Immediate Goal: 4,000,000

The first draft of World War II has netted 900,000 men for the U.S. Army. And there is more than one fish left in that same pool. The Army figures it can get two to three million more from among the 17,500,000 men already registered, and intends to keep after them without waiting to see what the second registration on Feb. 16 brings forth. With full equipment for 2.000.000 men on hand, and equipment for 2,000,000 more on order, the Army has set its immediate goal at 4,000,000.

Last week draft boards were busy stepping up inductions to triple their peacetime rate, and many a registrant previously deferred was plunked into class 1-A. Not even defense workers (2B) were by any means certain of continued deferment. In Chicago, Lieut. Colonel Joseph F. Battley of the War Department talked flatly of transforming civilian man power into woman power. Said he:

"Eventually, the only labor supply may be women. . . . Women can fill many types of jobs not only as well as but better than men."

While draft boards took a long second look at their deferred lists, the Army & Navy were happy to report that enlistments in the month following Pearl Harbor were the highest in history. In the scramble to get into action, 60,000 men joined the Army, 56,000 the Navy, 18,000 the Marine Corps. The Coast Guard, which issues no figures on total monthly enlistments, was so swamped with volunteers that it had to take recruits on a quota system. The Marine Corps, its membership boosted to 85,000, has doubled its strength of a year and a half ago. Its goal: 104,000 men.

The Army & Navy air forces are still crying for more men. Last week Brigadier General Donald H. Connally, Administrator of Civil Aeronautics, urged all graduates of the Civilian Pilot Training program to apply for military berths. Since it was set up in 1939, C.P.T. has graduated some 60,000 pilots. Of these 20,000 are now in, or waiting to get into, the Army or Navy, 16,000 are equally divided between civilian aviation and other industries, 24,000 are still in college. With a production schedule of 60,000 planes this year, the U.S. can use every one of them.

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