The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-01-04


 tion that submerged all individual in terest in single endeavor toward ths consummation of the national task. take it that no great national project was ever attempted with so complete g reliance upon the voluntary cooperation of citizens for it's execution. Certainly no such burdeasome and sacrificiaI sta.
 ute has ever before been executed with , out great hieracy of officials. SOME MISTAKES MADE
 This law has been administered b, civilians whose official relations lies only in necessary powers with which they art vested by the residents designation oI them to perform the duties that are laiC upon them. They have accomplished tn, task. They have made some mistakes The system offers room for improve ment
 DID MAIN THING But the great things they were called upon to do they have done. The vaunted efficiency of absolutism of which the German empire stands as the ava
 tar can offer nothing to compare with it. It remains the ultimate test and proof of the intrinsic political idea upon which American institutions of denoc- racy and self government have been based
 FEW SLACKERS
 Analysing the first draft, General Crowder shows that 9,bS6, sos men between the ages of q and S1 years registered themselves. Up to late in December only 5ST0 arrests have been made of those who have sought to evade registration, and Of that number 2263 were released after having registered and there remain only 2095 cases to be prosecuted. The report declares that in the final analysis of the ! .J..s l.. n per cent of the men within draft age evaded registration.
 rough figure of S.2 per cent is given as the number of registrants who failed to appear when called by their local boards for examination, but General Crowder hastens to explain that most of these men already are in Europe in the 1 American, British and French armies. .'The final data will undoubtedly show General Crowder adds, that the number of those who ~ilirully failed to l appear for examination when called Is Insignificant"
 1 MANY MEN WAITING | Of the total registration of 9,5S6. .50S i the number called and examined was l 3,0S2,s4 and of these 1,057,36 were certi- 1 fled by the boards for military service. 1 Since the first call was for only 6S7, ,0uy i men, there now remain 5!J363 men await l ing summons to the mobilization camps. l Of all men examined, 730, 7o6 or 23.7 per cent, were rejected for physical reasons That, it is pointed out, shows an encour- 1 aging improvement in the physical con l d1tion of the young men of the nation ! since the civil war days, for at that time l the draft authorities rejected g per cent J of all men called on physical grounds. l About one-half of all men called. o. l 1,560,570, claimed exemption. The claims n Tnp aart nf thA6 .tal showing in the opinion of officials that l very few fraudulent claims were filed l Of those exempted, "A per cent were re- l leased because of dpendent rlatives, 2 l per cent because they claimed alier I birth and nationality, and only 6 pei | cent on vocational grounds Less thar i per cent of the exemptions wers l granted to religious objectors, or te ! those morally unfit. The figures are
 3ss7 exempted because of religious belief l their exemption extending only to releas SC ] from participating in actual combat, and i 2001 Esjected for moral unfitness. The majority of the latter were convicts now l in prison.
 1 COST OF DRAFT
 l The total cost of the first draft, ex- l elusive of the cost of the provost mar shal generals office here. was $5,211,- | 965. This amount has been refunded 1 to the states by the federal govern l ment. It represents an average cost of $4.9s per man accepted for mili- 1 tary service and with the provost
 marshal generals expense included s per man, against a cost of $244S per voluntary recruits in 1914; $19.14 in 1 1915, and $2S.95 in the first nine months of 1917. Prior to the draft act l during the civil war the cost per man was about s34 and after the draft was enforced about $9.S4.
 1 In discussing the future of the draft General Crowder takes occasion to say l that the first duty is to provide an adequate army. Economic considera- tions must be regarded in selecting l men, he says, but not at the expense l of an efficient fighting force Viewed beside the efforts Germany and Aus tria have put forth to place man power 1 in the field. he adds. it little becomes us to emphasize above a whisper as
 a substantial national problem any, l thing we have yet been called upon 1 to do.'
 ] STRIKING RESULTS 1 Tables accompanying the report show many striking results of the draft l Taking the total of 1,243,S01 aliens registered. 1t is shown that of the i 457,713 called up for examination, 76.- | 54o were certified for military serv- ice, having voluntarily waived their l right to exemption as aliens and in ! effect volunteer for the battle for democracy Even of the 3S1,16S ex- ! empted, 40 per cent went out on other ] grounds than their alien status.
 l There was evident some variation
 of practice among the states on the l question of exempting married men. 4 total of 163.115 married men have been I certified for service. In Mississippi the boards held 3S per cent of all mar ried men called for service; in Wis consin and North Dakota, only per 1 cent were held. After further study 1 of the results it is expected efforts will be made to unify the practice ot boards more closely in this regard
 Montana led among the states in the number of men called who filed nc claim for exemption. Figures for that state show that 80 per cent of the
 men called up were ready to go tu
 the front. Kentucky had the greates.
 number of exemption claims. 52 per 1 cent of all men called filing affi-
 davits. The average number of claims was 46 per cent.