The Washington herald., 1917-07-19
PICK DRAFT FRIDAY
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Military Affairs Committees. These
committees will be official witnesses,
on the part of Congress, to the draw
ing.
Space has been reserved and wire
service arranged for the press, so that
each number may be sent broadcast
over the country from the committee
room. where the drawing will be held.
Orflcials in charge Of the drawing
Yesterday showed how heavily the re-
sponsibility weighs upon them. Three
tally clerks have been selected, but
their names are not made public. They
will be responsible members Of the
Provost Marshars staff, trained es-
peciany for the work.
And here is a description OF Enoch
II. Crowder. Brig. Gen, L. >. A,
who has been the man in command OF
the machinery-the man who devised
the system-which tomorrow Will set
tie within the span Of sixty min
utes the fate of 100000 men.
He Is chief law officer of the War
Department, more type seen in court
rooms than in barracks, although he
went through West Point and has seen
much active service. He holds the
dual DOslIlOn OI Juu5t EAANONoIC NSAA
sraI and Provost Marshal General, this
short, slim. slightly crippled man who
has handled-at stretches of more than
twelve hours a day-a mass of work
unprecedented in the history of the
government Less than five feet eight.
bald on top and his brown hair thickly
shot with gray. as is his bushy mus
tache. he has thrown his 40 pounds in
TO the mountain of detail and the de-
tail has Strengthened itself out until
now there is nothing but nice order
ly bundles Of paper, neatly bound with
rubber bands.
And this Is more descriptive Of the
man, perhaps, than anything else. He
lives in his work and Is shy to the
point Of discomfort when outside his
swivel chair. In all the weeks he
has held the reins OF fate Of 100000
of Americas best manhood he has not
permitted his photo to be taken once.
He has stayed in after dark so that
snapshots might not be taken 1ester-
day a breezy business man-agent for
a great news photo corporation, came
into his office and sought to arrange
for a picture Of the draft.
The Biggest Lottery.
L
Gen. Crowder. but 1 want the pic
ture to be taken before 1 come in"
The system devised by this man
will draft approximately 5000 men a
minute. 1t is pure mathematics, mix
ed up with luck. America banned
the lottery, but within less than for
ty-eight hours she is going to have
the biggest gamble in the world, IN
which the stakes are the lives of
men-men by the millions.
But 1t will be no three-card monte
game, and no shell-and-pea game. II
will be the result of hours of close
study by trained minds.
BY tomorrow night every man in the
country will know his position on the
conscription list. A few days later
he will be officially notified and with
this notification will be sent a COM
plete list of the numbers in his dis
trict so that he may judge how soon
he Is likely to be called.
II among the first quota he will be
given five days to appear before the
local board for physical examination.
He then will have an additional five
days in which to file affidavits IL he
makes a claim for exemption.
No penalty will attach to his failure
to appear before the board. He will
merely forfeit his rights to exemption
and viii be listed as held for serv-
ice" II, however, he fails to appear
when ordered to report for transporta-
ton to the mobilization camp he will
be arrested as a deserter and face
. heavy penalty by a military court.
The drawing is so truly designed
that it will apply with equal fairness
to the largest and smallest registra-
ton district The largest District