Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 151, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 July 1917 — DRAFT PLANS ARE OUTLINED [ARTICLE]

DRAFT PLANS ARE OUTLINED

DRAWING WILL SHOW WHAT MEN ARE TO BE CALLED ' FIRST AND LATER. Washington, July 12.—Drawing of lots for the selective draft not only will determine what men are to be called to the colors in the first war army, but will show in what order the others registered will be liable for service when later armies are organized. r . It was revealed tonight that a plan of drawing will be followed under which a definite place in the waiting lists will be given every one of the millions who registered. Those standing at the head of the list in each county or city district will be called first before the examining boards and then the obligation will pass on down the line as long as men are needed. This does not mean that a separate name or number will be drawn for every one of the country’s 9,800,000 registrants. In fact, every number drawn under the theory of the plan, will represent more than four thousand men, one for each of the registration districts. Details of the system have not been made public, but an outline of its principal features follows: Every registration board has numbered the cards in its possession in red ink, beginning at number one and continuing to a number corresponding with the total in the district. At the drawing numbers will be used ranging from No. 1 up to a number corresponding to the total in the largest district of the country. The first number drawn will determine what man in each district is to be taken first. If it be No. 10, for example, it will mean that the man in each district holding local card No. 10 will be called for examination before any of the other men in that district.

The second number drawn will determine what man in each district is to be taken second, and so on as long as men are needed. Those not needed for the first war army .will retain their positions on the lists, and these positions will determine the order of their liability when they are needed. The drawing will be public and each number will be announced as it is drawn. At the offices of most local exemption boards the red ink numbers of the registrants already are posted, so that registrants may inform themselves beforehand of their respective numbers. If they do, as soon as word of the drawing comes they will know in just what order of liability they stand.