Evening star., 1944-02-26
100000 Shortage
In Armed Forces
Cited to McNutt
(Tert OF Presidents Memorandum
on Page Az

President Roosevelt today
called for an immediate review
of the nearly 100000 occupa-
tional deferments that have
been granted, declaring in a
memodrandum to Chairman
Paul V. McNutt of the War Man
power Commission and Maj.
Gen. Lewis B. Hershey, Selective
service director, that the armed
forces are short 100000 trained
men, and that this situation
must be speedily remedied.
Emphasizing that the situation is
grave, the President said, The Ma
tion's manpower pool has been dam
gerously depleted by liberal defer
ments and I am convinced that in
this respect we have been overly
lenient, particularly with regard to
the younger men. The over age
men, the physically disqualified, the
returned soldier, and the women of
the Nation must be used more
effectively to replace the able-bodied
men in critical industry and agricul-
ture."
Shortage Began in September.
The President said selective serv-
Ice has not delivered the quantity
of men who were expected"
The shortage which commenced
to develop last September reached
a total of 100000 on December 81"
he added. This means that today
we are still short approximately
100000 trained men although the
actual personnel shortage in the
Army has been reduced to 100000"
Urging that agriculture and indus
try release younger men physically
qualified for military service, Mr..
Roosevelt said the Army will not
reach its planned January strength
until some time in April, or even
later if selective service continues
to fall behind on its quotas" He
added:
The Nations manpower pool has
been dangerously depleted by lib
eral deferments."
Hershey Discusses Shortage.
The shortage of men for the
armed service was discussed yester-
day by Gen Hershey, who used the
same 200,0 figure as the President.
He said the armed forces need L.
100000 men by July l to reach the
planned goal of II 100000 and added
that the 100000 represented the
number of men not to be had from
preferred sources. Of that num-
Der, he said large percentage must
come from younger men holding oc-
cupational deferments, and farmers
who cannot show that they are con-
tributing substantially" to the
wartime food pool
Gen. Hershey, discussing the sit
uation before the Senate Agricul-
ture Committee, which scheduled
another hearing today, said 60 per
cent of those sent to induction sta
tions nowadays are failing to pass
physical examinations, presumably
because of the higher average age.
Rehirings Forced.
~ W dS Ul1db UllS
Civil Service Commission and selec-
tive service have had to force some
Government agencies to give dis
charged veterans their former jobs.
The disclosure followed the selec-
tive services overall report to Con-
greSs yesterday, in which it was said
that some difficulty is being ex-
perienced in reinstatement of vet
Grams" in their Government jobs
and added that "the situation in
this respect is better on the part of
private industry"
A Civil Service Commission spokes-
man said today that the commission
had to act in approximately dozen
cases here and in the field and had
heard of other cases where selective
service unemployment committee
men had dealt directly with the
agency involved
Pressure" Found Necessary.
In three or four cases, the spokes-
man said, the agencies have refused
tor rehire former employees dis
charged from the armed services
even when the situation had been
called to the attention of top Off
Gals and pressure had been neces-
sary."
In most cases, however, the COM
mission spokesman said, ignorance
of the law was involved. The vet
Grams, he explained, naturally went
hoNk fn fhntY old hoccoc xr,I,a
applied for reinstatement. In some
cases, the bosses didn't know they
had to take the men back and told
them their old jobs were filled.
In one case, the spokesman said,
the agency claimed the man had
disqualifying disability. 1t turned
out, however, that the disability
not only did not interfere with his
work, but he had had it before he
entered the armed services. The
commission insisted on the mans re-
employment.
Two Cases Now Pending.
The commission said it had two
cases pending. In one, veteran had
WtAocCAA UAAdU 11C 1ldu uSCO
unemployment and the other was
brought to the attention of the COM
mission by a newspaperman.
A selective service spokesman said
the trouble was limited to a few
agencies, but that it was serious be-
cause veterans cannot sue the Gov
ernment for their unemployment
rights as they could private en-
ployers.
Gen. Hershey told the Senate
Committee yesterday that the mill
tary situation has grown so tight
that only men who contribute
substantially to food production can
remain on farms, and selective serv-
ice is considering raising its age min
imum on occupational deferments
from 20 to 26 years to provide the
(See DRAFT, Page A-21