herent authority under the Constitution as Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy to do this, but this gives the specific authority. The CHAIRMAN. Supplements it? Mr. JOHNSON. Yes, sir. I think you can act under inherent authority or under specific authority, and when you act under specific authority it makes it clearer and more convincing, and I think, as Mr. Vinson said, the American people feel that should be done, and we should give the stamp of approval and authorization to those things that may occur later, and I think it will have a fine effect on the American people. I hope the committee will see fit to act favorably in this matter, because it is an emergency and because I think the people want it. This is not an act; it is an amendment to an existing act, and you have to read this in connection with section 9 and other provisions of the Selective Service Act, and I think when you read that you will find the authority there. The CHAIRMAN. The committee will now go into executive session. (Whereupon, at 12:32 p. m., the committee went into executive session.) AMENDING THE SELECTIVE TRAINING AND SERVICE ACT OF 1940 MONDAY, JUNE 16, 1941 EXECUTIVE SESSION HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, Washington, D. C. (The committee met in executive session, pursuant to notice, at 3 p. m., Hon. Andrew J. May, chairman, presiding, for consideration of S. 1524, which is as follows:) [S. 1524, 77th Cong., 1st sess.] AN ACT To authorize the deferment of men by age group or groups under the Selective Training Service Act of 1940 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section 5 (e) of the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940 is amended by adding at the end thereof the following: "Anything in this Act to the contrary notwithstanding, the President is authorized, under such rules and regulations as he may prescribe, to provide for the deferment from training and service under this Act in the land and naval forces of the United States of the men who, on the first day of July 1941, or on the first day of July of any subsequent year, (1) are liable for such training and service, (2) have not been inducted into the land or naval forces for such training and service, and (3) have attained the twenty-eighth anniversary of the day of their birth." SEC. 2. That section 9 of the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940 is hereby amended by adding at the end thereof the following new paragraph: "The power of the President under the foregoing provisions of this section to take immediate possession of any plant upon a failure to comply with any such provisions, and the authority granted by this section for the use and operation by the United States of any plant of which possession is so taken, shall also apply as hereinafter provided (1) to any plant equipped for the manufacture of any articles or materials which may be required for the national defense or which may be useful in connection therewith, and (2) to any plant which, in the opinion of the Secretary of War or the Secretary of the Navy, is capable of being readily transformed into a plant equipped for the manufacture of any such articles or materials. Such power and authority may be exercised with respect to any such plant during the existence of the unlimited national emergency proclaimed by the President on May 27, 1941, or in time of war in which the United States is engaged, whenever the President finds, after investigation, (1) that the national-defensse program will be impeded or delayed by an existing or threatened failure of production at such plant as a result of a strike or threatened strike, or lock-out, or other cause, (2) that the exercise of such power and authority is necessary or desirable in the public interest, and (3) if such existing or threatened failure of production is due primarily to a labor dispute, that either or both parties to such dispute have failed to utilize existing Government conciliation and mediation facilities in an effort to settle such dispute, or that despite uses of such facilities the dispute has not been settled and a failure of produc31 tion exists or is threatened: Provided, That with respect to any plant of which possession shall have been taken under the provisions of this paragraph, such plant shall be returned to its owners whenever the President determines that such plant will be privately operated in a manner consistent with the needs of the national defense." SEC. 3. It is the sense of the Congress that the unsettled condition of the world today and the uncertainties of the future necessitate complete cooperation between Government, management, and labor; and in view of the fact that numerous strikes are taking place in national-defense industries throughout the United States, which are retarding and greatly impeding our efforts to build an adequate Army and Navy and to render effective aid to other democracies, the Congress hereby declares that strikes or lock-outs in industries that impede or delay the nationaldefense effort are contrary to sound public policy, and that strikes or lock-outs in such industry in which either side refuses to recognize arbitration or mediation and to abide by the decisions thereof are hereby condemned. SEC. 4. The Congress hereby further declares that complete cooperation between Government, management, and labor can best be achieved by the wholehearted acceptance of the principles of collective bargaining and the recognition of the rights of employees to designate representatives of their own choosing, for the purposes of collective bargaining, without interference through unfair or oppressive labor practices. Passed the Senate June 12 (legislative day, June 10), 1941. EDWIN A. HALSEY, Secretary. The CHAIRMAN. The committee will please be in order. Let me now restate the purpose of this meeting, and then let General Hershey make a statement about it. The Senate has adopted a provision in S. 1524, which would authorize the President to defer all enrollees who arrive at the age of 28 on the 1st day of July next, and each following July, and the question for the committee to determine now is whether they want to grant to the President the power to make these deferments without fixing a definite maximum age of 28 years, and leaving it at 35 years, inclusive. Now, we have with us Brigadier General Hershey, Acting Chief of the Selective Service Training Corps, and we would like to have the General make whatever observations he would like to make with respect to that, and give us the reasons for it if it should be changed, or the reasons for it if it should not be changed. STATEMENT OF BRIG. GEN. LEWIS B. HERSHEY, ACTING DIRECTOR OF SELECTIVE SERVICE General HERSHEY. The Selective Service System. Mr. Chairman, requested legislation very similar to this, with one exception. Our recommendation was that the President be given the power to defer within the liable age groups such age groups as might seem desirable. The Senate has amended the suggested bill to the extent of setting up July 1, 1941, and July 1 of subsequent years, as being the limiting dates, and 28 years of age as being the limiting age. We came to the conclusion in the Selective Service System that some legislation like this was necessary for two rather main reasons. The Congress has said that the Selective Service System is to secure men to be trained, and we are also supposed to protect, to the extent possible, industries and agriculture and other activities engaged in national defense and maintaining our national life. Looking at this problem from the standpoint of the individuals that we have taken into the Army, we were led to believe that the upper-age groups were not producing men anywhere near in the proportion that the lower-age groups were. The CHAIRMAN. For what reasons, General? General HERSHEY. Yes; I will go into that. The CHAIRMAN. All right. General HERSHEY. I have, for the sake of analysis, divided the age groups into three general groups, 21 to 25 years, 26 years to 30, and 31 years to 36 years. Now, there is a little difference in numbers in those groups, because people die off, but they are nearly enough together that you can take 5,000,000 in each group and be reasonably correct, in round numbers. Up to and including March 31, and I do not believe that any figures since then will change this conclusion, 10 percent of the total that we have inducted into the Army came from the 33 percent in the upperage group. Now, that means with our system working we are not producing many men from that age group. The CHAIRMAN. What percentage did you say? General HERSHEY. We will get 10 percent of our people from the 33 percent in the upper-age group, that is, the group from 31 years of age to 36 years of age, whereas, in the lower-age group we will get well over 60 percent of our total number, and the difference, that is, something between 25 and 30 percent, are in this middle group consisting of those from 26 to 30 years of age. Mr. SPARKMAN. May I get those figures straight, General? General HERSHEY. Yes. Mr. SPARKMAN. You get 10 percent from the group that is 31 to 36 years of age? General HERSHEY. Yes, sir; that is correct. Mr. SPARKMAN. I wonder if you could just give us the figures again. General HERSHEY. Yes. Suppose I give them just a little bit more definitely. Mr. SPARKMAN. Yes; I would like to have you do so. General HERSHEY. From the group 25 years of age and under we get 66 percent. The CHAIRMAN. What is that? General HERSHEY. From the group 25 and under we get 66 percent, that is, all ages up to and including 25. Mr. SPARKMAN. Does that include the volunteers? General HERSHEY. Yes; all these figures include those who volunteered for induction under the act, the total number of which is less than 4 percent of the total figures. In other words, 62 percent and a fraction are between 21 and 25, and the other 3 plus percent are between 18 and 21. Mr. SPARKMAN. That does not include the volunteers? General HERSHEY. No. Of all of these, just a little less than 4 percent of that entire number are volunteers under 21, in other words, 62 percent plus are between 21 and 25, and the other 3 plus percent are between 18 and 21. Mr. SMITH. That does not include volunteers under the act, those connected with the National Guard, those who have volunteered. General HERSHEY. It does not include those volunteering for the National Guard, or the Regular Army or Navy. There are 23 percent |