Frederic Osborn letter

 

Draft Letter to the Editor of the Daily Express by Frederic J Osborn (extract)

HALS Ref DE/FJO/J8/5/7

Draft Letter to the Editor of the Daily Express by Frederic J Osborn (extract)

HALS Ref DE/FJO/J8/5/7

 The Herts. Appeal Tribunal.

To the Editor of the ‘Express’.

Sir, – Mr. E. B. Barnard is proud of the Herts. Tribunals for exempting only 11 per cent. of the men who came before them, whereas Bedfordshire exempted 20 per cent. and Huntingdon nearly 24 per cent. Surely this is a most extraordinary attitude. The Tribunals were supposed to be impartial bodies adjudicating on the rival claims of the Army and civil industry after hearing both sides. But here we have the Chairman of the County Tribunal commenting on the results from the precise point of view of a military Representative! I am afraid it cannot be taken as a mere lapse. So means that the cat is out of the bag. The figures take no account of the hardship created in the three counties, nor of the relative amount of damage done to nationally valuable businesses. The sole test applied is the number of men got for the Army.