Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-07-19

Gen. Crowder announces also that local
boards will be instructed to call 200 per
cent Of their quota at the first call to
provide for probable exemptions That
means that 1874 600 men will be notified
to appear for examination within the next
few days. II more are necessary they Will
be called for as needed by the local boards
In the order provided for in the drawing.
In some districts the 100 per cent allow
ance for exemption may be too large ana
in others too small, but the local boards
will be Instructed in every case to con-
tinue calling for men until the district
quota. is filed. Each state governor Is
now Alloting to his districts their respect
i've portions Of the states quota
In each Of the 4,557 exemption districts
among which the 10.000.0 900 registration
cards have been divided the cards have
been given serial numbers. The number
Of registrants in each district varies from
about 1856 In the smallest to more than
10000 in the largest, SO that the serial
numbers to be dealt with in the drawing
range from one to between nine and ten
thousand.
Key Number to Be Drawn.
In order to reduce the mechanical proc
ess and make it possible for the 1000
numbers drawn to reach every man in
every district, a so-called master key has
been devised This will be obtained by
drawing slips numbered from to 10,
which win be listed in the order they are
drawn TO form the key.
Then will begin the drawing of the
numbers one to one thousand. For
the district with not more than one
thousand reg1strants there will be no
problem to determine the order of ap-
pearance before the exemption board.
The number drawn first will fix the
man whose card bears that serial
number as the first to appear before
his board. In the district with only
1ss registrants the 1s5 will be liable
for appearance in the order in which
their numbers are drawn, and when a
number higher than that appears the
district, of course, will not be affected
Application Of the master key makes
It possible to apply fairly each of the
one thousand numbers drawn to dis
tricts with moro than one thousand
registrants- AS a number Is drawn 1t
will be added to each Of the thousands
trict-
Operation Of Master Key.
For instance, II 25 is the first num-
ber drawn it will represent IS. 1.os5.
2,o25, 3,025. 4.025, 5.o25. 6.025. 7,025,
s.o25 and s.oe5-
BY applying the master key the or
der in which these numbers will be
listed in each district will be de-
termined. II the drawing of eleven nu-
merais for the key should result this
way:
.. Z. /. 5. 2. 3. 0. 4. 6. 10.
Then the drawing of 25 as the first
number of the thousand would fix the
first men to appear before the exemp-
tion boards in this order:
9O25, 1925. 1925, 5.o25. 2.02o, 3,025, rs,
S.025. 4.025. 6.025 and 10.o25-
The district with more than nine thou
fb,ru rril1I I.,,. <,ft tt0
men assigned to their places at the head
Of its list, with 9,02o on top. The district
with less than one thousand men will
have one. number IS. at the head Of its
list This process will be continued until
every man of the ten million has been
assigned his place on the roster OF his
district.
In his explanation of the process and OF
the reason for fixing the order of liabil-
ity for all Of the men when only $4,000
are needed Gen. Crowder says:
Order Of Examination.
'Ir we were dealing with the ancient
draft we should take every fourteenth
mar. But We are not conscripting. We
are selecting for military service those
whose civil service can best be spared.
Therefore. the question is not Who shall
go first" but Who shall be first called up
for examination?' And what we must do
is to make List showing the order of
Now. no one knows how many men
must be examined to yield 6S7 900 SOL
diers. Therefore, no one can say just
how many men II Is absolutely necessary
to put on this list
"A moments reflection will prove that
the whole 10000. 900 must be given their
places on the List Of order of examina-
tion.'
EVERY registered man Is in a state
of uncertainty. He docs not know when
he will be called. He hesitates to plant
a crop for fear he will not reap 1t.
Employers hesitate to engage his sery-
tces. fearing they will be but tempo
rary. This condition ought to be cured
for the repose Of the public mind. II
can be cured to some extent by put
ting every man on the list
~For this reason the whole 10000
900 names are to be given places on the
list Of order of examination.
Segregation Into Groups.
obviously. no single agency could
examine 100000 men. Therefore the
100000 are segregated into groups
of suitable size for convenient exami-
nation. There are 1857 of these
groups. For each group board has
been appointed to examine for selec-
tion. By far the greater number OF
these groups consist OF approximately
fsinos this H. "a. our problem 10 no,