The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-07-20

| 12 The process will begin at 9:30 a. II Following is Provost Marshal General e,rowder's explanation of the sudden abandonment of the double drawing plan, which it had taken weeks to work out in detail and which was made public only a few hotlrs before it was discarded.
 CROWDER's STATEMENT
 "Advices received by long distance tel ephone this afternoon indicate that in certain areas the boards, in numbering registration cards, have kept the cards segregated by election districts and that serial numbers have been assigned to the whole group for a board while the cards were thus segregated. If the drawing is { conducted as originally planned, in groups of 1000, the result will be that consider able preparations of certain election dis, tricts will be brought up for examine ton together.
 .,yrhis will result in drafting persons from one locality within the Jurisdiction of board before any person is drawn from another locality within the same Jurisdiction For this reason it has been. decided to abandon the drawing by thou sands and to draw 1o500 numbers, which is in excess of the highest number of cards under the jurisdiction of any board.
 The only change in the plan will be that there will be one drawing instead of two.
 4The advantage will be greater sim plicity. The disadvantage will be tEat the drawing will require 10 hours to complete
 e,u,A A/,rz. c,r,rrrrNrIs rrNCIIA NCEn
 The stage setting for the great lottery has not been changed It will take place in the public hearing room of the Senate office building. The invited guests who will sit with Secretary Baker of the war department and watch the proceedings will be members of the Senate and House military committee. The only other per sons present, according to plans tonight, will be limited number of newspaper correspondents photographers to take both stll views and motion pictures of the historic event and the officials of General Crowder's office who will conduct the drawing
 NINE ACTORS
 In the drawing itself there will be nine actors. The principal will be blind folded man who constantly stirs the 1o,5oo black capsules in the gTeat glass bowl in which they have been placed, another blindbolded man who draws the capsules from the bowl one at time and two an nouncers, one standing at each side of the bowl and to whom the capsules will be handed in turn as they are drawn.
 The announcers will break the cap- sules as they receive them, extract the tiny slip of paper on which a nurr- Der will be stamped and call the num- Der to three tally clerks. The slip Will then be handed to an official in front of the bowl who will verify the an nouncers report and on his verlflca- tion another man. stationed at great blackboard will write the number ill its order on the board.
 PHOTOGRAPH NUMBERS
 The board will hold 1000 numbers. When it is filled it will be taken out of the room, photographed, cleaned off and returned, the drawing continuing meanwhile with a second board in use. The official record of the drawing, which will be furnished to the local exemption boards and in accordance with which they will call out the men to Ill edcn QlSlflcL quOld, Wiii hS made up into books of II pages, each page being a photographic fac-simile nf the blackboard The exemption eards will take no action toward amoning the men until these books h them through the mails.
 le telephone message referred to
 seneral Crowder in his statement esse. from the adjutant general of NeM Jersey When that officer learned ffAilgh publication of~the system of NAfiAle drawing announced earlier il. she day he saw immediately that I
 Sa injustice would be done in his &tatr because of the way in which 3hA ocal boards had given serial num- 4sss to the cards from the registration pxecs nets.
 HASTY CONFERENCE
 gles New Jersey official promptly eunwunicated his discovery to the off @fx ff the provost marshal general. .A hast conference of officials was called nAsAHAA locked doors and quick search nSae m the local board records of many states which have been received. A sim saE Mutation was found to exist in snaHx Darts of the country. In some lists &1}afAf and white registrants had been xrt'AS Ned in separate groups and the se- A NJ nbers ran accordingly. In others. IN Vk were separated and given their
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