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Work or Fight

On May 23, 1918, the lead story in the Chicago Daily News began: “The haughty butler, the equally haughty footman who used to stand like a statue in the hallway of the boulevard homes; the elevator man, the debonair man clerk in the department stores, the chauffeur of a private automobile—all men whose work required more skill and grace than strong arms and broad backs must find useful jobs in the war or enlist in the army if they are within draft age.”

This was part of a new American regulation enacted by Provost Marshal Gen. Enoch Crowder, and though it is best remembered for the way it upset the 1918 baseball season, the order had much wider implications. It was decreed in conjunction with the War Department’s request to begin the drafting of an unlimited army, and was to go into effect on July 1. This meant that anyone within draft age who was not employed in war-related work—shipbuilding, farming, manufacturing—would be subject to immediate conscription.

“One of the unanswerable criticisms of the draft,” Crowder explained, “has been that it takes men from the farms and from all useful employments and marches them past crowds of idlers and loafers away from the army. The remedy is simple—to couple the industrial basis with other grounds for Gen. Enoch Crowder Provost Marshal Gen. Enoch Crowder. (Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress.)exemption and to require that any man pleading exemption on any ground shall also show that he is contributing effectively to the industrial welfare of the nation.”

Upon issue of the new edict, questions immediately turned to baseball, and whether the game was considered a useful occupation. Work-or-fight stories in both the Washington Post and the Chicago Tribune mentioned the possible suspension of baseball in the first paragraph. Crowder issued no specific statement on baseball, and War Secretary Newton D. Baker did not even know most baseball players were of draft age. Baker and Crowder said no decision would be made on baseball until an appeal was brought up, and that could not happen until after the edict went into effect in July. So, for the end of May and all of June, baseball operated in limbo, unsure whether it was useful in the eyes of the government.

There was more to work-or-fight than baseball, though. If the American army was to expand, Baker and Crowder knew they would need men to work the farms and munitions plants from which soldiers were being drafted. And, throughout the country, the edict was enforced with the use of “slacker sweeps” in which authorities would sweep through large public events demanding that young men show their draft cards.

The work-or-fight order also affected labor, which viewed it with suspicion. It seemed to be an attempt to control strikes—striking workers could easily be described as idlers and forced into conscription. Two days after the new rule was announced, Baker made a statement denying that work-or-fight was aimed at controlling labor. But, according to the book, Over Here by David M. Kennedy, the government did not stick to Baker’s assurance. When workers in Bridgeport, Conn., went on strike that fall, Wilson threatened to bar them from war work for a year, and at that time, “the draft boards will be instructed to reject any claim of exemption based on your alleged usefulness on war production.” The workers ended their strike.

Sean Deveney

Sean Deveney currently reports for The Sporting News. He covers Major League Baseball and professional basketball for the Sporting News. The Original Curse is Sean's first published book. Sean grew up outside Boston, MA and currently lives in Chicago, IL.

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