The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1918-04-12
REPORT OF WORK DONE BY
DISTRICT EXEMPTION BOARD

Service Law, which became effective
, on May IS, 1917, held their organiza-
tion meeting at Poplar Bluff on July
81, 1917. At that meeting Poplar
Bluff was selected as the Headquar-
ters for the Board and the following
officers were elected: Almon Ing,
Chairman; j. M. Garrett, Secretary.
The personnel of the original Board
was as follows:
Almon Ing, Poplar Bluff.
]. M. Garrett, Flat River,
C. o. Biggs, Dexter,
G. S. De Field, East Prairie,
G. S. Cannon, Fornfelt.
w. A. Welker of Poplar Bluff was
elected clerk.
Offices for the Board were secured
in the Elks Home.
The actual work began on Aug. IL,
1917. Under the original rules and
regulations, the District Board was
the Board Of Record and the record Of
all men called by the various local
boards of the district, which COM
prises 27 counties, was forwarded to
the District Board and filed. This
necessitated large clerical force be-
ing employed in the office of the
Board.
The first meeting of the Board to
pass upon claims for exemption by
registrants was held on Aug. 17th.
AT this meeting VIM. b. Finch, of
Fornfelt, Mo-, was elected Asst. Clerk.
On Oct. goth he became clerk of the
Board.
During the balance of the month of
August and all during the months Of
September and October and the great
er part of the month of November,
the Board was in continuous session,
passing upon the claims of registrants.
1t is impossible at this time to give
any statistics of that work as under
the new rules and regulations promul-
gated by the President, which became
effective on November 20, 1917, the
leca! boards became the Boards of
Record and all files covering the first
draft have been forwarded to the re-
spectivc local boards.
Under the new rules and regula-
tions the classification plan became
effective and on December 18th the
local boards began mailing out Ques-
tionnaires to all registrants in their
districts, five per cent being mailed
each day until their registration list
was completed. Each registrant was
given seven days in which to return
his QUESTIONABLE to his local board.
The local boards then proceeded with
the classification of all claims in the
Questionnaires containing claims COM
ing under the jurisdiction of the Dis
trict Board, to that board for its. ac-
tion. These consisted of all appeals
from the decision of local boards and
of original classification of all agri-
cultural and Industrial claims con-
tanned in the Questionnaires. The
District Board began this work on
Jan. End and completed same on Sat
urday, March 80, 1918, having been
in continuous session during all of
that time.
During that time we have passed
upon more than 10000 Questionnaires
and in addition have passed upon sew
eral hundred applications for rehear-
ing of claims for deferred classified
tion, which had already been passed
upon.
4 About 20 per cent of the cases which
came to the District Board were ap-
peals from the decision of the local
boards, the remainder being agricul-
tural and industrial claims for de-
ferred classification which were sent
to the District Board for original
classification, the local boards not
having jurisdiction to classify such
claims.
On about so per cent of the Ques-
tionnaires reaching the District Board,
the registrant had been previously
placed in Class One by the local board,
and of this so per cent the District
Board placed about IS per cent Of
same in Glass One, giving the remain
der deferred classification.
Owing to the large amount of
work, it became necessary toward the
close of the work to increase the
board, temporarily, to nine members,
in order to complete the work within
the time prescribed by the President.
The Office of the District Board will
remain open, at least for the present,
for the purpose of taking care of any
matters which may come up and to
receive any belated claims for de-
ferred classification that may come in
and the board will be called into ses-
sion to pass upon such claims when
occasion requires it.
Just prior to adjournment on Sat
urday evening, the oath Of Office was
administered to Hon. Hugh e. Tyson,
who succeeds Hon. Almon Ing as a
member, who rendered his resignation
some time ago. Mr.. Tyson was then
elected to succeed Mr.. Ing as chair
man of the board.
Their have been two other changes
in the personnel Of the District Board,
namely:
DR.. H. L. Reid, Charleston, vice;
DIR. G. S. Cannon, resigned.
Mr.. G. P. Rowe, Charleston, vice;
G. S. DeField, resigned.
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