Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1942-11-03
1919 Draft
Hamperedb by
Amendments
Aims Blocked by Training
Deferment Provisions
By WESTBROOK PEGLER

By wESTBROOK PEGLER
THE stupid prohibition amend
i ment to the Is and l9-
year-old draft bill has been put
out of the way but the bill. as
passed by both houses OF Con-
gress and sent to conference, Is
still cluttered with provisos
which would make il absolutely
useless.
If these amendments stand
the whole enterprise will prove
to have been nothing but a
waste of time and public
money, but the probability is
that politics is at work and that
a sensible version will be en-
acted into law after election.
The amendments that must
be done away with if the law
is to serve any purpose at all,
provide for the deferment until
next July of all students in the
new apd lower age bracket, Tor
the deferment of all farm
workers of these ages and worst
of all from the standpoint oil
the war department in the per-
Torrance of a colossal job, for
the restriction Of the service oil
all such new draftees 10 non
combatant duties until the
have had a years training.
TOGETHER they constitute
i mess and the catch OF new
soldiers would be negligible and
more trouble than they would
be worth.
The army would have to-
segregate the new men OF thes&
ages in special categories and
create new organizations for
them and meanwhile il would
be necessary to grab enough
older men, including men with
established responsibilities and
families. to fill the ranks.
However, il is obvious that b
any man who already knows
how TO drive truck doesn't
need a whole years schooling
10 learn the army's driving Gus
toms, and that an engine
mechanic or radio with
civilian experience will have
time on his hands waiting out a
year for assignment TO practical
duties.
THE sentimental and emo
Il tional objections 10 the draft
Of Is and 19-year-old men have
been met and disposed of al.
ready
II is tragic that they are
needed, but the need has been
recognized and these amend
ments represent desire 10
hedge and convert the new draft
into an ineffective and meaning
less fake.
But Robert Patterson. the
undersecretary of war. told
gathering of factory workers
and executives in Boston last
Thursday that in the war be-
tween the states 90 per cent Of
the soldiers in the Union army
were less than % and that 50
per cent of them were not more
than L.
But the defernent OF students
would set aside about 100000
until next summer. and the de-
ferment OF all farm workers
would cut down the eligibles by
another large figure. 4
Under the old draft law
~ before Pearl Harbor. there
was a provision that no inductee
should he sent 10 any post Of
duty outside the Western Henri
sphere, and a Washington OBJ
server has commented that this
one made il necessary to rede-
sign the Western Hemisphere
TO bring Iceland within its
boundaries so that American
soldiers could take their stations
there.
But il is hard to see how any
one could get around the pro-
vision for a years training be-
fore assignment TO any zone OF
combat.
If they could be frank. as
they don't dare, the army men
who want this draft in its origi-
nal form for its original purpose,
namely TO raise a big force of
tough, timber, daring and du-
rable young fighters. probably
would admit that they are
figuring on not more than 9
TO 10 months of training.
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