Evening star., 1942-08-21


way the man David Lawrence.
power situation is being handled.
Not only are there palpable dis
ordinations between citizens and
many examples Of unfairness in the
operation of draft boards but the
most sensational revelation of in
competence comes to light in the
way the War Department is refus-
ing to accept men who are ineligible
for the draft while at the same time
the selective service boards are de-
manding that men with crippled
hands, deaf or partially blind be
sent imediately into the Army ir-
respective of their occupational
value to existing employers.
There are about 225,000 applica-
tions to the Army Specialists Corp.
Here are men willing to serve in
technical or clerical or special po-
sitions so as to release from desk
jobs West Pointers and bodied
officers and enlisted men for serv-
ice in the combatant forces. But
this big reservoir of manpower lies
virtually untapped while the selec-
tive service boards go merrily on
disrupting business and industrial
organizations on the ground that
they haven't any authority to do
otherwise.
Can Be Changed.
Under the law passed by Congress,
President Roosevelt is responsible
for the operation of the draft law.
He has the authority to make rules
and regulations. Thus, overnight
he can order that married men be-
low 80 be put in different cate
CORY from married men over 80,
but he does not do anything about
It,
AS a consequence married man
with children is forced into the
Army in one district and few miles
away such a citizen does not have
to go into service. Many unmarried
men. able-bodied, are not called to
service at all In some districts, while
older men with dependent children
are called in others.
The inequalities and unfairness
are indefensible and yet nothing Is
being done about it. Congress has
delegated the authority to the Pres
ident and the Selective Service Sys-
tenn on the theory that conditions
may change and they should have
the right+o order such changes as
circumstances require. So 1t is the
President who is responsible for the
failure of the Selective Service law
to function fairly.
Again and again, local boards
show lack of knowledge of the
regulations issued by the national
headquarters. Employers are told
by one board that they have no
right to a hearing in cases where
they have not presented data con-
corning the essential services of
key employees. The regulations pro-
vide for it but the citizen has no
appeal from the incompetence of
local boards or State directors.
Once the registrant is inducted
Into the Army, he cannot be re-
covered for his essential job except
by a. discharge through the Adju-
tant Generals Office, and this means
red tape and delay. Meanwhile, the
damage is done.
Results in No System.
The big argument for Selective
Service as against the volunteer
system was that the government
would decide who should or should
not go to war and who should or
should not make the machines and
weapons and conduct other activi-
ties essential to war. But the Ad-
ministration is falling down on that
job and there is neither a Selective
Service nor a volunteer system in
erect.
Why, for instance, out of the
225, 900 men who are volunteering
for the Army Specialist Corps,
should only small fraction of that
total be now in service? Why should
colonies and chiefs of this or that
unit be permitted to keep men in
uniform at desk jobs when there
are tens of thousands clamoring for
a chance to do that work? Why
should physically defective individ-
uals, many of them married and
occupying key Jobs in business, be
forced into jobs of a routine char
acter or jobs for which they are
not qualified when there are tens of
thousands of applications on hand
at the Army Specialists Corps to
satisfy that need?
Clearly the whole mechanism for
handling the man-power situation
needs an immediate overhauling
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