44     Exemption  of  Chemists  from  Military  Duty.  {AljanSaryPi9i8m* 
when  they  were  gradually  summoned  back  to  deal  with  a  multi- 
plicity of  problems  of  prime  importance.  Chemists  in  particular 
were  required  to  handle  all  the  questions  involved  in  assuring  an 
enormous  output  of  explosives  of  every  form,  in  combating  the 
use  of  gases  in  warfare,  in  establishing  the  manufacture  of  drugs 
and  general  chemicals  formerly  secured  from  the  enemy  and  in 
producing  rapidly  a  host  of  articles  essential  for  modern  warfare. 
On  this  side  of  the  ocean  there  has  been  a  tardy  issue  of  regu- 
lations, exempting  medical  students  and  hospital  internes.  There 
has  been,  however,  no  action  tending  to  free  chemists  from  the 
action  of  the  draft  and  save  to  the  most  vital  industries  of  the  land 
the  men  whose  knowledge  and  training,  now  or  later,  will  be  of 
incalculable  value  for  national  defense  or  for  preserving  the  in- 
tegrity of  our  industrial  fabric. 
Dr.  Wm.  H.  Nichols,  chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Chemicals 
of  the  National  Research  Council,  has  given  this  matter  much 
thought  in  connection  with  his  colleagues.  At  the  recent  meeting 
in  Boston  of  the  American  Chemical  Society  he  made  the  follow- 
ing forcible  statement  in  depicting  the  activities  of  his  committee : 
"  One  of  our  most  serious  difficulties  arises  from  the  unwilling- 
ness of  the  military  authorities  to  recognize  the  wisdom  of  exempting 
chemists  as  a  class  from  the  draft.  Almost  from  the  beginning  of 
our  work  we  took  up  this  question  from  various  angles,  realizing 
as  we  do  the  vital  importance  of  keeping  chemists  at  work  in  their 
profession,  not  only  at  the  present  time,  but  more  particularly  for 
the  future.  Our  civil,  mechanical,  electrical  and  other  engineers 
can  be  made  good  use  of  at  the  front,  and  not  only  contribute  greatly 
to  the  success  of  our  forces,  but  by  the  valuable  experience  ob- 
tained in  their  profession  can  improve  themselves  for  future  service 
at  home.  This  is  not  true  of  chemists,  with  an  exception  here  and 
there.  Once  in  the  army  and  at  the  front,  if  he  be  only  recently 
out  of  college,  he  is  lost  to  chemistry  forever.  They  are  not 
slackers  and  are  just  as  anxious  as  any  other  red-blooded  young  men 
to  get  into  the  fray,  and  therefore  I  have  believed  it  wise  not  only 
to  have  them  exempted  from  the  draft  but  declined  in  case  they 
should  enlist.  Already  serious  trouble  has  come  to  many  of  our 
chemical  plants  and  plants  employing  chemists,  as  a  result  of  the 
draft,  and  unless  wise  provision  be  soon  made  we  can  foresee  a 
condition  which  it  will  cost  months  to  rectify.    Why  should  we  not 
