no specific
instructions by the national head
quarters that they could apply uni
formly. Also they haven't had the
technical facilities to handle the oc-
cupational deferment problems.
Maybe in the coming new plan
something will be done about this.
, pr;eonere Win Fled