The Robesonian., 1918-03-14
SECOND DRAFT
BEGINS MARCH 29
5000 Men Are to be Called to
The Colors Gradually During
The Year-8O,OOO Men of First
Draft To Be Modified First
5 .Days-Care Will Be Taken to
Avoid Interference With Farm
Work.

Eight hundred thousand men are to !,
be called to the colors gradually dur
ing the present year under the second |
army draft, which begins March 20.
An announcement Tuesday by Pro-
vost Marshal General Crowder of the
number to be called was followed
closely by an order for the mcbiliza-
tion of 1000 men during the five day
period beginning March 20, some 49,
900 of them to be assembled under
the second draft. Eighty thousand
will be men Of the first draft of 6S7,-
600 not yet summoned into service
Details of hove the second draft is
to be applied will be made public
later, after Congress has acted upon
proposed legislation providing for the
registration of youths attaining the
age of q years and for basins State
district quotas on the number of reg
istrants in class 1. In his first Of
ficial statement on the subject, how
ever, General Crowder assures the
country that no sweeping withdrawal
of large number sof men at one time
is contemplated, and that care will
be taken to avoid interference with
harvesting.
Fill Up Existing Organizations.
The $4,000 men now called, il is un-
derstood, are needed at once to fill up
divisions and other units scheduled
for early departure or to take the
place of men transferred from other
divisions to make up such deficiencies
Newly organized regular divisions are
particularly short of men and heavy
drafts Oh national army divisions
to make these good have been nee
essary, seriously interfering with the
training work of the national army di-
visions drawn upon. The call for new
men makes it probable that no fur
ther transfers will be necessary.
The 100000 men to be summoned
this year represent the number neces-
sary to fill up all existing divisions.
to create all che army corps and field
army corps to fill out the war machine
for which the framework already ex-
lists, and to provide quarter Of mil
lion replacement troops When they
have been mobilized, which will not
be completed before the first of next
year, there will be more than 10 full
and all the additional units. No ed
ditional units of the national army or
national guard will be created this
. year, although the program for the
regular army, now composed of eight
infantry and one cavalry division, may
be enlarged.
Five Army Corps.
The first purpose of the War De-
rartment is to complete the first field
army in France. Probably this will
be composed Of five army corps of
six infantry divisions each 1t has
been estimated that with that force
and its necessary auxiliaries at his
disposal, General Pershing would be
able to hold 100 mile sector Of the
battlefront, relieving the strain upon
French manpower during 1918 to that
extent. What that would mean t.
France may be judged from published
statements Of French officials that IN
January /, 1918, the Belgian army
; held about Is miles Of the western
front, the British forces about 25O
miles.
No Sudden Withdrawal of Men From
Industry and Agriculture.
Provost Marshal General Crowde1
i concludes his official statement on the
subject as follows:
'To sum up, it may be said that
there will be no sudden withdrawal
of great numbers of men from the
ranks of industry and agriculture dur
ing the coming summer, but that men
{ will be drawn in relatively small
! groups throughout the year in such a
way as to create the least possible in
; reference with industry and COM
t mcrce. Men in deferred classes as
!. we'll as men in class one will be Sc
, lected in small numbers either on ac-
: count of their special qualifications
or for the purpose of sending them to
schools where they will be given an
opportunity to acquire such Qualifi-
| cations"
A or,icn1trro1 H1,,h 0r0anizad at