The Detroit times., 1917-07-20
Crowds On Hand AT
Sunrise; Drawing
Begins At $3.50
WORK TO TAKE
THE ENTIRE DAY

Before the sun az dawn Friday
gilded the dome of the city hall
hundreds of anxious.faced young
men stood waiting for the building
10 open II was the daWning of the
most fateful day that had been oN
pcrionCed in he lives os more than
10000 Young men OF Detroit and
more than SOC 900 young men in the
nation.
II was tho beginning of tho day
when would be held the most stu
pendous lottery the world has ever
seen, the stake being freedom 20 re.
main AZ home IN peaceful quietude
or the necessity cf going down into
Tho bloody. gas-hllcd and sinking
trenches 10 sacrifice life or reason.
II necessary. In behalf ot the nation
II was tho FIRST lottery that could
thus be held publicly, because 'he
draft lottery was being held by The
government that denies the right OF
individuals 10 gamble their money
II was now gambling their very
lives. These hundreds OF tense and
white faced youths We're eager 70
learn their serial numbers that they
might know AZ the eatlicst possible
moment whether they had won or.
lost
Even AZ that carly hour City Clerk
Lindsay. Edward Fitzgerald. secrc-
tary 20 The mayer. and John Kea--
ney, chief OF the registration organ
ization. were busy with preparations
for assembling draft information
that the suspense which filed evctY
home in Detroit might be ended as
quickly as possible.
Elaborate plans have been made
for disseminating the result Of this
enormous gamble. \ staf of %
rapid clerks one for each district
in the city. has blanks upon which
they note tho draft numbers as they
are called Opposite these ls set the
order IN which they are called. with
the name and address, OF the man
in each district These blanks will
contain spaces for 10 names each.
or 260 for tho ciiy As rapidly as
big stan of specially trained stenog
raphers can get these names down
tho blanks will be- turned over 10
the newspapers Copies will also
he given 20 each OF the 26 district
boards
The crowd that pressed around
the city clerks once and the coun-
Gil chamber was 80 great thai n
was necessary 20 lock the doors ana
an extra stan nf clerks found N u.
terly impossible 10 give out serial
numbers 20 the Thousands OF regis
trants who demanded them
II is estimated that of the l50.00O
or moro mon registered in Detroit.
not moro than % 900 now know their
serial numbers Dctroit's quota Tor
the arst army IS 20 be about IL .0on
To obtain this number II is expected
that only about the first 10000 or
10000 will be summoned in the first
draft. but all tho numbers viii be
called and as the national army
moods mon they will be summoned
in the order OF tho call as Indicated
by the lottery
n is expected the work OF draw
ing the numbers viii consume tNe
entire day. beginning az 9 80 o'clock.
but n is believed that by the mid
die OF tho afternoon me drawing
will have proceeded far enough to
indicate those who viii be needed
on the first draft
Every registered man viii be
Obliged 10 discover for himself
whether ne r. called He may get
this information from tho newspa
pers or In day or two may get the
official Information from the district
boards as soon as the unofficial 70.
turns have been checked up and
verified
Individual notices will be sent ont
10 the mon called hut failure 10 re-
Ccive such notices will excuse no
one \ man who refuses 10 present
himself for examination Nill be list.
cd as n desertcr and treated by
military court The penalty for de
scrtion In times Of war is severe