Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 176, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 August 1917 — 3600 FOR THE FIRST DRAFT [ARTICLE]

3600 FOR THE FIRST DRAFT

FROM INDIANA—MEN ARE TO RESPOND TO THE CALL ON SEPTEMBER 1.

Washington, Aug. 10.—“ The work of obtaining the first great national army of 687,000 men, and in addition to that a reserve of 10 per cent, is proceeding without a hitch worth mentioning.” This statement was made today by Provost Marshal-Gen-eral Crowder. It was based on reports that have come in from all the state. The provost marshal-general’s office believes that the 687,000 men will be enrolled by the end of next week, and that by the end of the month, or before the first increment of 200,000 men reports to the colore, the processes of the first draft will have been completed, including the disposition of all appeals from local boards to district boards.

The detailed reports received at the office of the provost marshal-gen-eral show conclusively that the resistance to the draft in a few localities has been exaggerated. There has been more actual resistance in Oklahoma than in any other state, due in large measure, it is asserted, to the attitude of Senator Gore, democrat, from that state. But even the opposition that developed there was not of a particularly serious nature. It was merely a local manifestation, which soon spent itself. It is the intention of the government, however, to see that the men who were responsible for this opposition to the draft law are severely punished. The preliminary reports from the governors show that in nearly all the states more than half of the quota has already been obtained. In some of the states two-thirds of the number of men required to .meet the first levy are already available. These reports, it was pointed out, do not as a rule include men who have asked exemption and whose applications for exemption are still pending before -the local boards. Under the revised instructions sent out by General Crowder yesterday relating to exemptions on account of dependent families, it is believed at the provost marshal-general’s office that local boards will, beginning today, promptly dispose of a great many exemption cases by holding that the men who have asked for exemption must serve. It was reiterated at the provost marshal-general’s office today that it is not the desire of the government that any local board shall say that a man shall enter the service if his entering is to work an actual hardship on persons dependent on him. On the other hand, it is the desire of the government that every local board shall ascertain before exempting a man whether his wife or other relatives can be properly cared for in case he is ordered to report for duty. The government, it was explained, is obliged to depend on the judgment of the local boards and it will not be the policy of the provost marshalgeneral’s office to question the decision of local boards unless there should be cases in which the board clearly let off men who should have been required to serve. The outstanding feature of the mobilization plans made public today is the responsibility placed on the civil authorities in each state m connection with the mobilization. It has been the policy of the federal government from the state to make the civil authorities in each sponsible for the raising of this first great national army. That responsibility wiH continue to rest on the civil authorities until the men report at the various military cantonments. Then for the first time the federal government will take charge. Under the order of the proyost marshal-general about 3,600 Indiana men will respond to the first call, that for September 1. Each local board will in due time designate 20 per cent of the men accepted by it to answer this first call. It the local board’s duty to see these men off for the cantonment at Louisville. The mobilization rules provide detailed instructions as to how each board is to perform this duty. The provost marshal-generals olfice at this time is not ready to say when the call for the second increment will be made, but the understanding is that it will conje the latter part of September and that the third will come in October. lhe three calls under the present plan will bring all the men to the colors. As the increments report at the cantonment at Louisville, the majors, captains, first lieutenants and second lieutenants for Indiana and ‘Kentucky,, who have just completed their course at Fort Benjamin Harrison, will be pwrigned to the Louisville camp.