Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1917-07-20
ALL REGISTERED MEN
To KNOW ORDER Of
SERVICE ON FRIDAY
Complete Details of How Gov
eminent viii Draw Men to
Be Examined for SeIeCtive
Service Announced

the drawing IS to be conducted here,
at $3.50 a. m. tomorrow, to establish the
order of liability for appearance before
local exemption boards of each of the
100000 registered for war service
was disclosed for the first time today
by the provost marshal generals Of
flee.
With only two states-New York and
Pennsylvania-yet to be heard from,
Provost Marshal General Crowder an
nounced that the drawing would be held
at $3.50 O'Clock Friday morning.
Originally the master key numbers
were fixed at from cipher to nine on the
assumption that the largest district in
the country would have less than 10000
men. Today a district In Detroit re-
ported more than 10000 registrants,
making 1t necessary to have the key
numbers run from cipher to ten
There will be two drawings, one OF
numbers from 1 to 1000 and another
Of from cipher to ten to form a So
called master key by which the thou
sand numbers drawn will reach every
man in every district.
There are 1857 exemption districts
with an average Of about 5000 regis
trants in each. The largest has more
than 10000 men registered and the
smallest only about 1S5. In each dis
trict each registrant has been given a
serial number, written upon his card in
red ink.
For districts with not more than 200
| regtstrants, the drawing Of 1000 num-
bers will fix definitely the place upon
each districts list the name of each
man. Where q district has more than
1000, the master key will have to be ap-
piled. thus:
Tho key viii fix the order IN which
each group of thousands Is to be placed
on the liability list, which will run from
number one to moro than 10 900. For in
stance, If nine should be the first num-
Der drawn for the key, all registration
numbers in the 5000 group would go in
a block at the head Of the list, arranged
in the order IN which the numbers to
1000 come out in the second drawing
Districts with less than 5000 registrants
therefore would disregard this first
block entirely, and would be affected
only by the position Of the key numbers
for the blocks corresponding with the
number Of thousands of registrants they
have.
One Of the 100000 900 registered, 667,-
900 are wanted now for the war army.
AS II is estimated that 80 per cent of
the men called before the boards willN
be exempted, each board will be direct
ed to call double the number of its quota
for examination, in the order their num-
bers appear an the district list after
the drawing.
1857 DISTRICTS.
In some districts the 100 per cent al
lowance for exemption may be too large
and others too small, but the local
boards will be instructed in every case
to continue calling for men until the dis
trict quota is filled. Each state gov
ernor is now allotting to his districts
their respective portions Of the states
quota.
In each Of the 1851 exemption dis
tricts, among which the 10000, 900 regis
tration cards have been divided, the
cards have been given serial numbers.
The numbrr of registrants in each dis
trict varies from about 1875 in the small
est to more than 10, 900 in the largest, so
that the serial numbers to be dealt with
in the drawing range from one TO De-
tween ten and eleven thousand.
In order to reduce the mechanical pro-
cess and make it possible for the ono
thousand numbers drawn to reach every
man in every district, a so-called master
key has been devised. This will be OBJ
tanned by drawing slips numbered from
naught to ten, which will be listed II
the order they are drawn to form tn
key.
Then will begin the drawing OF tn
numbers one to one thousand. For tho
district with not more than thousand
registrants there will be no problem II
determine the order of appearance be-V
fore 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 1S5 registrants the 1S5 will
be liable for appearance in the order in
which their numbers are drawn. and
when a number higher than that ap-
pears the district Of course will not be
affected.
APPLICATION OF KEY.
Application of the master key makes
it possible to apply fairly each of the
one thousand numbers drawn to dis
tricts with more than one thousand
registrants. AS number is drawn it
will be added to each of the thousands
in excess of one thousand in each dis
trict
In his explanation Of the process and
of the reason for fixing the order of Ii
ability for all of the men when only
$4,000 are needed, General Crowdsr
says:
CROwDER'S STATEMENT.
The order of examination:
If we were dealing with the an
cient draft, we should take ever>
fourteenth man. But we are nos
conscripting. We are selecting for
military service those whose civil
service can pest De Spdreu. IneTe-
fore 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 a list
showing the order of examination.
Now no one knows how many men
must be examined TO vield $4,000
soldiers. Therefore, no one can say
just how many men it is absolutely
necessary to put on this list.
A moments reflection will prove
that the whole 100000 must be
given their places on the list of or
der of examination"
Every registered man is in state
of uncertainty. He does not know
(continued on Page 2, Col 81