Evening star., 1944-12-12
Draft Official Warns
AGAINST Unauthorized
Switching Of Jobs

Men planning to switch jobs be-
fore the new draft regulations are
sent local boards were warned by a
ranking selective service official to-
day to seek permission from their
draft boards.
The draft spokesman pointed out
that the general provisions of the
new draft rules have been made
public and that the men could be as
sufned to know them.
The new regulations. expected to
be In the hands of draft boards in a
few days, will require registrants to
get permission from their boards be-
fore changing jobs. Men who make
the change without getting approval
from their boards face immediate
induction.
: Takes Emphasis Off Age.
: Selective service officials predicted
: the new regulations will make draft
]: boards take "gimlet-eyed view" of
what a man is doing-taking the
y emphasis off age. Since May, it was
pointed out, draft boards have been
:. looking for excuses to defer men,
: particularly fathers, in the over-30
: age bracket.
: The boards aren't going to look
any more" one draft spokesman
csaid. They might have deferred an
older man working in a candy fac
tory on the theory people wanted
candy. Now he'll have to do some
thing really productive in the war
to hold on to his deferment."
2 In addition to cutting down turn
over, this draft spokesman said, the
new regulations will have the effect
of releasing some men to the armed
forces as well as encouraging them
Ito seek more essential work.
Induction Stepup Expected.
On the score of making more men
available for service, Selective Serv-
ice Director Lewis B. Hershey told
press conference in Cleveland that
it was his guess" there will be
10 to 20 per cent stepup in induc-
tions in the next few months from
what I see in the papers about the
way the war is going" the Asso-
ciated Press reported.
Gen. Hershey said combat re-
placements are needed urgently
The Army is getting to the point
of taking what it can get and men
under 26 are not so plentiful any
more, Gen. Hershey declared. Ger
many isn't arguing about age any
more. Germany is taking men If
they can walk
At present armed forces calls
are running between 10000 and
10000 month. Approximately
100000 youths are turning 18 each
month but they are not all physically
acceptable for service. Draft Of
flcials said boards had run through
almost all the backlog of men un-
der 26
Hill Urges Solid Action"
For more than a year the general
policy of the Army has been to
utilize men under 26 for combat,
with those in the higher age brack-
cts usually assigned to service or
similar units. War Department Of
f1cials said no definite ruling had
been made so far on the use to be
atlooS VI viz SICdcCO VI
Older men to be inducted under the
new regulations but it was assumed
the Army policy would continue in
operation.
AS Selected Service rushed to i'm
plement the Byrnes directive calling
for produce or fight" draft regula-
tionS to meet critical labor shortages,
Senator Hill, Democrat, of Alabama
told the Senate yesterday that solid
action" was needed to prevent vast
ing American blood in this most
critical hour of the war"
Our problems in Europe have
been complicated by the worst
weather in 40 years" Senator Hill
asserted. Our superiority in planes
and tanks has been neutralized to
considerable degree by the condi-
tions of mud, fog, rain and snow that
now prevail
The artillery has had to take up
the burden. More shells are needed
They must be started on the way at
once. It is better to destroy Ger
many with steel and lead from our
big guns than to crimson it's soil
with the blood of our soldiers"