New Britain herald., 1919-02-20

 sition to get the thing started, the draft organization was made.sper erma- ne1t and the men taken from civilian life had their hands full just caring for the draft work. In New Britain the boards were lucky in having men who took great personal interest and worked hard
 The first men were drafted without Questionnaires and when the latter made their appearance the work was just about tripled. The first $500 questionnaires showed what the fol- lowing work was to be. Some oG those first questionnaires carried as many as 20 different documents bear ing upon the final classification of the draftee. There were industrial claims, claims for dependency and family. claims for physical disa hil- ity, etc. and all of these claims had to be backed up by sworn affidavits. These affidaVits are today part of the questionnaires which will be sent for final record to Washington. Some of the questionnaire covers in the local draft board offices contain the communications from draft boards in all parts of this country
 Those communications refer to 1 cases where men were out of this | GUY ana were SearCnCQ TOT 0Y the 1 working of the draft. Many of these men were found and inducted into the service and their questionnaires still cotain the communication showig the trouble gone to in getting them into the amy.
 DelinquentS Sought Out.
 The delinquent cases also made life unpleasant for the local boards at times. There were two classes Of de- linquents known by the boards One class was that of the willful deserter and the other class was the non-wfll- full deserter. It can also he said with safety that not one case of a delin- quent was once lost after the man had been located. Tho system was so good and complete that once the de- partment got any trace of their man he was not lost sight of for a day until he was either inductcd into the service or was SO classified that he was left at home. These cases all had to be reviewed by the district board under which they came If they were found willfuI delinuuents they were sent to camp with full de- tails attached to their papers. If they were ignorant Of the law or for sOmC other satisfa ctory reason were not in tue SeINlCe lneN were Qcalt With by the board and great discretion was always used. The board members in dealing with that class of men were strictly impartial.
 The work was cnOrm Ous. Perhaps 8 little idea can be gained of tho enormity when after considering the foregoing remarks, about documents comm unicattonS, etc.. it is known that there are ready to be shipped by tho two New Britai boads 16.000 ques- tionnaires.
 Great cedit is due the people who helped in the work. The school teach CTS and civilians gave unsparingly of their time at the beginning and helped start the thing. They worked all their spare time and even many nights until late, in their efforts to keep up with the situation. Night work was frequent at several times but especially at the time when the extra large number of men were sent to camp near the time of the last draft. It was then that the true worh of the bC ards was tested and both local boards came through c. K.
 Unstinted praise should be given to the doctors of the city who helped at the examinations of the men and in many other ways. This work was done gratis and took up hours of time. The work was not the most pleasant but as was the trend Of the times it was done without a. single sm~~~~w~~~~-~~~~~~~~-~~~--~-