The Carlisle independent., 1917-06-28
DRAFT ID BE FAIR.
METHODS OF SELECTING MEN FOR NATIONAL ARMY WILL
 BE ABOVE CRITICISM.
NO CHANCE OF FAv0RITISM
Rules for Physical Examination of Volunteer Recruits for Regular Army VIII Be Modified for the Young conscrIpts.
By EDWARD B. CLARK.


 Washington. - Washington knows that there Is anxiety throughout the country lest in the drawings here and there there may be some trick of the trade" by which certain men may be drawn for the new army and certain other men not drawn by means of some delft sleight-of-hand performance.
 The last Registration day reports have come into Washington. There is not enough concern left in the results of registration to shadow the rapidly looming interest in the methods which will be adopted to choose the service men by use of the rule of chance.
 The country can at once give over any apprehension that the drawings will not be fair A method will be adopted by which the drawings will be lifted from out of any shadow of suspicion as to the fairness of methods. There will be no possibility that any one can enter a legitimate objection to the means which are to be employed to give all men equal chances in the matter.
 The chances seem to be that for the new army there will be some modifi- cation of the rules which now are iH force for the physical examination of volunteer recruits for the regular army. It is not believed that young Americans for the new forces will be compelled to measure up to the stand ards set for recruiting for the regulars. When 1t was declared day or two ago, seemingly by authority, that regl1- lar army standards would be mafn- tained for a physical examination, croakers instantly began to say, "This will not leave one really stalwart young American In the country"
 Why So Few Are Accepted.
 It is pretty generally known that out of every five men who have applied In the past at regular recruiting offices, only one man has been accepted. No one has seemed to realize the real reason for this condition of things. In certain districts In the United States fully 90 per cent of the volunteers of the regular army have been accepted. In some other districts only 10 per cent of the willing ones have been accepted. It is a matter easily explained.
 In the past, notably In the city dis tricts, there have applied to the re cruiting officers thousands of men of whom by far the greater percentage were seeking enlistment because they had come to the conclusion that they could do nothing in civil life. Army officers, if they would talk, could tell tales of hundreds of down and cutters, physical decrepits, who, tired with the struggle to get a living. perhaps not by the labor route, have applied for per mission to serve Uncle Sam, with good money, good bed good board, good clothing and good care thrown in. It was the down and cutters and the men i who, not willing to consider themselves down and out, yet through adverse con- ditions had become run down physical ly, who applied in largest numbers to the recruiting officers for regular serv- ice.
 It was the inevitable thing, there fore, that the recruiting office records in the great cities should show only about one enlistment for about four or five applicants. In the country dis. tricts the percentage of acceptances was much higher, because away from the cities living conditions were better and moreover many sturdy young Americans were willing to enlist to get a chance to see life under new con- ditions.