There is reason to believe that the selective draft will operate
with greater equality than has distinguished voluntary recruiting
in the townships. Doubtless there are farms from which the only son
has gone to the Front, while from other farms the men who could have
gone have exercised the option which they had to remain at home. Such
inequalities will be avoided under the draft system, and the men will
be taken who can best be spared. If in any occupation, be it that of
the farmer, the miner, the skilled artisan or the mechanic, there be
men available for military service who for the present are not needed
in their ordinary pursuits, these will be required to serve; but it
will be the duty of the tribunals, as much to uphold a natural title
to exemption, as to reject a claim which cannot compatibly with the
national interest be established. Professional and literary men as well
as men employed at manual occupations, and those engaged in directing
them, may seek exemption by reason of the importance to the community
of the work in which they are habitually engaged and which would in a
material degree remain undone if they were taken. The State will first
seek those who have no dependents, but the fact that a young man is
unmarried will not be conclusive evidence against his exemption. He may
hold a position for which he has peculiar qualifications, and in which
his service is essential to the prosperity or comfort of the community.
It is not possible to review here the various considerations which may
arise with respect to individuals engaged in different callings each
presenting questions peculiar to itself, but it is intended that in all
cases the tribunals shall afford protection and assume the task, be it
difficult or otherwise, of relieving an applicant from the anxiety of
an embarrassing personal decision. No doubt there are many young men in
Canada who should not have waited until compelled to serve, but there
are also thousands who have chafed and fretted because they could not
enlist, and whom it would be grossly unjust to describe as “slackers”
or “shirkers.” Reflection upon these considerations emphasizes the
defects of the voluntary system and suggests the essential justice and
fairness of national service.