Mrs. BARRY. He had been there almost a year, and then he had been at the U. S. Pipe Foundry Co. before that.

Mr. SHORT. Is there a shortage of skilled men in those plants? Mrs. BARRY. Absolutely. If you will go to them, they will tell you that there is.

The CHAIRMAN. Just one question: Did your son, when he filled out his questionnaire and entered the service under the Selective Service and Training Act, make any claim for deferment?

Mrs. BARRY. Yes, sir; he did.

The CHAIRMAN. On the ground that he was specially qualified for some essential national defense work?

Mrs. BARRY. Yes, sir; he did, and also the company he worked for tried to have him deferred.

Mr. THOMASON. Did he take that up with the local draft board? Mrs. BARRY. He took it up with the local draft board, and the answer they gave-and my husband is also a machinist, and he also knows of the shortage of skilled mechanics, and he went to the local draft board himself and put it before the local draft board. Then they said, "They need the men in the Army as badly as they do in the plants"-which we know is not so.

Mr. THOMASON. Is that what the draft board told you?
Mrs. BARRY. That is what the draft board told my husband.

Mr. THOMASON. That was the reason they gave for not deferring him?

Mrs. BARRY. That was the reason; even after the Bradford Machine Tool Co. made an appeal to try to have him deferred.

Mr. SHORT. What draft board is this?

Mrs. BARRY. Draft board 35, over the river. We live in Kentucky. Our home is in Kentucky, but this summer we are staying in Ohio to let our children go to school, and by our being over there he had registered, because he was over in Ohio at the time, and he registered with draft board 35.

Mr. HARTER. Did he serve an apprenticeship in obtaining his training as a machinist?

Mrs. BARRY. Yes, sir.

Mr. HARTER. How long an apprenticeship did he serve?

Mrs. BARRY. I could not say exactly. My husband worked for years

in the Pipe Foundry Co., and he got him in as an apprentice; then he went from there to the Bradford Machine Tool Co.

Mr. HARTER. Did he have a high-school education?

Mrs. BARRY. He had 2 years in high school.

Mr. HARTER. Then he went to work?

Mrs. BARRY. Then he went to work, because he had this opportunity to go into the shop.

Mr. HARTER. To be an apprentice?

Mrs. BARRY. To be an apprentice; yes.

Also in this same barracks with my son is a die and machine-tool maker—a tool and die maker, I guess it is called; a welder, and my son. Those are three skilled mechanics in one barracks. Then they are setting up schools for training others, and it seems to me that is kind of foolish when they have already some who are trained there.

Then I do know that they have not the equipment in the camps that they should have. We know that. There are not the guns and things

that they need. One boy at one of the camps told me that there is a pond there, and he was put there to guard some civilians who went there to bathe. There were some men that came there to go in the pond, and he told them they could not. They laughed at him and told him, "You don't even have a gun; what are you going to do about it?" Of course he laughed and told me, "There was nothing I could do about it, because I didn't have a gun.'

So, of course they went in swimming in the pond that he was supposed to be guarding.

The CHAIRMAN. Is your son in the Infantry?

Mrs. BARRY. No, sir; he is not.

Then I think that these draft boards, in fairness, should be investigated. There should be some investigation about them. There are many reports of unfairness on the part of draft boards-men being taken who should be exempt, and others exempted who really should be there. I know of many people that make that complaint every day, and I know some that are justified in making those complaints. Then also there is the state of mind of many of these mothers. Yesterday a mother offered me a dollar to help me pay my way here. She had received a letter from her son stationed in California, telling her that if he had to stay longer than a year he would commit suicide; and you can imagine the state of mind that that mother is in at the present time. I gave her what encouragement I could and told her I was coming to talk to the committee, and she asked me to do what I could, because she could not come. And you see many, many cases of that kind. It is all this uncertainty; that is what it is. We can truly say it is a war on our nerves; on the nerves of all mothers. There should be a definite period of service. Why should the period be extended when there are so many other boys t'at should be there training, the same as these boys that are there? Why should the few that are there have to shoulder the burden while there others are at home at their jobs? Should they be there for the little pay they are getting? I do not think it is fair. We know that they have not got the equipment to train the men with. We know that. I know it, because I have taken it on myself to visit the camps, and I have been there.

That is all I have to say, Mr. Chairman.

The CHAIRMAN. Did your son appeal from the decision of the local board to the Appeal Board on the question of his deferment on the ground that he was a skilled mechanic and needed in the tool production program of national defense?

Mrs. BARRY. No, sir; he appealed to the local draft board.

The CHAIRMAN. You mean he went before the local draft board? Mrs. BARRY. To the local draft board.

The CHAIRMAN. But he did not take an appeal to the local appeal board?

Mrs. BARRY. He did not understand that. That was when it first. came out, and he really did not understand that until later.

The CHAIRMAN. All right; thank you, Mrs. Barry.

Mr. SHORT. This insignia that you have, and that the other lady is wearing, is an American eagle, is it not?

Mrs. BARRY. Yes, sir.

Mr. SHORT. It looks a little better than the British lion. [Applause.]

Mrs. BARRY. I do not want you to think that my son is asking me to come and do anything like this. I am talking for my son, and a lot of people tell us that it will be held against our sons who are in the service.

The CHAIRMAN. You hear a great many things on the outside that have no foundation.

That finishes the list of witnesses that I have here.

Mrs. BENGE. You have not heard me yet. May I please be heard? The CHAIRMAN. We will be glad to hear you, Mrs. Benge.

STATEMENT OF MRS. LUCINDA BENGE, CINCINNATI, OHIO

Mrs. BENGE. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. The first thing I am going to have to do is to amplify a few of the statements that my husband made about the accidents. Some of that information he had of his own knowledge, as he explained to you. Some of the things I myself learned from talking to boys at Camp Shelby who were home on furlough, and I do want to explain this.

The accidents seemed to be of this sort: The accidents seemed to be from overcrowding of trucks and inexperienced drivers. Quite often the boys fall off and are crushed or hurt under the wheel. But one of the most serious and inexcusable causes of accidents is the practice of commanders in having one group maneuver next to another group who are asleep. That is, they have one group fighting and the other group asleep.

Now, these boys sleep in sleeping bags and quite often in the excitement close to them a truck will back over these boys while they are asleep. They have no protection at all, and the only protection that these boys have devised for themselves is that they have learned to find a tree and put their heads against a good-sized tree with the idea that they will block the truck as it comes along.

Mr. SHORT. If you will permit an interruption: you can reasonably expect, however, in maneuvers, where so many men are involved, that there would be a reasonable number of accidents?

Mrs. BENGE. I realize that.

Mr. SHORT. And you appreciate the difficulty of whipping a large body of men into shape?

Mrs. BENGE. I think I should explain that during the World War I was chief clerk of a draft board, and I know the percentage of accidents, and I know the things that happen where groups of men are being trained, just the same as there will be industrial accidents where men are unskilled. I understand that perfectly.

The chief source of trouble seems to be this, from what I can learn. The officers themselves are, too many of them, untrained themselves, and the boys understand that, and the chief source of training, guidance, and counsel seems to come from one source, and that is the Regular Army duty sergeants who are skilled men, but, of course, they do not have the authority that the commissioned officer would have.

Now, Mr. Chairman, I shall proceed, if you will allow me to.

The CHAIRMAN. You may proceed.

Mrs. BENGE. Mr. Chairman and members of the Military Affairs Committee, my name is Luncinda E. Benge. I am here to protest the declaration of a national emergency, designed as a smokescreen for the lengthening of the term of drafted men. I come in behalf of my own son, and other drafted men, who have been deprived of the right of free speech.

For the past 8 years the people of this country have been enduring a planned economy. That having failed, we are now being asked to submit to a planned emergency, as a preliminary to a planned war. The majority of the people of this country know that there is no national emergency. There is not even national hysteria, although millions have been spent in propaganda to create that condition. The term "emergency" in this case is most certainly a misnomer, as plans for the emergency have been in progress for a long time. They became apparent at the time of the enactment of the gold bill, in 1934, which was designed evidently to involve the United States in joint ownership with Britain of most of the world's gold, so that we would be inseparably joined to her foreign interests. Having completed plans for common currency, common defense was the next step. Copies of the Constitution of the United States put out by authority of joint House and Senate resolution, under date of August 25, 1935, contain a highly significant statement. Following Article 13, "Slavery Abolished," we find a parenthesis containing these words:

The drafting of men for military service does not violate this amendment, as a soldier is not a slave.

The Sesquicentennial Commission which authorized this publication was made up of the President, Vice President, Senator Ashurst for the Senate, and Representative Sol Bloom for the House. It appears from this that plans had even then been laid for the process of conditioning the people for peacetime conscription.

When the conscription act was enacted in September 1940 it was accepted by parents and men subject to it as a measure necessary for national defense, for the period stipulated-1 year. Those men are willing to abide by the contract into which they entered in good faith. Webster's unabridged dictionary gives this definition of the word "defense:" "Resistance to or protection from attack." The proposed declaration of a national emergency is designed to lengthen the term of service of these boys for the purpose of waging aggressive warfarefor we have not been attacked. It violates both the letter and spirit of the conscription act, entitled as "An act to provide for the common defense."

The bald truth of the matter is this: These boys made this contract with the Government and they are fulfilling it. Now the Government seeks to alter the contract materially and to bar them from protest which would prevent such alteration. It is significant that for the first 2 months after the Conscription Act was put into operation, induction papers carried the statement that the period of service was 1 year. Late in February 1941 it was learned that induction papers carried no reference as to the length of the training period. About March 15, United States district attorneys were called to Washington

to discuss measures for lengthening the draft period. In other words, 4 months ago the administration was already seeking means by which they could evade the 1-year-service provision of the Draft Act. Apparently, it has been decided that a national emergency will furnish that method.

One by one the constitutional rights of drafted men have been taken from them. However, they and their parents still possess the constitutional right "to possess and bear arms" in order to maintain a free government. The majority of the people of this country have signified that they want no part in a foreign war. You, as our representatives, know that. If you continue to ignore the spoken wishes of the majority of the people, you will have to suffer the consequences. The responsibility rests entirely with Congress whether or not our Nation will continue as a free one in order to preserve our heritage of freedom.

I want to thank you very much, Mr. Chairman and gentlemen, for vour courtesy.

The CHAIRMAN. The next witness is Mrs. Waters.

STATEMENT OF MRS. AGNES WATERS, REPRESENTING WE, THE MOTHERS, MOBILIZED FOR AMERICA, INC., CHICAGO, Ill.

Mrs. WATERS. Mr. Chairman, my name is Agnes Waters. I repsent millions of voters in America.

The CHAIRMAN. You asked for 5 minutes time.

Mrs. WATERS. I represent We, The Mothers, Mobilized for America, Inc., with headquarters at 37 West Van Buren Street, Chicago, Ill.

We are organized in every congressional district in America. We are organized in every precinct for peace.

I do not merely represent the mothers of America; I represent the voters of America in every congressional district. I would like to say we intend to maintain peace in America.

I am here to say that I am opposed to this bill because I feel it is an outrage that we Americans are being continuously forced to defend those principles for which our forefathers fought and died and upon which they built this country.

This bill sets up a state of crisis. By whom are we gravely threatened?

This bill is an onslaught against our form of government. It sets up a dictatorship and inaugurates a military form of government. President Roosevelt has already set the stage for war with his declaration of an "unlimited emergency," which he is trying to have ratified by this iniquitous bill. I believe in national defense, but this bill proposes the wrong kind of national defense. It will make of us a dictator nation, a militaristic nation, and dictatorships and militaristic nations are exactly the antithesis of our form of government. They embody all that civilization is opposed to.

This proposed so-called amendment or extension of service to the Selective Training Service Act and the act itself would put our American manhood in a strait jacket if not in a shroud. For thousands it will mean suffering, disease, insanity, and death.