The Mena weekly star., 1918-08-22
DRAFT MACHINERY
 WILL ALL BE READY
Provost Marshal General Crowder Ex- poets Registration of 10 to 20 and 32 to 45 Classes Not Later
 Than September IS.

Washington. Aug. 15.-Provost Marshal General Crowder announced today that plans already have been made for registering the 13,000,00O additional men which he estimates will be brought under the selective service law when Congress enacts the pend ing bill extending the age limits to include men between IS and 45 years. From this number approximately two million qualified for full military duty are expected to be obtained.
 So urgent is the need for additional man power, General Crowder said. that the draft machinery is being put into shape for the great task ahead without waiting for final action by Congress. Men of the new draft will be needed by October 1, and in order to get them registration day will have to be held not later than September 15 an diff possible September 5 will be fixed as the day.
 When the 13,000,00O men are en- rolled nearly 25,000, ,000 will have been registered since the United States en- tered the war. There were some 10 million enrolled on the first registra- tion day, June 5, 1917, another 600,- 900 last June 5, and several hundred thousand more are expected to be en- rolled August 24.
 Preliminary steps have been taken by the provost marshal general" said General Crowder's statement, "to provide for the registration of those men who will be affected by the act, which Congress is expected shortly to pass extending the age limits of the selective draft.
 State headquarters local boards and other officials in the various states have been advised to hold themselves in readiness to proceed promptly with their work as soon as Congress has acted, and the President by proclamation, has fixed the date for registration.
 Until the legislation is actually passed, it cannot be stated with ex- actness of course, what the new age limits will be. But because of the ur- gency of the situation, it is essential that as much of the preparatory work as possible be done at this time in order that the administration may promptly avail itself of the new law. To that end, now, as in the past the utmost reliance is placed on the American people to supply the nee essary cooperation and team work
 "The situation is urgent because by October 1, Class l, under the age linn it's of the original act, will have been entirely exhausted. Unless there is , to be very serious interruption in the flow of American troops to the camps and thence across the seas to France Class 1 must be replenished at the earliest possible moment by available men both below and above the present age limits of 2l and 31 There is, literally, no time to be lost
 "The bill, which has been intro duced in Congress at the request of the War Department would fix the new age limits at between IS and 45 years. That is to say, it would in- clude in addition to the men within the present limits, those between 32 and 45 inclusive (fourteen annual classes, and those between IS and 20 inclusive, three annual classes). These limits were suggested to Congress by the War Department be- cause the military man power pro- gram of the United States requires that the now nearly depleted reser- voir of Class 1 men shall be replen- ished by more than 100000 men available for full military service.
 On the basis of actual figures from insurance companies, census compu- tations and the experience of this office in the previous registration it has been estimated that the required number of men for Class can be had only by including within draft age limits men between 32 and 45 and between IS and 20 That is to say, approximately 13.000,000 men must he added to the list of regis trants in order that with all exemp- tions allowed, at least two million men will remain in Class i