8 December 1967, Volume 158, Number 3806
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Rosperr L. BowMAN
JosEPH W. CHAMBERLAIN
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NEAL E, MILLER
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ALEXANDER HOLLAENDER
WILtaRp F, Lispy
KENNETH S, PITZER
ALEXANDER RICH
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JOANNE
At the end of the current academic year the pool of men eligible for
Selective Service induction will suddenly be swelled by the addition of
1968 college graduates, men who receive graduate degrees in June, and
those who compiete their first year of graduate work. Under existing
regulations the oldest men in this pool must be inducted first. The result
will be that the Army will receive very few inductees in the preferred
19-to-20 age range and will find from 50 to 75 percent of draft calls
being filled by men with college degrees or with a year or more of graduate work—a prospect that pleases neither the Army, the employers of
engineers and other professional manpower, nor persons interested in the
continuity of graduate education.
The present regulations must be changed. The changes should be announced soon and should be designed to retain flexibility in the size of
draft calls; provide the Army with a better age mix of inductees; and
reduce the uncertainty concerning induction that now makes it difficult
for young men (and also for others, such as graduate school faculties) to
plan with reasonable confidence for a year or more ahead.
There is substantial but by no means unanimous support for the propOsition that, when not all young men are required to enter military service, those who are required to do so should be selected by some random
BELE,
ISADELLA
BouLDIN, ELEANORE Butz, BEN CARLIN, GRAYCE
FincerR, Nancy HAMILTON, OLIVER HEATWOLE,
ANNE HOLDSWORTH, KONSLYNNIETTA HUTCHINSON,
ELEANOR JOHNSON, Pauta LEcKY, KATHERINE LivINGSTON, HELEN OLNEY, SANDRA RaTTLey, LEAH
RYAN, BARBARA SHEFFER
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out the details. Lacking a specific plan, Congress refused to approve, but
invited the President to submit new legislation later. It now seems unlikely that new legislation will be adopted in time to be of much help in
1968; there are too many other items on the congressional docket. Legis-
lation, however, is not necessary; the Executive already has the authority
necessary to accomplish most of what is needed.
One kind of “lottery” could be used without new legislation. The
existing law would permit reversing the present oldest-first method of
selection by designating a specific age group—-probably the 19-year-olds
—as the “prime age group” for induction. Older men who have been
deferred—for example, men allowed to enter graduate school this past
fall—would be treated when their deferment ended as if they were just
reaching age 19. The prime age group would therefore include men who
who were actually 19 and older men being treated as if they were 19.
Selection would still have to be on an oldest-first basis, but the “oldest,”
under these circumstances, would be those born in the earliest months of
the year. Thus the “lottery” of birth dates 19 or more years ago would
now be used to determine orderof induction.
This system would call a large number of college-graduates and graduate students into military duty next year, but would leave a larger
number free to continue graduate work or to enter essential occupations.
It would provide the Army with a better age mix in 1968 than existing
regulations would, and a still better mix in following years. And it
would give all of the young men involved a better opportunity to plan
realistically, for each could estimate with some degree of assurance
whether and when he was likely to be called for induction.
These arrangements would not solve all of the problems; for example,
there are still uncertainties as to which graduate students should be deferred. The arrangements may not be permanent in all details; for
example, we are unlikely to continue to penalize those with January
birthdays year after year. But the proposed regulations would allow
orderly planning for the year ahead. They can be introduced quickly and
without new legislation. They offer the best immediate solution of an
urgent problem.—DAEL WOLFLE
a
Business Manager
Hans NusssaumM
Assistant Editors: ELtew~ E. Murpny, Joan E,
RINGLE
Editortal
Selective Service Solution
method. The President proposed this idea to Congress, but did not spell
Puitir H. ABelson
Publisher
DaEL WOLFLE
SCIENCE