Letter from General Enoch H. Crowder to Senator George E. Chamberlain - July 5, 1918

Transcript

Office of the Provost Marshal General Washington, D.C. July 5, 1918. Honorable George F. 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. But, after considerable reflection, and viewing the matter in a broad way, I am reluctant to allow the consideration of the proposed proviso to proceed any further. If the conferees are in accord with my wishes in this regard, I should be glad if you, for the Senate Conferees, and Mr. Dent, for the House Conferees, in reporting back to your respective Houses that the Senate conferees yielded on this provision, would say 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, with an aggregate membership of nearly eighteen thousand citizens, assisted by legal and medical advisory boards in every jurisdiction, have cooperated with the National Headquarters efficiently and honorably, and many without compensation, in the superb teamwork which has produced the gratifying results attained under the Selective Service law. These results embrace the registration of more than ten and one-half million of citizens, and their classification for military service, and the entrainment of the nearly 1,600,00 men now serving with the colors. By August 1 of this year this latter number will be approximately 2,000,000 and by the close of the year, if expected requisitions are received, the aggregate will approximate 3,000,000. Of the members of these boards 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. I have long entertained the view that something ought to be done to recognize publicly and emphatically the enormous sacrifices these citizens have made in bestowing the continuous and exhausting services that have been indispensable in carrying the administrative burden of the Selective Service System. The difficulty has been in devising a suitable reward, nation-wide in its application, and acceptable generally to those who have so participated. At the risk of being regarded as ungrateful to the proposers of this provision, I cannot bring myself to be satisfied that my own conscientiously performed share in discharging that duty should become the subject of recognition, so long as the far greater share of these other builders of the National Army remains without public and distinguished acknowledgement in the records of Congress. These men, my fellow workers, their toils, their sacrifices and their achievements, are next to my heart. On this subject I frankly confess to a deep sentiment- I hope it will not be reckoned as sentimentality- a sentiment which would not receive unalloyed satisfaction from the bestowal of any honor, however, generous, that is personal to myself only. In placing before you, at this time, these sincere convictions, I trust that I have adequately expressed the motive that prompted this letter. Cordially and gratefully yours, E. H. Crowder, Provost Marshal General