Letter to General Enoch H. Crowder from James H. Wolfe - January 22, 1918
Transcript
January 22, 1918 General E. H. Crowder, Provost Marshal General, Washington, D.C. My dear General Crowder: May I interrupt you once more in answer to your letter of January 17, 1918, long enough to tell you that I have already examined your report to the Secretary of War. It is very clear and comprehensive and will prove valuable for sociological as well as military purposes. I was also interested in this report because as chairman of the executive committee of the Salt Lake County Legal Advisory Boards, I had entire charge of the organization and supervision of three hundred attorneys called in to assist registrants. Ninety-nine per cent of our attorneys responded by taking the oath and keeping their assignments and in spite of the fact that a great many of the assignments were to Bingham and Garfield, outlying points, inconvenient of access and the working places of over 2500 foreign registrants who could neither read nor write. We had to organize corps of interpreters. It may interest you to now that everything went along splendidly and I do not believe that any where in the United States there was any smoother machinery. May I again give my humble commendation to the manner in which you have worked out the spirit of the Selective Service Law. Your department, charged with the duty of selecting
Transcript
EHC--2 and conveying men from civil over into military life, would naturally appear to be more subject to complaint than any other department. Yet, as far as I am able to ascertain, it seems to be the department least under fire. This, I think, you should consider as a mighty big compliment. My experience in drafting regulations covering the traffic in alcohol under the Prohibition Law and also in framing certain legislation during the last six years has made me appreciative of the sort of imagination required to foresee and visualize the actual conditions which must be embraced by such machinery as your department is under duty to devise. I am fulfilling the threat which I made to you when I was in Washington. I have made application to the Aviation Section of the Signal Corps, have passed my examination and, if accepted, will resign my commission as Major in the Guard, which now seems to be but an empty honor. I hope, however, that I my be left here long enough to argue several cases in the Supreme Court, after which I shall feel free to answer any call for service. With wishes for the continued success of your department, I remain Your very truly, James H. Wolfe JHW-MB
Details
| Title | Letter to General Enoch H. Crowder from James H. Wolfe - January 22, 1918 |
| Creator | Wolfe, James H. |
| Source | Wolfe, James H. Letter to General Enoch H. Crowder. 22 January 1918. Crowder, Enoch H. (1859-1932), Papers, 1884-1942. C1046. The State Historical Society of Missouri, Columbia, MO. |
| Description | In this letter, James H. Wolfe, chairman of the executive committee of the Salt Lake County Legal Advisory Board, wrote General Enoch H. Crowder and congratulated him on his work with the Selective Service Act and stated that he hoped to be accepted to the Aviation Section of the Signal Corps. This document is part of a collection compiled by Enoch Herbert Crowder, the Edinburg, Grundy County, Missouri native who served as Judge Advocate General. Crowder devised the Selective Service Act in 1917 which drafted America's forces during World War I. |
| Subject LCSH | Crowder, E. H. (Enoch Herbert), 1859-1932 |
| 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 | January 22, 1918 |
| Language | English |