268 ORGANIZING SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH FOR WAR 



der battle conditions. A similar arrangement was made for not to exceed 

 eighty OFS contract employees; actually only thirty-two requests were 

 made, all were approved by the Review Committee and the men deferred. 



Contractors' Personnel 



The Selective Training and Service Act became effective on September i6, 

 1940. It was obvious that some of the men working on NDRC projects 

 would fall within the provisions of the Act and that even more men who 

 might be expected to be engaged in NDRC projects in the future would 

 be lost to NDRC through the operations of the Act. As to this latter group, 

 NDRC early took and constantly maintained the view that the proper 

 use of scientific manpower was a matter of great national importance, and 

 that appropriate measures should be taken to utilize that manpower most 

 effectively; but that it was not a proper function of NDRC to endeavor 

 to withhold from the operation of the Selective Service Act persons of sci- 

 entific training who might at a future date be engaged in military research. 

 It was equally insistent, however, that the operations of the Selective Serv- 

 ice Act must not be permitted to wreck the program of military research 

 carried on under NDRC auspices by the indiscriminate drafting of persons 

 actually engaged in NDRC research and necessary to its effective con- 

 tinuance. 



After conversations with the Civilian Committee on Selective Service, 

 NDRC called the Selective Service Act to the attention of its contractors 

 in October 1940. The letter merely observed that there might be men of 

 draft age in the group assigned by the contractor to work on defense re- 

 search carried on under contract with the NDRC. If the institution planned 

 to petition the local boards to have any of these men deferred, NDRC 

 stated that it would be glad to prepare a supplementary statement to ac- 

 company the contractor's request. The NDRC statement would be limited 

 to presenting the facts with respect to the importance of the NDRC pro- 

 gram and the place within that program of the research being carried on 

 by the particular contractor. The effect of this was to place NDRC upon 

 record as to the importance of the research. It was left entirely to the con- 

 tractor to establish with the local board that the particular individual for 

 whom deferment was requested fulfilled the requirements which would 

 make him a "necessary man" within the meaning of the Selective Service 

 regulations. Under the regulations the local boards were directed to place 

 in class 2A each registrant found to be a necessary man within the meaning 

 of the regulations. Persons placed in class 2A might be deferred for a 

 period not longer than six months with the provision that there might be 

 additional deferments of not to exceed six months each unless the local 

 board should reclassify the registrant. 



