Civilian Public Service—An Experiment in Democracy
During WWI the only provision made for men who
refused to take up arms was to place them in quartermaster and other
non-combat units. Although this eased the scruples of some, many folks
rejected not only killing but also the whole military structure.
Traditional peace church adherents such as the Mennonites, Brethren and
Quakers felt that any assistance in the war effort would violate their
faith.
Wayne Yoder of Fresno remembers his father’s
stories from that time. In 1917, John J. Yoder, a 25-year old Amish
man, was taken off his farm in Geauga County for placement at Camp Meade
in Maryland. The military felt no sympathy for “conchies,”
(conscientious objectors) whom they sent to camps as a means to coerce
them into service. Disciplinary tactics included shortened rations,
solitary confinement, physical abuse and many court-martials. Wayne’s
father recalled being at Camp Meade with a Quaker and a Methodist. They
did various jobs around the camp but refused to wear a uniform so were
severely caned. John Yoder’s injuries from the caning caused him pain
in his hip for the rest of his life. These men were also put in
sweatboxes, small boxes that were placed outside in the heat of the
day. A man had to scrunch up inside and stay in it until he passed
out. John was punished this way more than once. He remained at the
camp for six months before being sent to a farm to produce food that was
needed for the war effort.
Because of stories like Yoder’s, a number of WWII
military advisors sought a different process to accommodate
conscientious objectors (COs). Punishing them with imprisonment and
beatings did not change the COs’ position. General Lewis Hershey was
instrumental in creating the new Selective Training and Service Act,
signed by President Roosevelt in 1940, that allowed for conscientious
objectors to be assigned to noncombatant service or to “work of national
importance” under civilian direction. One year later, the Civilian
Public Service was established, creating a unique church-state
partnership. A board staffed by members of historic peace churches
(Church of the Brethren, Mennonite, Quaker) administered it over its
seven-year duration. A diversity of people & traditions were
represented in the camps. Over 200 religious groups were involved and
400 men claimed no religious identity at all.
The first Civilian Public Service camp opened on
May 15, 1941. When it ended six years later, 12,000 CPS men had logged
over 8 million man-days of work for their country. They received no
compensation for their service, even though German prisoners of war
received 80 cents a day for their labor. When the Civilian Public
Service (CPS) was being formed, military advisors knew better than to
include a provision for payment for work. Conscientious objects were
scorned for their religious and moral stance that killing is wrong. For
President Roosevelt and most Americans, COs were disloyal citizens who
deserved punishment.
General Lewis Hershey, who served as the Director
of Selective Service for 29 years, was a proponent of the Civilian
Public Service because it solved the conscientious objector problem with
the least amount of trouble. He had a reputation as an adept
negotiator, particularly when dealing with “the demands of over-heated
wartime patriots… and the stubborn resistance of conscientious
objectors.” After the war, the draft continued and some COs were sent
to Europe and Greece to rebuild cities as alternative service. While
Wayne Yoder was working in Vienna from 1959-1961, General Hershey
visited his work site. Hershey told the men that they were America’s
best ambassadors abroad. Wayne’s group helped with refugee resettlement
and rebuilt a Lutheran school that had been demolished during the war.
(Wayne visited the school in 2004. It had 600 children enrolled.) The
German government was so impressed with the COs who were building houses
in Germany that they adopted the option of alternative service in their
draft legislation.
General Hershey called the Civilian Public Service
an “experiment in democracy to find out whether our democracy is big
enough to preserve minority rights in a time of national emergency.” As
national and international politics and conflicts continue to threaten
issues of justice and freedom, this challenge stays constant.
To learn more about WWII and the Civilian Public
Service, visit the Johnson-Humrickhouse Museum during its special
exhibit, Produce for Victory. (Also, The CPS Story: An
illustrated History of Civilian Public Service by Albert N. Keim was
a key source for the information in this article.) My next column will
deal with Coshocton’s CPS camp at the Soil Conservation Station.
Part 2:
Civilian
Public Service in Coshocton County
Of 34,506,923 men who registered for the draft
during WWII, only 72,354 applied for conscientious objector status. Of
those, 25,000 accepted non-combatant service in the army; that is, they
were soldiers who agreed to work in the Medical Corps or in any military
work that did not involve actual combat. Another 27,000 failed the
basic physical health examination. A total of 6,086 were imprisoned for
their refusal to participate in any form of service whatsoever. 12,000
conscientious objectors (COs) chose to engage in “work of national
importance” under civilian direction, the Civilian Public Service
program.
Like the men in the service, a CPS worker was not
given a choice of location or job. He was accountable to the Director
of Selective Service 24 hours/day, in camp and out. The 152 units
worked on a variety of projects: conservation and forestry camps,
hospitals and training schools, university labs, agricultural experiment
stations and farms, and as government survey crews. They built contour
strips on farms, served as guinea pigs for medical and scientific
research, built sanitary facilities for hookworm-ridden communities and
cared for the mentally ill and juvenile delinquents.
In January 1942, the Coshocton County Commissioners
voted against setting up a Civilian Public Service (CPS) camp in its
soon to be discontinued Soil Conservation Station located near Fresno.
Like many Civilian Conservation Corps camps around the country, it would
no longer be run unless a CPS camp could be placed there to provide
labor.
After a group of Coshocton County farm and
municipal leaders rallied to support a CPS camp, the commissioners
reversed their decision. As the head of the station, W.D. Ellison had
swayed their vote by making three points: 1) the Soil Conservation
Station urgently needed the labor force; 2) a CPS camp would bring money
into the county; and 3) Having a CPS camp in the county would not
reflect poorly on Coshocton County since Congress had provided for
conscientious objectors to have an alternative way to serve.
Coshocton’s soil conservation experiments were some
of the most sophisticated CPS projects. Researchers studied soil
samples from all over the state of Ohio to ascertain the relationships
between soil type, humidity and plants. Its professional biologists,
mathematicians and researchers generated a comprehensive study of plant
life in Ohio and designed technical equipment for use in experiments.
According to Albert N. Keim’s book, The CPS
Story, Coshocton was one of the camps that practiced interesting
religious experiments as well.
At the Coshocton camp, seven men engaged in a routine of meditation
which led to “A Way of Life” commitment—through “active desire,
expectant receptivity and resolute action one’s life may be advanced
toward that greatest of all goals: making the most of one’s
potentialities as a son of God.”
Another story about our local CPS camp surfaced in
the book, Quakers Are Funny! By Chuck Fager.
One World War II Quaker
conscientious objector had been a professional wrestler. When he and
some other inmates of the Coshocton CPS camp in Ohio made a trip into
town, they were hassled about their pacifism by some local youths, who
insisted that only force could change the Germans’ views.
In response, the
ex-wrestler took off his coat, challenged one of the local boys to a
match, and promptly threw the townie across the room. He then asked the
youth, “Now do you believe that force won’t change people’s views?”
“Heck, no!” the local
boy hollered back.
“That’s exactly my
point,” said the Quaker, who put on his coat and left.
Although the Johnson-Humrickhouse Museum’s
Produce for Victory exhibit doesn’t have the live footage of this
tussle, which perhaps took place on Main Street some hot summer evening,
it does show photos of the Coshocton CPS unit working, eating and
singing hymns. Produce for Victory will be on display through
September 18th from noon to 5:00 P.M. daily.
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