THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 1940 Current Comment — Analyzing The Draft And Metis (This column 'dealing with cur rent news will be written daily by members of the student body.) N As this is written, the Burke- Wadsworth Selective Service Bill is still before the House after pass ing the Senate. The implications of the bill are legion. It has left a major question unanswered on the lips of millions of men between the ages of 21 and 31: "Will I be drafted?” ' In all there are 12,000,000 men in the eligible age group. Plans indicate that 400,000 will be called by January 1, with a maximum of 900,000 to be trained at one time. Beginning October 1, men are ex pected to be called at the rate of 20&,000 a month. -What this will mean to a college like Penn State is not easy to determine because rulings on ex emption- and ' deferment are still indefinite. The possibilities, - how ever, seem to be divided into three main groups:. One wholly mathe matical, ohe assuming few college exemptions, and one assuming gen eral-' exemption of- college students. proceeding with a dis cussion of these points it will be well to take stock of a few import ant statistics. There are 12,000,000 men in the United States within the draft ages. .0f.7,200 Penn State students last year, 1,734 were men within the draft ages. It is . rea sonable to believe there will be as- many or more this year. (1) The first possibility is purely mathematical, With ia,000,000 men available; one in 120 will be called for every 100,000 drafted. On this ratio, Pens State would lose only 14 stndentsfor each mr.ooo draft ed. Thus it would lose 56 in a 400,- 000 draft, and 126 in a 900,000 draft. ’-(2) It is more likely that exemp tions and deferment* will change the proportion of college students taken. Under the provisions of ex emption or deferment for men with dependents, men engaged in essen tial -industry, men with physical disability, and men with military training, the list of available men would be .cut from 12,000,000 to 4,500,000, the Army estimates. Only a : few college students would’ be affected by these exemptions. The result, is they would bear more than their normal proportion of enlistments. Possibly the number of Penn State eligibles would be reduced only 10 percent while the number of eligibles nationally was reduced 60 per cent This would mean Penn State would lose some thing Ipse .33 students for every, IDO,OOO drafted. It would lose 132 itt a 400,000-man draft and 297 in a 900,000 draft. -(3) The third possibility is the ohe .on which colleges are count 'ingi'Tt is that students will receive deferred rating. Hope that this may be carried out is based largely on President Roosevelt’s statement telling students it is their “patri otic duty” to continue their studies. .'Another suggestion that sounds extremely well is that college stu dents should be allowed to begin WE INVITE ALL 44'ers TO 'COME IN' AND 'GET ACQUAINTED' WITH US AND SEE THE NEWEST BY THESE FAMOUS MAKERS -***: ’CampmTbgs] FOR THe YOUNC6R mRH I ; Ml V f' 1 3 # S S't S .IS*. JIMtl e-Si *fi