The War Call for Bricklayers
Kennewick draft board receives urgent federal orders to mobilize skilled masonry labor for service under General Pershing.
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Dr. F. M. Crosby, of the local draft board, has received a copy of Provost Marshal Gen. Crowder’s recent order calling for the mobilization of 1,000 bricklayers urgently needed by Gen. Pershing at once. Local boards are called upon to examine questionnaires now being returned and report as rapidly as possible on the number of bricklayers of draft age available for service. Only white bricklayers will be taken either by draft or by volunteer induction into the military service through local boards. They will be forwarded to Kelley Field, San Antonio, Texas. The purpose for which they are to be used in France is not disclosed. The order is the first application of the special occupational classification provisions of the new draft regulations.
“The order is the first application of the special occupational classification provisions of the new draft regulations.”
During World War I, labor was viewed as a strategic commodity managed through the draft, reflecting the era's total-war mobilization. Today, the focus has shifted to the urgent need for skilled tradespeople to address housing construction shortages, rather than military logistical support.
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