Evening star., 1918-06-05
A Year Of seleetiye Draft.

One year ago today the men OF
America between the ages of twenty
one and thirty-one were summoned to
register themselves for possible mill
tary service under a new law, the like
of which had never before been known
IA this country. That law was based
dpen the principle of universal mill
tary duly in time Of war. 1t had been
passed by Congress as by miracle. in
startlingly brief time. Dire predie-
tiens Of disaster accompanied its ap-
preyal. The people, it was declared,
would never stand for the innovation
of compulsory service. But they did.
There was practically no resistance to
the selective draft. Considering the
enormous number affected, more than
i0,G10,000, the draft evaders and re-
sisters we're but handful. Prompt
prosecution and punishment of these
slaekers and opponents of the principle
of universal responsibility for national
defense quenched the spirit of def
anee. and taken altogether the actual
resistants formed trifing, negligible
percentage Of the whole. The response
to the summons Of the law was tri-
umrh of citizenship.
In the twelve months of this laws
operation a work of unappreeiated
magnitude has been carried out by the
provost marshal general Of the Army.
This officer and his assistants have
worked opt system of registration
and classification that has been most
effective and yet has involved a tre-
mendous amount of detail. To pro-
vide the local machinery for the
draft has been in itself an i'm
laense undertaking. To devise means
Of handling the separate groups of
registrants without unduly disturbing
the industrial conditions was in itself
an unprecedented tasx, Considering
that all this was new ground in this
country, the smoothnsss with which
the law has been applied has been a
marvel Of efficiency of administration
In the course Of the year out Of the
10000, 900 registered 1,5e5,7os men have
been called to the eolors. These have
gone in groups, with minimum Of So
rial and industria, disarrangement.
(lkhoya ora cnuk;op;pr 20 - o,,% a.
that original ten million. To facili-
tats the work Of assignment to duty
every man Of that body has been CLASH
fed. so that now it is necessary only
to determine the character of service
required and the number Of men need
ed to supply the Feauisition.
Toiays registration is of what may
be termed, IN European fashion, the
1918 class. Those who have become
twenty-ene since June 5 last are to-
day to register. 1t is estimated that
there are about one million of these.
They will form replacement group,
to replenish the great reservoir of po-
tential troops in the camps and on the
lists. If the expected million should
register tho United States will have
. total available force, leaving out
those found physically or otherwise
deficient, Of 100000, in addition to
the Regular Army and the National
Guard. Il Is safe to compute that with
these million younger men the United
States could put into field or camp in
side Of three months, by fastening the
draft process, no less than 100000
soldiers. Judging from the perform
anees Of those who have already gone
cast, this American Army, secured in
the main by the selectivs draft and
composed Of men Of every walk Of life
aud every grade Of society, is the equal
in efficiency Of the best the world
has ever seen