USA > Pennsylvania > Allegheny County > District No. 15 of Allegheny County Pennsylvania in the Great War : a history of activities at home and abroad from the declaration of war in 1917 to the home-comings in 1919 > Part 4
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The Local Board found it necessary now and then to make up an additional blank to bring out certain points that required elaboration beyond that provided by the government form, but the method was cumbersome and unsatisfactory.
Under the questionnaire, matters were very much simplified, though even now there were cases where information additional to that furnished by the questionnaire was required to com- plete the classification. Where claim of exemption on the ground of wife and children was made the classification was comparatively simple; where a claim on the ground of dependent parent or parents was made an entirely different proposition was presented. For instance the age, health, estate, the number and financial position of other children in the family, etc., all entered into the question and each item had its effect and might be the deciding factor in the solution.
One feature of the Selective Service System that contributed greatly to its efficiency and added to the labor of the Board was the fact that the Board was called upon, in so large a majority of cases where there was any question, to rule concerning matters of vital interest to neighbors, acquaintances and friends. Manifestly, in many cases it was not an easy task to arrive at a deci- sion that was at once fair to the government, the community, the registrant, and his immediate family.
An incident will illustrate the point. . . . She was a little old lady of somewhere near seventy years, and she wanted to see the "Board" in person. It was about her son, the only one left at home. His classification had been advanced just previously, making him immediately available for call, and when she saw the notification card she "just couldn't sleep a wink the whole night for worrying," she said. So she got ready and came down to the office of the Board herself to explain the case. "John is a good boy," she said, tremulously, her bright eyes filled with tears, "and if he goes I'll have no one. The other boys are all married and have families of their own to keep. They can't be bothered with me too, and anyhow I just won't have any daughters-in-law in my house." Her mind was evidently settled on that point, and from the facts they gathered from her the Board decided to reconsider the case and told her they would let her know their decision later. "Oh, but I want to know now," she pleaded, "because I won't sleep again 'till I'm sure I have my boy safe." So, after a brief conference, the Chairman of the Board announced to the anxious. little mother that she could have her boy. A look of perfect ecstasy passed over the wrinkled old face, and turning her brimming eyes ceilingward, she exclaimed, "Oh, thank God, thank God!" Then, as if suddenly apprehending that the men might be entitled to at least a small share of the credit, she turned to them and added feelingly, "And-and thank you 'uns too. Oh, thank you a thousand times!"
Again: A colored man, who had failed to file a questionnaire within the proper time, was called upon by an officer and asked to appear before the Local Board and explain. He presented himself at the appointed hour with the time-worn excuse that he had never received a question- naire. He was assured that one had been mailed him and that the Government held him as an individual responsible for securing it and returning it to the Board in completed form. He was
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THE LOCAL BOARD
asked whether there was any reason why he should not be inducted immediately into the military service because of his negligence. He replied very quickly, "Oh, yas sah, boss, hyah am my reasons," and at the same time stepping away from the door, he displayed five little open-eyed, black-headed pickaninnies. He had no further difficulty in arranging for his exemption.
But there were, of course, times on which the Board was compelled to decide against the claimant, and hold to its decision when such an occasion arose. There was naturally at least temporary dissatisfaction.
One of the local industries in making a roster of their employees and their status under the Selective Service Law discovered a big clean-cut, fine-looking Russian, who was unable to speak any English and who had not registered. In charge of a special officer, he was brought to the headquarters of the Board, where through interpreters it was made evident that his failure to register was due to his lack of understanding of English. He has just been married, but there appeared no other reason why he should not be immediately inducted. Having received assur- ances of his good faith and a promise from him to return for induction and entrainment a few days later, the Board permitted him to return to his home.
The following morning an irate Austrian-Slav appeared at the office of the Board with this selective in tow and announced herself as his wife. She had prominent features, a square jaw, and spoke very good English. She hastened to impart volubly the information that her husband was not an American citizen, and consequently not subject to American laws, and that he had not registered because "he did not have to," and that he was not going to the army. After the sur- prised members of the Board had recovered their equilibrium, they made sure that the candidate would be on hand when wanted by having him placed in custody.
Incited by his wife, this man became so belligerent and rebellious that he was sent to camp under guard.
There is a sequel to this story which has not to do with the point intended to be illustrated by the foregoing recital, but which is interesting as showing the salutary effect of the prompt application of a severe remedy when occasion requires.
Shortly after the armistice was signed, he was honorably discharged and applied to his former employer for work; being placed temporarily in the labor gang until there would be a better position for him, he refused to accept the position and with his wife came forthwith to the office of the Local Board and entered his complaint. There was evidently no doubt in his mind that any men who could take a man bodily and thrust him into the army against the protestations of as masterful a person as his wife were little short of omnipotent. Unfortunately there is no record of the Board's accomplishment in this latter affair.
The questionnaire forms arrived about the thirteenth or fourteenth of December, 1917, and under the orders were to be issued five per cent per day beginning with December 15, until the entire number had been sent out. Owing to delay in receipt of the necessary envelopes, the mailing to the registrants was not begun until the twentieth of December. It is probably safe to say that with the mailing of the questionnaires began the most arduous duties and the most strenuous work of the Local Board. Completed papers were returned in ten days and under instructions classifications were to be made within four days of the filing. It was only to be expected that with a procedure so new, many mistakes were made by registrants in filling out their papers nor was the average assistant, whether a member of the Legal Advisory Board or otherwise, much better prepared in the beginning to advise or instruct in filling out these papers. As high as fifty
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1. Merrit E. Montgomery 2 Thomas Wesley Myers 3. Earl Thomas Mccutcheon 4. Walter Knable Mccutcheon
5. Homer D. McFall
6. Robert Pilston 7. Arthur Polome
8. William G. Pressler
9. Dominick Quintilliani
10. Mike Rampulla
11. Alex Rogacki 12. Adam Roman 13. Floyd E. Ross 14. August J. Scholtz 15. James Steele Sharpe 16. George F. Singleton
17. Boleslaw Joseph Skowronski 18. Thomas M. Stockdill 19. John P. Sweeney 20. Stanisław Szewczykowski 21. Joseph Trettle
22. Edward Whitesides 23. Chester C. Woods (M.D.) 24. Walter Francis Berent 25. John A. Lichok 26. William Joseph Pegg
PLATE II
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per cent of the questionnaires submitted from some local meetings had to be returned for correction or additional information. It is gratifying, however, to note that after the first few days the volunteers who had come to the rescue as Associates of the Advisory Board, had acquired sufficient grasp of the situation and of the requirements to effect a decrease in the percentage of deficient papers, so that toward the last probably not over five per cent were returned for correction or completion.
Added to the difficulties of the Local Board was the fact that this questionnaire was a new and strange thing to them, the very existence of which they would probably have doubted, had it not been before them. It was a fact, however, and they had to reconcile it as such. Doubtless no little delay in checking up the questionnaires and arriving at classification of the registrants was due to the necessity on the part of the Board of learning how to appraise at its proper value each section and question of this important document. What was new to the Local Board of the Fifteenth District was just as new to Local Boards elsewhere.
It was necessary for the Board initially to place its own interpretation upon the questionnaire as a whole and in detail. There was no source short of Washington which could interpret with authority. It was a situation peculiarly appealing to the American temperament, if there is such a thing, and required in its solution both initiative and judgment.
The book of rules with forms consisted of about two hundred pages of closely written matter. To be sure it was indexed, but even an index is not always either accurate or comprehensive, and even after the subject was located there were many questions that had to be decided by inference or implication from the rules, which could hardly by any possibility have been made sufficiently specific to cover every case.
To assume the responsibility for making decisions, which, to the registrant and his family at least, were momentous, required not only judgment, but courage on the part of the Local Board. It is not surprising that in such circumstances mistakes were made, but it is surprising that there was so little dissatisfaction as evidenced by the comparatively small number of complaints, criticisms, and appeals.
The questionnaires began to return during Holiday Week of 1917. There was no holiday for the Board, excepting on Christmas Day. It was a Yuletide to be remembered by many a family and individual in the District. The topic of the questionnaire was on every tongue and there was considerable suspense and doubt among the people at large as to what it all meant and as to what would be the result. Nor were they alone in their uncertainty. Even the official agency of the government was perplexed. So many difficulties were presented to the Board that at one time there were between one thousand and fifteen hundred questionnaires whose registrants were await- ing classification. But gradually light was shed on the problems presented and as the days passed system and order grew with knowledge and understanding of what was really a master plan.
Under the first draft the people of the community seemed to be somewhat antagonistic to com- pulsory military service. The feeling appeared to change under the questionnaire. The com- munity and the individuals in it seemed to have become rather more reconciled to the situation and to feel that now that the war was on, there was necessity for the very best effort and support.
As an instance of the attitude of the people in the beginning may be cited the story of a father, whose four sons, all unmarried, had been enrolled under the first registration. The two youngest boys were called for induction and promptly responded. Questionnaires were subsequently mailed to the two older boys. The oldest of the four made claim for deferred classification upon
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the ground of dependent parents, notwithstanding the fact that the father worked regularly at his trade. Investigation showed that the son worked on an average of one or two days a week. His claim, for deferred classification was refused. A few days later, both the father and son appeared and were quite indignant because of what they maintained was a lack of consideration on the part of the Board in requiring one family to send so many representatives while others had not fur- nished any. The Local Board endeavored to convince them that no such basis for selecting men was contemplated by the regulations, but the effort was unavailing. An appeal was taken to the District Board, which sustained the Local Board's action. Some weeks later, both boys were in- ducted on the same day and as the train pulled out from the station, the father was observed on the platform enthusiastically waving "good-by" to them. Approaching him, a member of the Board remarked, "Well, you surely ought to feel proud to have four boys in the service." "Sure thing!" replied the man with feeling, "and if Mother would let me, I would go too." A few days later the mothers of soldiers were asked to march in a Liberty Loan parade and carry their service flags. The mother of these boys marched in the front row carrying her flag with four stars-the proudest mother of them all.
The feature of the second draft, which provided for classified service and in some cases limited service, was recognized by the people of this community as being more fair and affording a chance. The same comment might be made as to classification for precedence of call, by which men of the community most needed at home were reserved in the order of the exigency for later call.
Under the first draft, it was a question of service or exemption. There was no middle class. Under the questionnaire, the individuals had an opportunity, not only to indicate specifically their situation with regard to dependents and availability for general service, but also any peculiar qualifications that they might have whereby they were adapted for special service. This seemed to impart to the community in general a feeling of confidence that was due perhaps to a new inter- pretation of what the service meant, and a clearer notion of the probable extent to which they would be required to contribute.
From the first of January on until about the middle of February, the Board was busily en- gaged in the work of classification. This work itself required about four days a week from 9 A.M. to 5 P.P. and six days a week from 7:30 P.M. to 10:30 P.M., in addition to the time spent on matters of general correspondence, consideration of special cases, reviews, and hearings of special evidence. Two afternoons each week were devoted to hearing special cases of which often ten or twelve, each different from any of the others, would be reviewed.
If there were no interruption, the Board could average about sixty classifications a day, but it is safe to say that by reason of more or less frequent interruption, it was impossible on many days to keep up with this average. On one banner day, one hundred and seventy-five cases were disposed of.
Under the questionnaires there were probably a hundred appeals to the District Board. There were no reversals on personal appeals, although there were some on government appeals. This would indicate that the tendency of the Board to err had been on the side of leniency to the in- dividual rather than in ruling out grounds for exemption.
JANUARY TO JUNE, 1918
Beginning with January 16, 1918, when one man was sent to a camp at Rock Island, the shipments under the second draft continued throughout the spring and summer and fall. On
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many occasions, but one man was sent; most of these were special calls. There was, however, one regular call on June 1, 1918. This was the only instance of so small a number on a regular call. Reference to Appendix Table No. 3 will show in detail the various shipments made, with date of each and the camp to which the men were sent. In this connection Appendix Table No. 4 is of interest as showing in order the number of men sent from this District to the various camps, bar- racks, and schools in which the District was represented. These statistics are confined, of course, to selectives, the Board having no statistical record of the enlisted men and a compilation of tables from the biographical records included in this volume would involve an amount of labor which, for the purposes of this history, would hardly be justified by the results.
As indicating some of the problems of classification that were presented to the Board, the status of the District with regard to Class I men is worthy of remark.
Sometime in April, 1918, inquiry from Major General Murdock at Harrisburg as to the report on the condition of classification commented upon the low percentage of men classified by the Board in Class I.
The registrants placed in Class I throughout the nation at large amounted to about thirty per cent out of registration prior to September 12, 1918.
At the time of the inquiry for report as above noted, practically all the classification under the registration of June 5, 1917, had been completed and summaries were being taken off the records. The number of men placed in Class I in the District on answer to questionnaires amounted to about fifteen per cent of the registration, to which should be added the two and one half per cent automatically classified by reason of their failing to file questionnaires. Even had those who applied for deferred classification through dependency in Classes II and III been refused, their claim and the total in Class I would not have exceeded eighteen and one half per cent.
There were several factors that produced this result. Among them may be noted the follow- ing: 50.1 per cent of the registrants of June 5, 1917, were married men; 38.1 per cent of the total registration of that date were aliens; of these latter, 32.9 per cent were Austro-Hungarians while 41.7 per cent were Russians. There had been quite a number of the Polish-Russians who had enlisted and who were, therefore, not included in the Local Board's records, leaving for deferred classification a percentage of their nativity apparently larger than it really was. Among other important factors exerting an influence on the percentage in Class I were the essentially indus- trial character of the community, one plant employing approximately three thousand men in essential industries and requesting deferred classification for practically all the registrants in its employ. Farming and market gardening were also quite extensive in the District and many of the deferred classifications were due to the registrants following one or the other of these agricultural occupations.
It will thus be seen that while the percentage of Class I among the selectives as compared with total registration in the District may have been lower than in some other districts, this was due to its peculiar economic features and to the character of its inhabitants. While the percentage of men in active military service may thus have been diminished, it is altogether probable that, in comparison with statistics of other communities, including men in the service and men in essential industries, the total man-power employed or furnished for war purposes was not less in proportion to population than that of other districts and was highly creditable in the quality and importance of service.
From the completion of the classification under the questionnaire of December, 1917, on until
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the registration of June, 1918, the duties of the Local Board were almost entirely routine. There was a time during the month of May when the offices of the Board were very quiet. There were two fair-sized shipments of men in April and two in May, the last on May 27, taking one hundred and two men. For shipment of some twenty-five to fifty men, probably three days' work on the part of the Board was required. This consisted of making copy of physical examination reports, registration cards, sending the notices to men, and attending to general details. Notices were sent through the mail and there were busy scenes when the men responded to call for induction.
As an additional precaution, before any man was called his entire record was taken up and reviewed and his classification checked and approved. The stimulus for this cautionary act probably originated in the fact that on the second call of one hundred and fifty white men under the first draft, among the men who responded was one negro and one man blind of one eye. These men were of course relieved when they appeared and alternates sent in their places, but thereafter the checking of reports for the call of induction was made, thus eliminating such embarrassment. The Board was also cognizant of a case which occurred in a nearby district, where a foreigner, re- sponding to call for induction, appeared at the office of the Board with his wife and five children and in answer to inquiry on the part of the Board, replied laconically, "Yes, me go," and (pointing to his attending family), "you keep." Needless to say, that man was exempted forthwith. The Local Board of the Fifteenth District determined to avoid the contingency of any such responsi- bility being placed upon its shoulders.
On May 17, 1918, the so-called "Work or Fight" Order was promulgated. It was in the form of an amendment to Section 121, which had to do with classification of men. For some time prior to the date of this order, it was becoming apparent in many districts that there was an out- standing defect in the Selective Service System in that there was nothing to provide for the re- quirements of war industries or occupations having to do with the maintenance of food supplies. These men were called regardless of the urgency of their need at home, and decision was made simply upon the question of their qualifications for military service. Men who could hardly be spared from factory or farm were taken because their order number happened to precede that of other Class I men, who were perhaps taking their ease, either unemployed or in some unessential pursuit in serene and complacent indifference to the needs of their country at home or abroad. To remedy this situation, the so-called "Work or Fight" rules were put in force. Briefly, this made it the duty of all persons connected with the Selective Service System and all citizens to report to the nearest Local Board any facts coming to their knowledge concerning registrants who were idle or engaged in any occupation or employment classified under the regulations as "non-productive." Upon such report or observation by any Local Board, such person was required to be summoned before the Board and if after investigation and the hearing of evidence, it was found that the party summoned was either an idler or engaged in non-productive employment, the Board, if of original jurisdiction, was authorized to change the classification; or if an investigating Board in another district, it was authorized to recommend to the Board of original jurisdiction reclassification ac- cording to the facts and circumstances of the case. This reclassification would result in the with- drawal of deferred classification and make the man more or less immediately available for military service.
The prime object of the "Work or Fight" Order, therefore, was an indirect one so far as the phraseology of the order might indicate. It was that of compelling men to serve their country whether in an essential productive industry or in the military organization.
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APRIL 30, 1918 III-B
PLATE III-A 1. Henry Mills, Alternate 2. John Dick Caldwell 3. Hugh W. Craig 4. Howard Earl Robinson 5. Russell Elliott 6. Francis Carlton Reinehr
PLATE III-B 1. Giodonni Bellovic
2. Franklin F. Menigat 3. Tony George
9. Carl M. Auerswald
16. Cecil B. Anthony
17. Samuel DeAngelo
23. Joseph Gille 24. Ralph Mccutcheon
6. Jules Roland
7. Samuel Patterson, Alternate
8. William Parsons
9. Earl Dallas Mahaffey, Alternate
10. George Pilston, Jr
11. Franklin E. Sturgeon, Clerk 12. Paul C. Reinehr
17. H. M Brackenridge, Chairman 18. Ralph W. Hanna
19 Michael J. Gunning
13. Joseph Wm. Roll 14. Charles A. Martin 20.
15. George Wilson
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22. Corso Francis Catonia
28. David Hughes 29. August Dotzler
4. Dominick Marra 5. Clare E. Cline
11. Jules Jos. Halin
12. Eugene Mccutcheon
18. Herbert John Laux
PLATES III-A AND III-B
19. Frank Markwell, Alternate
13. Melvin Curt Harris 14. George Esler Marvin
15. James Stokely Gummert
16. Leonard Blaine Eurich
20. Richard Farrell 21. George D. Books 22. Harry F. Kerr 23. Adolph Hue 24. William J. Stanier
25. Thomas A. Eyler 26. Herman Cordier 27. George Gides
7. Stephen Mikus 8. Bart Gardina
10. Francis George
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The Provost Marshal General in his Second Report said, "It is perhaps to be regretted that the Selective Service law as originally enacted did not provide for a classification of labor upon industrial grounds as broad as industry itself. Yet, the haste in which the act of May 18, 1917, was prepared, and the precedent available at the time, precluded the enactment of a more perfect measure. The act of March, 1863, the Civil War Draft Measure, contained no provision for industrial deferment. The British military service acts, complicated by antecedent war labor policies, succeeded so little in systematizing an industrial classification that the results by the spring of 1917 were confusion rather than an orderly scheme for military-industrial correlation. The original Selective Service Law was therefore an experiment so far as the scope of industrial classification was concerned. The amendment of August 31, 1918, broadened the field to the proper limits."
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