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Published: 2015-07-19

Total Pages: 628

ISBN-13: 9781331741251

Excerpt from Second Report of the Provost Marshal General: To the Secretary of War on the Operations of the Selective Service System to December 20, 1918 Nineteen months of war have brought to a Successful conclusion our conflict with the Central Powers. Entering the struggle at a time when the prospect was decidedly dismal, we witnessed German success advance to an almost Overwhelming allied defeat, until, throwing our hastily assembled forces into the balance, we saw impending catastrophe turn into brilliant and decisive victory. We are now too close upon the events accurately to assess them. How great a part American Selective Service played in the drama of the world war, history alone can tell. That a new and untried scheme of selection could succeed at all was to many doubtful; that it Should attain results beyond the fondest dreams of its most ardent supporters was unbelievable. To enroll for service over men; to mobilize a selected Army of more than a million of them within the space Of 90 days; to have presently available for military duty additional fighting men; to classify this vast group of man-power in the order of its military and industrial importance, so as to preserve the domestic and industrial life of the Nation, to speed up war-time activities, to maintain them in a sta tus of maximum efficient production, and to pave the way to a speedy return to normal peacetime pursuits while recruiting the full fighting strength of the N ation - these are results which would be instantly rejected as impossible did not the actual facts stand as irrefutable testimonials of their accomplishment. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.