The Daily Alaska empire. [volume] (Juneau, Alaska) 1926-1964, 1942-02-23
Business men
GIVEN WARNING
ABOUT DRAFTING
SeIective Service Has Great
Task 10 Do-AIl Must
Help for Defense

w
cruitment of the armed forces re-
quired to win the total war in
which the United States now is en-
gagged means readjustment of
manpower that will affect every
community and every industry,
Brig. Gen. Lewis B. Hershey, Di-
rector of Selective Service, warned
every businessman in an address
to the Greater Cleveland Safety
Council.
Addressing the Councils 23rd an
nual banquet and meeting, in the
Statler Hotel, Friday evening, Feb
ruary l3, General Hershey warned
employers that they must prepare
for this drastic readjustment of
business conduction, particularly
with regard to available workmnn,
by close and patriotic cooperation
with the Government He said:
Must Face II
Sheer common sense ought. to
tell us that to take millions of men
out of the everyday walks of life
and to place them in the nonpro-
ducing status of armies, which
must be fed, clothed and armed, is
to affect every phase of our exis-
tence. And that is just what is
going to happen--so let's face It,"
Success of our war effort, he
emphasized, demands that the
transfer of such large segment
of our male population to our
armed forces be made in orderly
fashion and with the least possible
disturbance TO industry and agri-
culture. On the other hand, he as
serted, those who are charged with
providing the equipment for our
fighters must be alert to provide
the increasing needs of the Army
and Navy.
Great Responsibility
The accomplishment of such or
derly transfer OF manpower is the
main wartime responsibility of Sc
lective Service, General Hershey as
serted.
while the chief reason for the
establishment of the Selective Ser
vice System is to create armies"
he said, 1T recognizes family life,
industrial and agricultural skills,
and the needs OF industry and
agriculture. In its regulations, every
precaution is present to prevent
the promiscuous taking of men
whose place is behind the lines.
1t insures the equal distribution Of
the burdens of sacrifice on every
part of the country. 1t is sane,
fair, and common-Sense method of
military recruitment. 1t is service
according to degree of qualifica-
lion"
After describing the functionnl5
of Selective Service in detail, in
Guiding the rights of employers to
act in cases where skilled workers
refuse to avail themselves of their
own rights to oeferment from mill
tary service, General Hershey said ::
Give and Take
There is another picture I want
you to have and, If the necessity
arises, to call on you to cooper
ate; for am sure that you will
give as well as take even if we
need every able-bodied fighting
man in the Nation.
Armies, you must know, like
great business undertakings, are
complex in their makeup In an
easy-going country like ours, when
great emergencies arise, these
armies must be put together in a
hurry. In our peacetime forces, we
train men to do our Housekeeping
We need butchers, and bakers, and
cobblers, and highly skilled men
lust like you.
Enough of these men may be
available to leaven the early levies,
but to the extent that many new
divisions are unequipped wi h
trained specialists we must hold
those divisions out of the front
line until they are equipped, or
send in an improperly organized
force.
A well equipped army, the Gen
eral pointed out, must have in it
men who can do a thousand things
That are done in our everyday life.
Skill Demonstration
II need but to recall the epic
of Wake Island TO prove this point"
he asserted. "A treacherous attack
left a number OF planes in tam
gled mass, from which resourceful