Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-07-19
Hour: $50 O'Clock AM;
Scene: Room 226, Senate
Office Building.
NUMBERS TO BE FLASHED
TO ALL PARTS OF LAND
High Officials and Military Commit
tees Of Congress to Wit
ness the Drawing.

Drawing of numbers to determine the
eligibility Of men between the ages OF
twenty-one and thirty-one for service
with the national army will begin tomor-
row morning at $3.50 O'Clock. The scene
will be room 226, Senate Office building.
Brig. Gen. Enoch 81. Crowder, provost
marshal general, the officer charged with
the duty Of carrying out the selective
conscription act, shortly after noon
made the selection and announced the
time.
Pick Out Committee Room.
When it appeared shortly before noon
its exemption division work, would be in.
Provost Marshal General crowder and sew
eral of his aides went to the Capitol to
pick out a large committee room which
would meet all Of the requirements for the
draft.
All Of the machinery for drawing tho
numbers has been completed for some
time, and Gen. Crowder today made
public the plan which appears elsewhere
in The Star. The plan which has been
worked out assures fairness to all
:'The system evolved" said Gen:
chance 1t has been carefully designed to
give an absolutely fair deal to every man
registered. The drawing will take just
one hour. rehearsal Of the drawing, ex-
elusive Of one short feature. took exactly
56h minutes and not an error was made. :"
Gen. Crowder was In conference with
newspaper men late yesterday after
noon, when he revealed to them the
plan of drawing which he released for
he discussed plans for getting the num-
bers accurately and quickly before the
country.
In order to prevent the possibility Of
requested that no numbers should be
published until after tho drawing had
been completed and the three tally
sheets checked up. An immense black
board - to be placed in the drawing
room and each numer will be chalke1
up az 1t is called. SO that the membera
Of tho press and the member of the
Senate and House military affairs COM
mittee1 may see.
When the last number is drawn the
tally sheets win be checked, and then
the blackboard will be checked to in
sure that the press IL given accurate
Information for transmission all over
the country.
Other omcials to Be Present.
In addition to the press and mem
oers OF the House and Senate military
affairs committees. Secretary OF War
Baker and other officials Of the War
Department are expected to be in at
tendance at tho drawing.
The plan. OF drawing made public re-
Quires each local board to notify 400
per cent OF the number Of men II mnst
furnish to appear for examination Al
the District Of Columbia Is required
to furnish a quota Of 929 men. this
means that the eleven local boards will
summon total of 1858 mon to an
pear for examination for FIRST call. II
exemptions are SO large in this num-
per that the quota may not be OBJ
tatned the board is authorised to con-
tinue to call mon for examination IN
til the quota is filled.
BY tomorrow night every reRistrant
Will know. through the press, how he
stands for call. A few days later he
will receive Official notification from
his local board. together with the list
Of the numbers in his district, 80 that
he may Judge how soon he 10 likely to
be called.
The plan to have the drawing in the
historic reception room at the War
Department was rejected because of
the fact that 1t was too small to ac-
commodate the numbers who will at
tend, and the suggestion that the
House chamber be used was rejected
because OF the possibility of having
too large an audience and contributing
to the confusion.
Change in Key Numbers.