Jasper County Democrat, Volume 20, Number 13, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 May 1917 — DRAFT AGE PUT AT 21 TO 30 [ARTICLE]

DRAFT AGE PUT AT 21 TO 30

Congress Conferees Agree on Disputed Points. ANTI-LIQUOR RULE STANDS Amendments Prohibiting Its Sale at Army Ciunps Retained —Volunteer Border Patrol Loses. Washington, May 11.- The tration’s selective draft hili was sent, back to both bra aches of congress by) the house and senate conferees after, an agreement had been reached upon, each of the points of difference in thd measure. The agreement is expected to be formally accepted by both houses by Saturday and the measure, be rushed to President Wilson for his signature. C aft Age Twenty-One to Thirty. The agreement resulted in the bill containing the following provisions: ; Conscription of men between twenty«s>ne to thirty-one years. No authority for the president to accept the service of volunteer army, divisions, such as Colonel Roosevelt planned to raise. Increased pay for enlisted men. Volunteer Section Killed. The question of four army divisions of volunteers beyond the age of twen-ty-five for Immediate service at the front was stricken out. This was a senate provision, the amendment of Senator Harding of Ohio. Under its terms the mobilization of the so-called “Roosevelt army” would have been permissible. Tin* senate had voted it into the bill. It had been defeated In the house. It was the point upon which disagreement had been sharpest. The senate provision for the enlist-, ment of three regiments of volunteer cavalry for Service on the Mexican border, was stricken from the bill. Liquor Amendment Wine.. The senate provisions to insure prohibition of the use or abuse of alcoholic liquors by the men of the army was modified so that only their sale or delivery to soldiers In uniforms Is prohibited. The importation into the camps, barracks and recruiting stations is also forbidden. - The house provision Insuring state designations to National Guard troops called to the colors for war was accepted by the senate conferees. The senate provisions for the creation of tribunals to adjudicate claims of drafted men us to their non-draftable status was continued in the measure. It is not believed that in view of the success of the house conferees, the debate on the conference report In the house will be long. How the senate will take the total elimination of the four volunteer divisions is still a matter of conjecture. The senate also accepted the provisions inserted by the house to the effect that under no circumstances were bounties to be paid to recruits or substitutes accepted for acceptance In lieu of the men conscripted. War Department Ready to Act. Machinery of the war department Is In perfect shape for instant use in raising an army of '500,000 men as soon as the administration's conscription bill becomes operative. The recruiting of conscripts will not begin until the bill has been signed by the president and he has issued a proclamation requiring nil men between twenty-one and thir-ty-one to register. The new army will not be called out by ages. Every man in the country between the ages of• twenty-one and thirty-one will have to enroll for military service within the next three weeks. It was annorfnced that the date for registration had not yet been determined upon, but that President Wilson was expectecLto set it within a week or ten days of the signing of the bill. The president himself will select the date for the first registration. He will make It public in an executive proclamation calling upon the men between the ages mentioned to submit themselves for enrollment and examination at certain places already chosen by the war deoartment.