The Washington herald., 1917-07-19
PICK DRAFT ARMY
HERE TOMORROW
Capital Will Be Scene of Drawing
$4,000 Men a Minute for
One Hour.

The draft will be held tomorrow
morning at 10 o'clock in the Capitol
building.
One of the largest committee rooms
will be the scene of the drawing which
will determine those of America S
manhood who must first go to the
colors.
The actual drawing hinges only upon
reports from five States that their
work of numbering the registration
cards has been completed. All have
assured Provose Marshal Gen. Crow
der that they are working under high
pressure to get their duty done before
noon today.
The War Department yesterday re-
jected a plan to hold the drawing In
the chamber Of the House Of Repre-
sentatives. objection was made on
two grounds; first, that it would make
a spectacle out of the solemn occa-
sion. and. second. that noise would
be confusing to the tally clerks and
might lead to regrettable errors in
validating the entire draft.
Everything is ready as far as the
War Department is concerned. Print
ed pamphlets explaining the system
10 De eIlplOgSu We
distributed to all the local boards yes
terday and given to the press in con-
fidence to be released when Secre-
tary of War Baker shall permit. They
probably will be made public tomor-
now morning, just before the draw
ing.
Five states Unfinished.
Not a word is to be made public
until all the States have reported
themselves ready as a precaution
against tampering with the serial num-
bers.
The States which had not concluded
their work at a late hour last night
were Michigan, Mississippi. Pennsyl-
vania and New York. Illinois was
complete except for one board in Chi
cago. One county in Missouri held
up the States report.
Kentucky and Virginia both report
ed themselves ready yesterday.
Gen. Crowder yesterday evening
said:
The system evolved leaves all to
the element of chance. 1t has been
carefully designed to give an abso-
lutely fair deal to every man regis
tered
From present prospects the draft
will be held Friday. 1t had been
planned TO hold it in the big recep-
ton room of the War Department,
but IL was decided that this was toe
small. So it will be held in one OF
the large committee rooms Of the
House.
The drawing will take one hour.
A trial drawing, exclusive of one short
and not an error was made.
II hope that no numbers will be
sent out by telegraph before they have
been officially checked up. so that no
regrettable errors. shall cause discom-
fort to any man or his family.
The capsules which will be used
in the drawing have been carefully
prepared; the numbers verified. and
have been placed under seal in a place
OF complete safety. They will not be
touched before the drawing"
The numbers will be brought to the
Capital from their present place OF
safety under armed guard. At least
three responsible officials will have
them in charge.
The final announcement regarding
the draft will be made this morning.
Secretary Of War Baker, now on a
trip down the Potomac, will return 70
Washington at o'clock. Gen. Crow
der viii meet him an hour later and
at this conference II will be deter
mined when announcement is to be
made of the way the draft machinery
will work and the exact place where
the drawing will be held.
Conferences also have been arranged
between Secretary Baker and the
chairman of the House and Senate
CONTINUED on PAGE FIVE