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Executive Order No. 2673-A
[Explaining Exemption of Indispensable Government Employees From the Selective Draft.]
THE WHITE HOUSE, July 28, 1917.
In view of the high national importance of carrying out the spirit of the Selective Service Act and of securing its fullest effectiveness, by holding to military service all drafted men who are not absolutely in- dispensable to the work of the Civil Executive Departments by reason of their special personal experience and skill, I direct that the greatest care be exercised by Department officials in issuing the affidavits of necessity provided for by the Presidential Regulations Section 20, para- graphs (b), (c), and (d), for the purpose of authorizing the discharge of such persons by local boards.
Those paragraphs provide as follows:
"(c) Persons employed by the United States in the transmission of the mails. Any person employed by the United States in the transmis- sion of the mails, upon presentation to such local board, at any time within 10 days after the filing of a claim of discharge by or in respect of such person, of an affidavit signed by the postmaster or some ap- pointee of the President or Postmaster General having direct super- vision of such employee, stating that such employee is, in his opinion, necessary to the effective and adequate transmission of the mails and can not be replaced by another person without substantial material loss of efficiency in the effective and adequate transmission of the mails."
"(d) Artificers and workmen employed in the armories, arsenals, and navy yards of the United States. Any artificer or workman employed in any armory, arsenal, or navy yard of the United States, upon presen- tation to such local board, at any time within 10 days after the filing of a claim of discharge by or in respect of such person, of an affidavit signed by the commandant or officer having command of the armory, arsenal, or navy yard of the United States in which such person is employed, stating that such person is, in his opinion, necessary to the efficient and adequate operation of such armory, arsenal, or navy yard of the United States and can not be replaced by another person without substantial material loss of efficiency in the effective and adequate oper- ation of such armory, arsenal, or navy yard of the United States."
"(e) Persons employed in the service of the United Stales designated by the President to be exempted. Any person employed in the service of the United States, upon presentation to such local board at any time within ten days after the filing of a claim of discharge by or in respect of such person, of an affidavit signed by the official of the Government of the United States having direct supervision and control of the de- partment, commission, board, bureau, division, or branch of the Gov- ernment of the United States in which such person is employed stating that such person is, in his opinion, necessary to the adequate and ef- fective operation of such department, commission, board, bureau, division, or branch in the service of the United States, and can not be replaced by another person without substantial material loss in the adequate and effective operation of said department, commission, board, bureau, division, or branch of the service of the United States."
In the case of a person in the service of a Department within the Dis- trict of Columbia, who files with the local board a, claim of discharge from the selective draft, the affidavit of the Departmental official hav- ing direct supervision and control of the branch of the service in which he is employed, as provided for in the above quoted regulations, will be forwarded to the Secretary of that Department accompanied by a memorandum giving sufficient data to enable the Secretary to determine whether or not the case is a proper one for exemption. If on the infor- mation furnished he deems the case a proper one for exemption by the board, he will endorse the affidavit "Approved ;" if not, "Disapproved." In either case, the affidavit will be returned to the official making it, to be filed with the local board as required by the instructions on the back thereof.
In the case of a person in Departmental service stationed outside of the District of Columbia, the affidavit of the official haying direct super- vision of the applicant will be forwarded for approval or disapproval to the official, to be designated by the Secretary of the Department, who has jurisdiction or control of the area within which the applicant is stationed at the time, unless the affidavit is originally made by such official.
In the case of a person in the service of the Interstate Commerce Commission, the Smithsonian Institution, or other commission or board or body not organized directly under one of the ten Executive Depart- ments, the same general method will be followed so far as practicable, with a view to reducing the discharges of drafted men to the minimum number consistent with the maintenance of vital national interests dur- ing the emergency of war.
It is earnestly hoped, moreover, that, acting in the same spirit as the 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 con- scientious 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.
WOODROW WILSON.
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