Evening star., 1940-10-18
Draft Numbers
To Be Held Until
All Are Sorted
Commissioners Make
Request Because of
Varying Delays


Cox, selective service executive for
the District, today requested the "a
local area draft boards not to post
their lists of serial numbers assigned
to draft registrants until all of the
boards are ready to post their lists.
This means that if the local
boards cooperate it will be several
days at least before posting of the
lists by which draft regiStrants can
learn the serial numbers by which
the order of call will be determined
by lottery. The Commissioners plan
to confer with Gen. Cox before an
exact time is set for the local boards
to post at their headquarters the
lists.
Gen. Cox's request to the local
boards came shortly after one board
chairman, Edwin S. Hege of Board
No. 3, declared that his board had
completed numbering cards received
up to today and would be ready to
post the list at pm.
Two other local boards had as
serted that they planned to post
partial lists as soon as possible,
starting in one instance this after
noon.
BY way of contrast, one board in
the District had not elected a chair
man nor even held meeting up to
today.
Out-o Town Cards Slow Work.
Most of the boards reported that
they were being held up in their
efforts to assign numbers to the
cards because of the large number
of out-of-area and out-of town
cards that they must clear.
1t was to give all the local boards
an equal opportunity to complete
their tasks that the Commissioners
made their request today.
BY the action of the Commits
sioners it was expected that certain
discrepancies in local board proce-
dure would be cleared up. In board
area No. 8 it had been announced
that this board planned to include
out-of-area registrants on its num-
bered list and would clear only out
of-toWn cards. Gen. Cox declared
today that selectlve service regula-
tions required that all boards follow
the same procedure.
Some to Be Posted Today.
Philip Ershler, chairman of Board
No. 7, said today that his board has
begun the work of numbering its
cards and had planned to post its
list virtually page by page as it
was completed, with the first in
stallment expected late today. The
boards headquarters are at the
Bancroft School, Eighteenth and
Newton streets NV.
A similar procedure was to be fol-
lowed by Board No. Is, according
to Julius Rieley, chairman, who said
that its first list probably would not
have appeared until tomorrow at
the Bowen Elementary School, Third
and K streets S.W.
While most Of the boards had
completed their organization and
started operations on a full-time
basis, No. IA had not even elect
ed chairman nor held a meet
ing. John T. RhineS, member OF
the board, said that it was two
members short of full strength and
that, so far as he knew, no meetings
would be held until these members
have been appointed. One member
of the board, it was discovered after
the appointments were made, was in
the draft age and. therefore, in
eligible. The other vacancy was
created by resignation due to ILL
ness.
Many in Other Districts.
Two local boards reported that
about 25 per cent of their registra-
ton cards were those of young men
living in other local board areas
or outside the District of Columbia.
Board No. 18 had some 1900 out
of-area registrants out of a total of
5761 cards, according to Chairman
Ringgold Hart, and about 400 of this
classification were from out of town.
And Francis c. Addison, chair
man Of Board No l, which had 5,026
registration cards to handle, de-
clared that about 25 per cent of the
regiStrants resided in other board
areas. with fully 10 per cent living
outside the District of Columbia.
Boards No. and No 81 reported
about 1000 out-of-town cards each,
or slightly less than Is per cent of
their totals
The high proportion of persons
registering in other board areas was
due. in a large part, to shifting Of
| registration loads to relieve con-
geStion in some of the school regis
tration centers on October Is, local
selective service officials pointed out.
Almost every board was at work
yesterday afternoon and evening on
the job of sorting out from among
the 114,341 registration cards the
cards from other areas and other
cities and mailing them to the proper
(See D. c. DRAFT, Page A-l4)