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ry . : t _ i y t * | Dr cusSING P lace I, “The ‘work of wos im par. wh «7 . ; -. Aree! which Selective Service 9° Of Conscl entious jaiens these conscientious obdjew:< i i a ; : __. | Obyectors in War By ELEANOR“ROOSEVELT _HYDE PARK, N.Y. June 1% - Ever since I answered in a Magazine a question about the rights of the families of conscientious objectors, I have been getting innumer- able Jetters from the conscienti- ‘ous objectors themselves and their ‘friends and relatives... ta 'T think there should : tbe a clearer under-. |stapding of their point ‘of view and what has as 7 i been done by the gov- | ; jeriinent as Il under-§ 3. G7 acand it. ; “ At the beginning of en Selective Service, the : my federel government ‘took cognizance of MRS / jthe rights of these ROOSEVELT imen and I am now quoting from 1a document which some of the re- jligious groups have sent me. f "On May 15, 1944. the United Sates completed its third year of moral and legai recognition of the ‘right of drafted men to register conscientious objection to war and te perform. in lieu of military serv- ice, designated work of national importance. During these three y-ars, this war-time minerity of less than 8000 drafted men has worked without pay to render to our country more than $25.000,00 in public service. Except for the cost of transportation and techni- cal supervision, this work was done wWithoul cast to the fF, ul cost to the feqezel gavera-—— —~memt. In “inost cases, the men themselves, their families and their 4 ,caurcher ray for their living cog! s ;MSlich amounts te nearly $2,906,008 LoS mo (classified 4:E under the dra... ‘jaws to perform, consists of help- ing to protect and conserve our home-front rescurces—both our natural and human resources. To this end, civilian public service camps and units have beer set up across the country in areas where conservation needs are great and the war effort h-s seriously te- @uced the supply of essential per- ronnel. For instance. 280) :nen in ‘35 camps are engaged in fighting forest fires, draining swamps, building ‘dams, maintaining na- ‘tional parks and wild life resources land in reclaiming submarginal Hand, “Nearly an equal number of “men are performing essential work in 120 sma}] special unica thruout ithe country. Thev serve ag attend. tants in state hospitals, as dairy: I | i t 1 ‘men oon farms, as ‘tcacghers’ In ! farm | state training schools, as hands and technicians at state agriculture stations, as- human ‘guinea pigs’ in medical research experiments and as ‘sanitation ‘en- gineers' in rural public health proj- ects.” This is certainly a good record of work and it is work which ly of ; jational imporiance. It is, how- ever, not the work which the coun- try really requires of theae young men. They wouid not have been drafted had they previously been working in jobs which the Selective Service Board considered impor- lant fo the war effort. Many of them feel that in doing the work ussigned to them. they are .not using their caprcities to the ‘mit and that they could be move — eful in other ways. However, the work in which they could he more useful is work In which their conscien- tious objection prevents their tak- jing part. _ 1 1 will continue Use discussion of jthis in an ensuing column. t{Cepyright, 1844, fer The Prees-seladiar) CLIPPING FROM THE MENPHIS PHESS-SCIMITAR MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE DATE: JUNE 20, 1944 FORWARDED FROM THE MEMPHIS FIELD Divgsioff _ _ i TT.