Milford chronicle., 1943-02-05
THE DRAFT DODGER

artful, crafty fellow. Therefore, a
Draft Dodger" must be one who
artfully or craftily lodges or
evades the draft-and, l would add,
wilfully neglects and refuses to do
the job he is best-fitted for.
Does either of the above defini-
tions fit you or your boy? Is your
conscience clear? If so, why so
much grouching? Oh! you feel it
to be your duty to see that your
neighbor's son does his duty-as
you see it.
The Selective Service System. or
"The Draft" as most of us call it.
is considered the fairest method yet
devised for placing selectees where
they can be of the greatest service.
If both capital and labor had been
reached by this system, then there
would have been much less dis
satisfaction and far fewer inequal-
tiles. OF course, the members of
our Draft Boards have made some
mistakes, and will no doubt con-
tinue to make them-they are only
human, not ALL WISE-but. until
they took over the thankless job of
serving their country gratis. most
of us thought they were pretty fine
fellows.
If one young man felt the urge
to get into the Armed Forces so
greatly that he could not wait for
his number to be called, we ap-
plaud him.
If another Joined up" because
he wanted to be sure to get into
the branch of service for which he
felt himself to be best fitted-that
was a sensible thing to do, we
agreed.
If still another made a rush to
get into some branch of the Ser
vice in order to be with some
friend, or because the work might
be less arduOus or dangerous not
that he knew anything at all about
the work-well, we can't blame
him.
BUT-If some of the boys, who
are expert mechanics, electricians,
engineers, etc. desire to be placed
in a defense plant, or to be left in
a community where they are sadly
needed-because they can do the
job better and quicker than un-
trained men-we look askance at
them.
BUT-If some boy, who has spent
his entire life on the farm, learning
to do the thOusand-and-One jobs I
which have to be done on any gen.
eral farm-things learned by fol- .
lowing Dad, Big Brother (and even
the mechanic, plumber. electrician
and others who have been brought
on for special work. around. asking
a million questions, and later on
doing the same job himself; things
learned by being All Club member,
attending Short Courses each sum-
mer, and yes, in some cases, at
tending the university to learn to
do his job in more scientific way
is DEFERRED, many begin to
classify him as Draft Dodger"
and Stacker
Our national leaders are at last
becoming cOgniZant of the fact that
we are threatened with a food
shortage-a serious one-and, al
most too late they are trying to de-
wise ways and means of helping the
farmer-even to the point of per-
mitting his sons and trained help
to remain on the farm. A young
man, who is of draft" age, has to
have a bit more than his share of
patriotism to be willing to remain
on the farm, where he will face
not only the discomforts of unkind
elements (both of nature and hui
manity), failure of his project, no
matter how long and hard he has
worked-this often happens, you
know-and the poor pay for all his
work, should the season be bad
and the market unfavorable. Our
government is trying to stabilize
the market, but no one has yet
been able to control the weather,
disease, or pest elements.
The uniform of the farm boy is
usually clothing which has seen
its best days, or the overall" In
this way, he is able to save mate
rial which is vitality necessary for
our Armed Forces or those work
ing in defense plants. The farm boy
is a true American, often working
when the rest of us are asleep, not
ashamed of his patches" and the (
dirt and CRIME of hard days .
work. These constitute his badge of {
honorl The rest of us had better {
wake up to the fact that there {