Evening star., 1944-03-22
13-Month Laq
lin Draft Quotas
Cited by Army
Service Law Needed
To Get Younger Men.
High OfficioI Says
$500 NAVY CIVILIAN experts face
draft calls. Page B-1
By JAMES Y. NEWTON.


deferments will not reduce war
production if full use is made Of
the Nations manpower, and the
only way to accomplish this end
is through enactment of ma
tional service legislation, a high
military official said today.
The official declared in an inter.
view that the current drive for
young combat manpower is based on
battle plans laid by Gen. George C.
Marshall. He said if the Nation is
not in accord with those plans it
should get new chief of staff.
Commanders in every theater of
the war are crying" for young
men, he continued, and SO far the
requirements of none have been
met. Selective service has failed
to meet the Army and Navy quotas
Tor men in, every month since Feb
ruary, 1943,, he said. Draft heads
previously said that inductions were
tagging only since October. In ad-
|dition, the average age of inductees
has been rising, resulting In an
Army that is bit old for full effec-
ltiveness.
Liberation First Job.
The nearly 100000 men under 20
deferred on farms, regarded by some
officials as untouchable" because of
the Tydings amendment and
farm political pressure, must be
screened" just as carefully by draft
boards as those deferred In indus
try, the official said, adding that the
same yardstick of 'indispensability
must be applied to both classes.
While attaching full Importance
to the necessity for raising food
for ourselves and fighting Allies,
he said reverse thinking was in
volved In present plans to produce
food for liberated peoples. The
official declared our first job was
to liberate them. and this could not
be done If a large percentage Of
our young men we're deferred on
farms.
Il know of no one In this country
who has gone hungry and our
stocks of foodstuffs are large" he
remarked. adding that little could
be done to offset the possibility OF
poor growing weather, no matter
how many men were released to
farms.
The demands of the Army ana
Navy for more young men for COM
bat duty are not new, the Official
said. Selective service has been
getting further behind each month
in meeting quotas, with more and
more men deferred for occupational
reasons, and the time finally arrived
where drastic action had to be taken,
resulting in the Presidents defer
ment review order of February 26,
he added.
Lazy in Training Requirements.
The official said the contention
this Nation cannot supply the COM
bat men called for and at the same
time produce the weapons and food
needed was ridiculous" Both in
dustry and agriculture, he added,
have been lazy" in training replace
ments. He declared this country has
the lowest percentage Of it's man.
power in the armed forces of any
of the warning nations-about 8 per
cent.
So far in this war, the official
continued, it has been overlooked
that first things come first" and
| that first call on manpower must
be for men to fight. He pointed out
that some countries-notably Rus
sia-use men unfit for combat and
women to produce the weapons, re-
leasing able-bodied men for the
| front lines.
He admitted that voluntary meth
ods OF solving manpower problems
had been given thorough trial and
found wanting, adding that the only
answer to the demands for fighting
men and production is national
service law. The needs of both war
production and agriculture now are
for quantity rather than quality,
and the only way a quantity Of
manpower can be assured Is
through a homefront draft, the off,
cial argued
The time has passed" he declared.
when the armed forces can be held
responsible for manpower shortages.
The time has arrived when we must
have the fighting men we need"
Careful Consideration Urged.
The armed services never have in
tended to take the indispensable
young men from either industry or
agriculture, he said. So far as the
indispensable in industry are con-
cerned he continued, those in charge
of production are best suited to
make selections. He said officials in
charge of must" war programs
should specify their number OF
irreplaceable men. These requests
should be carefully considered by a
top production man, such as Charles
E. Wilson. WPB vice chairman, and
the minimum number Of young merP
needed should be just as carefully