Frustrated Clemency

President Gerald Ford's offer, made Sept. 16, to allow the Viet Nam War evaders and deserters to work their way back into American society has produced discouraging results. Of the 126,500 persons who are eligible in one way or another to take part in the program, barely 3,200 have come forward.

In the deserter category, the Defense Department estimates that some 12,500 could participate in the plan. A total of 2,283 have chosen to do so and received the mandated "undesirable" discharges. Each of these men could win a "clemency" discharge men working up to 24 months in community service programs. But so far, only 1,679 have thought the upgrading was worth the effort, and of these, only 304 have managed to land appropriate jobs.

The deadline for taking advantage of Ford's offer is Jan. 31, 1975. As mat ters now stand, his compromise solution to the problem of granting amnesty seems bound to end with the same sense of sour failure that marked so much of the long war in Viet Nam.

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