Letter from General Enoch H. Crowder to Senator George E. Chamberlain - July 3, 1918
Transcript
July 3, 1918. Honorable George E. Chamberlain, United States Senate. My dear Senator Chamberlain: In view of that provision of the Army Appropriation Bill, personal to myself, now pending before the Conference Committee, it is unavoidable that I should take this opportunity to lay before you and also Mr. Dent, Chairman of the House conferees, my personal sentiments, and to ask you to communicate them, if you see fit, to your associates. That the provision in question involves a compliment and a distinction which I value beyond anything in my military career, is natural; and that the approval testified to by the vote of the Senate gratifies me beyond the power of words to express, is a simple statement of fact. Setting aside for the moment the aspect personal to myself, the proposed provision has also a profound significance for the Army, a significance of large principle, which indeed overshadows its individual tenor. The execution of the Selective Service Law has proceeded to the point of classifying more than ten and one-half million registrants for military service and of entraining the nearly sixteen hundred thousand that are now serving with the colors. By August first of this year the latter number will be in round numbers two million, and by the close of the year will, if estimated requisitions are received, approximate three million. A large number of these selected men are now abroad and the major portion of them will shortly be abroad. They will be speedily organized into field armies and constituent army corps, and in the immediately succeeding months the War Department will, under authority of existing law, have the duty of naming many Lieutenant Generals to command respectively these field armies and constituent army corps. (Sec. 3, Act of Oct. 6, 1917). The question presented by the pending proviso is therefore whether the services of the selective draft system, which has produced these results is sufficiently important to carry a special reward, and second, whether my participation therein justifies the bestowing of Lieutenant Generalsy upon me. Personally, I should like to see Congress declare itself on these two questions so that army officers whose fate it is to work on this side and who are without any capacity to transfer themselves by their voluntary acts to the other side may know upon what principles professional distinctions and rewards will be bestowed, and whether a mere geographical boundary line, for the purposes of this war--the Atlantic--shall segregate a part of the Army in which special rewards and professional distinctions may not be won by any kind of service. But viewing the matter in a broader way, I am reluctant to allow the
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consideration of the proposed proviso, personal to myself, to proceed any further. If the conferees are in accord with my wishes in this regard I should be glad if Senator Chamberlain for the Senate conferees and Chairman Dent for the House conferees, in reporting to their respective houses that the Senate conferees yielded on this provision, would make it perfectly plain that the action was in accord with my request and for the express reason next to be stated. Forty-eight State and three Territorial Headquarters and nearly six thousand Local and District Boards, composed of citizens, distributed throughout the country and assisted by Legal and Medical Advisory Boards in every jurisdiction, have cooperated with the National. Headquarters efficiently and honorably and many of them without compensation in the superb teamwork which has produced the gratifying results which have been pointed out above. Of them it may be truly said that when the selective service system which they administer ceases to function efficiently to produce the military and to conserve the industrial man-power, we shall be in a fair way to lose this war. More than once I have expressed the view that something ought to be done by the Nation
Details
| Title | Letter from General Enoch H. Crowder to Senator George E. Chamberlain - July 3, 1918 |
| Creator | Crowder, Enoch H. |
| Source | Crowder, Enoch H. Letter to Senator George E. Chamberlain. 03 July 1918. Crowder, Enoch H. (1859-1932), Papers, 1884-1942. C1046. The State Historical Society of Missouri, Columbia, MO. |
| Description | General Enoch Crowder wrote to Senator George E. Chamberlain of Oregon and expressed his gratitude for the consideration of promotion to Lieutenant General, but stated that he believed the promotion should go to officers in the field. This document is part of a collection compiled by Enoch Herbert Crowder, the Edinburg, Grundy County, Missouri native who served as Judge Advocate General devising the Selective Service Act in 1917 which drafted America's forces during World War I. |
| Subject LCSH | Crowder, E. H. (Enoch Herbert), 1859-1932; United States. War Department; Promotions, Military |
| Subject Local | WWI; World War I; Selective Service Act of 1917; Selective Draft Act |
| Site Accession Number | C1046 |
| Contributing Institution | The State Historical Society of Missouri |
| Copy Request | Transmission or reproduction of items on these pages beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the State Historical Society of Missouri: 1020 Lowry Street, Columbia, Missouri, 65201-7298. (573) 882-7083. |
| Rights | The text and images contained in this collection are intended for research and educational use only. Duplication of any of these images for commercial use without express written consent is expressly prohibited. |
| Date Original | July 3, 1918 |
| Language | English |