Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1944-04-13
Men Of Draft Age
BaffIed by Endless
Changes Of Decision
Continued From First Page

April 8. Fathers over rs had Just
learned that being in an essential
Iactivity wasn't enough when later
that same day Gen Hershey stopped
induction of all men over Is in
essential activities--not just neces-
sary men-until the draft boards
had cleared their rolls of younger
men. No one knew how long that
would take.
Men Call Draft Boards.
Men began calling their draft
boards, which hadn't been notified.
An indignant draft clerk called The
Star to protest the 'fmisinformation"
that was coming out. A draft board
chairman said helplessly: I'VE work
every night, but we can't keep up
with the orders"
So the men who had sold their
cars, moved their families and quit
their jobs showed up for induction.
And since nobody knew off-hand
which of them were contributing to
the war effort, all of them over Is
were sent home.
Then there are the Government
workers. After a number of expert
ments, with congressional COM
mittee in hot pursuit, Review
Committee on Government Defer
ments was set up to approve a list
of 'key" jobs whose occupants
couldn't be spared.
The men who didn't occupy these
jobs knew they couldn't ask their
own deferments, waited momen-
tarily for their induction notices.
Inductions Stopped.
But President Roosevelt wanted
fathers in the Federal service to get
the same break as those in private
industry, so on December "A Gen.
Hershey stopped induction of faith
ers in Government till the situation
could be Strengthened out.
Government workers reporting for
induction were sent home wonder
ing whether they should try to get
back on the Government payroll.
On January Is, the ban On draft
ing Government-employed fathers
was lifted. The fathers watched
the mails for another induction
notice.
But on January "a draft boards
were told they could honor requests
for 60-day deferments for these
fathers until the Review Committee
could pass on longer deferments.
Turned Back Again.
On March 81, when the last OF the
60-day deferments had expired and
the Review Committee had proved
itself anything but liberal, the ia
theirs in Government took another
deep breath and again thought the
time had come for induction.
But again they were turned back
at the doors of the induction station,
this time g the April 8 halt order
lonsThe4f over Is in essential aetivis
ties. ~
Now is, this final or am crE1ing
back next week." q father wanted
to know.
AS for the men on the Govern
ment's sacred key" list, the men
who had been getting their defer
ments almost automatically re-
neFed on April IL; Gen. Hershey is
sued flfs slist Of critical activities In
which men under s26 could he de-
ferred.i There was no mention of
GovSTf1niept workers. Some -uf the
Federal Bureau Of INVESTIGATIONS
special agents are quite young.
Farmer Test Established.
Then there are the farmers.
On February IA, Gen. Hershey in
creased the number of war units Of
food farmer had to produce from
8 to Is units, said deferment Of any
farmer producing less than is units
was "unwarranted" and told a con-
gressional committee he thought
farmers should be required to pro-
duce 20 units or more.
The decision was hailed in the
press, greeted by the Army and
Navy as fine source of supply for
younger men. Men in industry be-
gan to see fair play In Gen. Her
shey's statement that all groups
must contribute their share of men.
But on April 2, after his decision
to tighten up had also aroused
screams of protest from farm SEN
ators and farm organizations, Gen.
Hershey telegraphed draft boards to
forget the war unit plan entirely.
Students Excepted.
Then there are the college STU
dents:
On February l students were ex-
cepted from the order that State
draft directors had to indorse every
deferment request in the 18-to-21
age group. The National Roster of
Scientific and Specialized Personnel
and the schools were given until
April l to get their certified defer
ment requests to draft boards.
In their laboratories and class
rooms, the students were happy.
They knew If they were selected for
dCACaAlCAlt, ~ WoulQ lllCdll IIlcy were
officially considered important to
the war effort by staying just where
they were.
But on April 4, just three days
after the job of hand picking some
$4,000 students for deferment had
been completed, students were taken
of the list of exceptions and no
provision was made for deferring
any of them.
Then, on April II, some of the
students were again considered ELI
gible for deferment by order of Gen.
Hershey.
Then there are the men over
30-oh, well.
Frances Twinine Dies;