New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-08-13
Draft Mobilization
Up to Exemptors
Task of Local Boards Just
Beginning Instead of Be-
ing Nearly Ended

Local draft board members are due
to learn, in the very near future, that
instead of being close to the end of
their work they are only at the begin
ming.
The business of selecting civilians
for military service will be in its final
stages to-day. with the district board
become a going concern. But the big
job for the local boards lies ahead.
That job will be TO supervise the city
mobilization, TO provide food and shell
ter for the drafted men during the
mobilization period, end then to see
them safely entrained.
$4,000 To Be Sent Away
There will be something more than
$4,000 men to be sent away-men
chosen from a hundred walks of life,
used to following their own heads
and it will be up 20 the local ex-
emptors to act as drillmasters when
they get their first taste of military
discipline. The procedure from now
On is outlined in pamphlets which will
90 out from Draft Director Conkling's
Office to the local boards some time this
week.
Beginning to-day communication be-
tween local and district boards becomes
a matter of routine. Daily, the local
boards must send up their lists of reg
istrants certified for service and the
district board must report back the
names of those who have made no eX-
emption appeals or whose appeals have
been turned down. Registrars thus
reported by the district board will
have been actually drafted, and it'will
be the function of the local boards to
notify them at once to that effect.
Must House Drafted Men
The local boards must make arrange
ments with hotels, restaurants and
lodging houses. The government will
provide the boards with meal and lodg-
ing tickets, which will be redeemed
later by the War Department.
Calls must be sent to five more men
than the number the individual board
is notified to ship TO the state mobili-
cation point. The five will be classed
as alternates to take the places OF any
who do not appear.
The drafted men will get their first
taste Of military discipline when they
reach local headquarters in response to
the call. By that time the exemptors
will have appointed special assistants,
one for each of the billets among which
the men of the district are distributed.
Not a Pleasure Tour
The man who has been planning to
take a trunk or two to camp will find
that the soldier travels light. He may
carry only one piece of baggage
suitcase or a travelling bag. But the
War Department much prefers he COM
promise on a bundle. Toilet articles
and a change of underwear he may
take. All else must be left behind.
All men will report at local head
quarters forty-tive minutes before the
time for entraining the time re-
quired to journey from headquarters to
the railroad station. One man Will
then be chosen by the exemptors from
the conscript ranks 10 command the
party en- route, and he, in turn, will
appoint an assistant.
There won't be any high old time on
the train, either, for the acting COM
manders will get only two orders to
enforce-to see that none of their men
is left behind when the train stops
and TO see that none comes into pos
.o,,;oy Of apv lidYor