Letter to Herbert Hoover from General Enoch H. Crowder - September 21, 1918
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September 21, 1918. Mr. Herbert Hoover, United States Food Administrator, Washington, D.C. My dear Mr. Hoover, There has come into my possession a copy of a telegram which issued from the headquarters of the Food Administration on September 19- copy enclosed. The subject matter covered by this telegram was discussed at a recent conference called by the President, to which I was summoned. The President had before him a Regulation applicable to all Governmental Departments and intended to be responsive to the situation in which various Governmental Departments and Agencies find themselves, in view of the extension upward of the age limits of the draft. The President was much concerned with the application of the draft to these upper age limits, and the extent to which the departments of the government and the economic life of the country might be adversely affected. I left the conference with no doubt in my mind that he regarded the regulation, with a minor amendment which he suggested and which was made, as ample and adequate to conserve the interests of the Government in all of its Departments and Agencies, as well as the interests of industry and generally the National interests; and that he contemplated that the regulation would be applied in a uniform way to all of these Department and Agencies. The regulation has since been promulgated and I am sending you, herewith, a marked copy of the Revised Regulations, as they left the Government Printing Office this morning. Coming down to the actual text of your telegram addressed to all Federal Food Administrators and Zone Agents, I have to invite your attention as follows: 1. The telegram states that-
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H.H. [page 2] 9/21/[1918]. from Washington.
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H.H. [page 3] 9/21/[1918] Federal Departmental Officials, all citizens who may be called upon, as employers, under Section 44 of the Regulations, to make affidavits for securing the discharge of persons deemed to be indispensable to National industrial interests during the emergency, will exercise the same conscientious and scrupulous caution to the end that there will appear to be no favored or exempted class among the citizens called by law to the National Defense
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H.H. [page 4] 9/21/[1918] In this connection, I invite your attention to a special circular, prepared by this office and distributed to all Governmental Departments and Agencies, which was intended to facilitate prompt administration and prompt deferments of the essential men. In concluding, I beg to invite your attention to the fact that, under conservative estimates, the new registration-18 to 45- will produce about 2,380,000 actual fighting men; that requisitions already in sight for Army, Navy and Marine Corps, make it necessary for us to furnish some 500,000 more actual fighting men than we shall have. If the deminishing of the military manpower is further increased by too liberal deferments it will be necessary to submit to the President the question of whether he should curtain the 1919 military program in the interests of these larger deferments, and give notice to the Inter-Allied War Council that the military program must be modified and curtailed in this country. Very truly yours, E. H. Crowder, Provost Marshal General. EHC-vbr Encl.
Details
| Title | Letter to Herbert Hoover from General Enoch H. Crowder - September 21, 1918 |
| Creator | Crowder, Enoch H. |
| Source | Crowder, Enoch H. Letter to Herbert Hoover from General Enoch H. Crowder. 21 September 1918. Crowder, Enoch H. (1859-1932), Papers, 1884-1942. C1046. The State Historical Society of Missouri, Columbia, MO. |
| Description | General Enoch H. Crowder wrote to Herbert Hoover and addressed Hoover's request for exemption of Food Administration workers from the draft. In his letter, Crowder discussed the telegram Hoover sent him a few days prior. 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; Hoover, Herbert, 1874-1964; U.S. Food Administration; Draft; Draft--Law and legislation; Wilson, Woodrow, 1856-1924 |
| 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 | September 21, 1918 |
| Language | English |