The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1917-07-21

OuS
cient draft. we should take every
fourteenth man. But we are not
conscriptlng. We are selecting for
military service those whose civil SER
vice can best be spared. Therefore
the question is not Who shall 60
arst?' but VINO shall be first called
up for examination and what we
must do Il to make q list showing the
order Of examination. :.
mo one one knows how many
men must be examined to yield Ss7.-
600 soldiers. Therefore. no one can
say just how many men II Ia abso-
latsiy necsssary to put on this list.
A moments reflection will prove
that the whole 100000 must he CIV
On their places on the list of order
Of examination"
Every registered man is in O state
Of uncertainty. He does not know
when he will be called. He hesitates
to plant q crop for fear he will not
reap It. Employers hesitate to en-
gage his services, fearing they will
be but temporary. This condition
ought to be cured for the repose OF the
public mind. It can be cured to some
extent by putting every man on the
list. trr... ut
i For this reason the whole 10000
600 males are to he given places on
the list OF order Of examinations a.
"The segregation into sroupa,pi
I Obviously no single agency could
examine 100000 men. Therefore.
the 100000 are, segregated ., dnto
sroups OF suitable sixe for convenient
sSepipet etien. IhsrA are %.ss7 q. these
eyssrA t6f each ssfo6r : bo6rd has
been appointed to examine for. sslsc-
tion. BY far the greater number of
these sroups consist of approximately
5000 men. +tl a., co,
Since this is 80. our problem is
not to put the whole 10000. 900
names In one list, arranged in the or.
der of examination. 1t Is to deter
mine the order Of examination in each
group. g.,
The necessity for drawing: ,n
Since all registered men stand in
equality Of right and duty the question
Of priority can only be determined by
lot or drawing. 1t would be possible
to have 1857 separate drawings
one for each group-but since meth
DDS will vary and since supervision
and absolute insurance against the
charge of fraudulent manipulation
could not be had in that way, ev-
cry consideration Of experience and
justice urges one drawing in Wash
ington.
The method for the drawing:
I'm each group. every registration
card has a red-inked number written
on its face and these numbers run In
q single series from unity (l) to the
number corresponding the greatest
number of cards in the group. Nor
mally. this Is from unity (l) to about
5000.
Exact copies Of the cards in each
group have been attested and sent to
the various State capitals. Lists show
Ing the name of each man in each
group and the serial number of his
card have been posted in the office of
the beard. published in the press
and one copy is on fi!e In Washington
There is. therefore. no chance of any
mans number being changed with
out detection. or Of any card being
lost beyond replacement.
The idea OF the central drawing:
Suppose there were Just 5000
names and numbers In every group.
II Ia at once apparent that 1t would
DO very simple thing to have a CEN
trail drawing that would control the
order Of every name and number in
every group Of the whole 10, ,OOO, 600
lust put 5000 numbers into a bowl
and draw them out one at a time.
rhe first number drawn out would
place the 4,557 cards bearing that
particular number at the head of
'very list In the United States. The
'econd number drawn would put the
ards bearing that number second on |
Ill the lists. and so forth.
Now. the thing can not be done I'm
precisely this way. because there are
lot precisely three thousand numbers
n every group. But the same idea
With few necessary notifications Is
he idea On which the present draw
nv is based.