Evening star., 1943-10-27
Fathers Draft Bill
Conferees Expected
To Be Named TODAY

A Conference Committee prob
ably will be appointed today OF
tomorrow to work out differences
between the House and Senate
oyer the steps that should be
taken to hold down the drafting
ofzpre-Pearl Harbor fathers.
he House late yesterday passed
w&hout roll call a completely re-
wr3tten version of the measure that
won Senate approval three weeks
aEc. Neither branch voted to pro-
htbit the induction Of fathers, but
eAch adopted different methods of
reducing the number OF family heads
who may have to be taken.
The House went back to the Kill
day plan it passed early in the Sum-
mer OF requiring Selective Service to
call single men and childless mar
RED men on a Nationwide basis,
before inducing pre-Pearl Harbor
Fathers. The Senate sidetracked that
bill for several months and then
passed new bill, aimed at tighten
Ing up on occupatit lal deferments
both In Government and private in
dustry as a means of making more
non-fathers available for military
service.
q, Agree on Two Features.
Both houses are now in substan-
tial agreement on two features of
the pending bill, namely:
When man leaves his home COM
munity to work, the appeal board
in the area of his employment shall
review his occupational deferment,
rather than the appeal board in
the State from which he came.
A direction to the President to
appoint medical commission to
study Army and Navy physical re-
quirements, to determine whether
they could be modified to make more
men who have been classified 4F
available for service.
One important feature of the
House version would set aside the
so-called work-or- fight orders of
the War ManpoWer Commission, by
which men in occupations listed as
nonessential were admonished to
seek essential jobs or be inducted.
The House bill seeks to accomplish
this by providing that men shall not
be called for induction because of
their occupation, or in occupational
groups.
Would Centralize Authority.
The House bill seeks to centralize
authority over the draft machinery
in Maj. Gen. Lewis B. Hershey, di-
rector of selective service, by taking
away administrative power delegat-
ed to Manpower Commission Chair
man McNutt.
On motion of Representative Har-
hess, Republican, Of Indiana this
feature of the bill was made even
stronger on the floor yesterday. The
Military Affairs Committee, headed
by Representative May of Kentucky,
had directed the President to dele
gate to the selective service direc-
tor ANY authority" over the draft
system, except the section of the
original law dealing with plant seiz-
ures. Mr. Harness moved that this
be changed to AL authority" and it
carried.
To what extent the House bill
will reduce the number of pre-
Pearl Harbor fathers called between
now and January l will remain
problematical until the conferees
have agreed on final terms of the
legislation.
If the proposed medical commits
sion should recommend relaxing
physical standards to take in more
single 4-F men, the reduction in the
number Of fathers might be substan-
tial, but Army and Navy officials
made it clear at recent hearings
they feel strongly that they have
lowered the bars as far as is de-
srable.
Concurrence Not Expected.
Senator Hill, Democrat, of Ala
banla, who handled the bill in the
Senate, said that, while he has not
had time to study the House version,
he was inclined to the belief the
Senate would ask for a conference,
rather than concur in the House
draft.
Last Minute Changes Fail.
Several last-minute efforts toI
change the bill on the floor of the
House failed
Representative O'Hara, Repub-
lican, of Minnesota, was beaten, 27
to As, on a motion to draft fathers
under 80 ahead of those between
80 and 38. Later, Representative
Fish, Republican, of New York,
failed in an effort to divide fathers
into two groups, above and below 32
Representative Wilmington, DEM
ocrat, of Mississippi, tried without
success to knock out the section al
lowing appeal boards in the areas
where men work to pass on their
occupational deferments.
Representative Dirksen, Republic
an, of Illinois also was beaten in an
effort to eliminate the distinction
between pre-Pearl Harbor fathers
and those who became fathers at a
later date
Throughout the discussion of the
issue, selective service
officials have contended they already
are endeavoring to follow the prin-
ciple Of the Kilday plan of placing