Evening star., 1943-09-23
Costello
CONTINUED From First Page )

tia1 adviser, has been asked to look
into some Federal deferments, pre-
sumably because OF these COM
plants.
Mr.. Barnett disclosed that Secre-
tary Ickes had asked that approx
mately 5000 jobs be classified as
"key positions" but said the COM
mittee has not yet acted. When
Representative Barness, Republican,
of Indiana asked whether any of
the Interior Department activities
could be suspended for the dura-
ton, Col Edward A. Fitzpatrick,
who represents selective service on
NE sTeyiew eoHapz3 {espQbdkd
EAAts she IrSeFtor epartr6fK as
EHEadS ho ma j6f effort Ito .adt just sts
effort to the war.
Members of the Review Commit
Etee testified they had had difncu1ty
inym ding dut exactlyf YfAt4Ae jo4s
were for which, occupationaT d.
ferements were sought, Mr.. Baf-
nett said that IL or is FedeIal agerl-
cies were making maps and that
that has been a source OF puzzle
ment and concern to me since last
fall"
Secretary Ickes' complaint, Col.
Fitzpatrick said, revolved around a
group of highly trained scientific
people whom the committee refused
to consider for .occupational defer
ment because the jobs they were
performing didn't appear to be COM
pletely scientific, Mr.. Barnett said
The committee suggested that the
cases be considered individually
rather than listed as key positions.
Mr.. Barnett said Mr.. Ickes first
went to VINO Chief McNutt and
later apparently brought his COM
plant to a cabinet meeting. Still
later the White House called Mr..
Barnett to find out what standards
the committee was using, but there
have been no results yet as far as
know"
In other developments at the ses-
sion it was revealed that some draft
boards. are still deferring Govern
ment men without official requests
and last month deferred 2,013 on
that basis. This, Col. Fitzpatrick
blamed on human nature, under
pay, overwork and lambasted from
every side" However, he added, the
occupational deferment of 1858 Fed
eral eligibles were Cancelled in Au-
gust.
While all Government services are
listed as essential activities by VINO,
draft boards have written to a num-
Der OF Government employees, par
tlcularly in the Treasury and Post
Once Departments, telling them to
change jobs or be drafted, Col. Fitz-
patrick told the committee.
In an effort to cut down on un-
authorized Government deferments,
draft boards in the District have
been ordered to Clean up. their rec
ords by the end of this month while
they are making their inventory" it
also was disclosed.
Selective Service Figures.
Representative Harness, using the
figures submitted to Congress earlier
this month by selective service, es-
timated that if the reports took in
all Government departments there
would be approximately 100000 nom
fathers and single men now en-
ployed in Government. The Selec-
tive Service figures, which are sub
mitted to Congress monthly, did not
include all departments. Selective
Service reported 197,656 non draft
age fathers employed in Government
and total of 419,892 fathers and
non fathers.
OF that total, it was reported,
1l6,935 held occupational deferments
with 81 ,269 of that group deferred by
Government request
The Federal Security Agency and
the Office of Price Administration
were cited particularly because of
the number of nonfathers who were
still employed. FSA, according to
the selective service figures quoted
by Mr.. Harness had total of 2,220
single and childless married men,
but Mr.. Barnett reported that only
256 men had been granted occupa-
tional deferments by the VINO RE
view Committee.
In OPA there were 1,758 draft
eligible nonfathers, but only 96 held
occupational deferments. The Office
of Censorship had 487 single and
childless married men, but Mr.. Bar
nett said only about IS men had
been given occupational deferments
/ in that ONCE.
| Mr.. Barnett's committee consist