The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1917-07-23
Master Lists Nearly Completed
and Will Be Mailed to 4.575
Local Boards Today
CIVILIANS In CONTROL
FOR ALL. OTHER STEPS
Claims For Exemptions Must
Be Fully Supported by Aft
davits-Porto Rico Reports
Full Registration

Washington. July 22.-The draft Is
now in the hands of the states. BY
midnight tomorrow, when the last of
the master lists shall have been
mailed to the local boards. operation
Of the law will practically have passed
out OF the hands of the federal gov
eminent. 1t will retain merely SUI
pervision of exemptions ---@z-
The big question now is Which
state will furnish it's quota first
The race is to the swiftest" GEN.
eral Crowder said today. The state
first reporting its quota ready will. OF
course. receive much honor"
Congratulated from all sides on his
problem America has ever faced In a
military way, General Crowder re-
manned at his desk throughout tha
Sunday holiday, directing the work
of preparing master lists for mailing.
Practically all the ten sheets Of 900
mum bers each have now been verified
and tailed. Six have already been
checked up in proof and ran of by
the thousands by the government
the last sheet will be ready by morn
ing and that the mailing Of them
will begin late In the afternoon
In all, 4s,o2T master sheets have
to be mailed out, eleven to each Of
the 4.557 local boards Ten OF the
sheets contain 1000 numbers each
and the eleventh 500 numbers. maxi
ing the total of 10000 numbers drawn
Complete instructions to cover every
contingency that might arise have
been sent to the local boards The
rules for handling cards improperly
or illegally numbered were made pub
lie last night
The boards now will be left with
their own work.
The government has nothing to do
with exem ptions. The law spectncai-
ly provides that. Soldiers will b
made out Of civilians by civilian
boards: men of their own kind. Other
OF appeal There are 1856 Of these
appellate boards. The majority Of
them were named yesterday. The re-
'nainder will be made public tomor-
row, General Crowder said this after
noon.
Indications here tonight were that
fewer exem ptions will be asked than
was anticipated. The margin esti-
mated by the government is only 4
little over 100000 men out OF the
100000 drafted and that is too
narrow to permit of widespread ex-
emptions. The estimate is that forty
per cent Of the drafted force will be
ineligible physically to serve.
Claims OF exemption for Dependent
cy will be closely investigated AM
davfts not only by the man making
the claim and the dependent named
Will be necessary, but a third affidavtt
from disinterested person acquaint-
al yn-ifh
will be required
Claims for mption for industrial
reasons also will require complete
proof. The employer must prove thar
his business Is vital to the war needs
of the nation and that the employe
in the industry before the man viii
be exempted The man himself. II
making the claim, must bring simi-
lar affidavits.
The special instructions made puh.
lie last night for dealing with rexts4
tration cards received after July IL
were made necessary by two mon, ac.
cording to the story told here todsy.
These men had been out OF the
country on registration day and reg-
istered on their return. 1t was then
too late to number their cards and
the question arose whether even two
men should be exempted under the
provisions. Gneral Crowder solved the
problem by ruling that their carda
should receive the next serial number
to the highest in the districts in which
they registered.
Two more drafts will be held. but
not in Washington. One will be At
San Juan, Porto Rico, under direction
of the governor general there. Ap.
proximately 100000 Porto Ricans reg
istered on July s. their registrations
delayed by ignorance or bad weather.
This is 100 per cent registration for
the islands. The details for the Porto
Rico draft have not been set. gs
Alaska has not even registered yets
She is supposed to supply 6S1 men
to the national army. 1t will require
more than three months for the north.
ernmost territory to register alone. +
is estimated, and probably six months
before the draft can be completed and
the force modified