Evening star., 1940-10-30
Boards Await
Signal TO Mail
Questionnaiires
.Order Number Lists
Soon to Be Posted
At Esd. 6. Centers

With last flurries of lottery day
excitement settling to a calm, the
Districts 25 local draft boards pre-
pared themselves today for the first
move in the actual classification of
selective service registrants-dis-
tribution of questionnaires.
Stacks of the eight-page folders
designed to include detailed infor-
nation on every registrant were
ready for mailing at each of the
board headquarters. Official orders
from the Federal Government were
awaited
Copies of the national master
list compiled at the departmental
auditorium lottery beginning at noon
yesterday will be forwarded to local
boards throughout the country and
from these copies official order num-
ber lists will be made up by the
boards, with questionnaires to be
sent out Immediately to registrants
in order of their appearance on the
order number schedule.
officials at national headquarters
said the master list copies prob
ably would be ready for mailing
tomorrow morning, indicating the
Districts boards will be able to
swing into action by afternoon.
Each copy of the master list will
consist of Sc sheets of $50 numbers
per sheet. Three copies will be
mailed to each local board, making
a total of 2700 sheets to be received
in the District. Officials said the
sheets will not be sent piecemeal,
a few at a time, but only in COM
pleted sets.
Fifty Day May Go Out.
Brig. Gen. Albert L. Cox, selective
service executive for the District,
said today the queStionnaires will
be mailed to registrants, beginning
at the top of the order number lists
at the rate of about so per day, un-
less Federal authorities suggest 9TH
erWise.
I'VE are ready to go the moment
we get the formal signal from ma
tional headquarters, Gen. Cox said
Order number lists of the local
boards will be arranged as soon as
the master sheets are received from
the national Office. The new lists
will be posted, on completion, along
side serial number lists already on
bulletin boards, with the exception
Of one board, No. rs.
This board, created in the elev-
entll-hour split of Area No. 13,
posted its serial number list Sun
day and Monday. Yesterday, how
ever, about 80 sheets of the list
were found to have been mutilated
to such an extent recopying job
will be necessary, and the board
members decided TO take the entire
list down and post only the order
number list as it is compiled.
Gen. Cox approved the decision
and explained that registrants nat
urally would be able to find both
theft serial numbers and order
numbers from the latter list. Board
No. 25 has headquarters at the
Henry Elementary School, Seventh
and P streets NV.
Selective service leaders empha-
sized that, though it is desirable for
registrants to know their serial
numbers and order numbers as soon
as possible, such knowledge is not
required by law. Questionnaires will
be mailed according to the drawing,
whether the registrant knows his
number or not.
Advised to Inspect List.
However, included in the regula-
tions is the warning that failure 10
receive a questionnaire does not re-
lieve the registrant of responsibility
if his name appears near the top
of the list. Each registrant, there
fore, is advised to visit his local
board headquarters within the next
few days to determine the position
of his name on the order number
list. All registrantS have order num-
bers. although the majority will not
be classified for many months to
come.
Uneasy registrantS who failed TO
learn their serial numbers before the
lottery f1ocked by the hundreds to
headquarters of local boards yester-
day afternoon and last night. A
police squad car was dispatched to
keep order in at least one OF the
centers.
The seven outside lines on the
telephone switchboard at District
Selective Service Headquarters in
the National Guard Armory were
iammed during the afternoon and
far into the night. Most of the
callers were under the erroneous
impression they could obtain their
numbers from operators. Scores OF
others wished to know the location
of their local boards.
Most of the latter were put of
until today by clerks, intent on dis
posing of unnecessary, though in
nocent, calls as quickly as possible.
Registrants' List Grows.
Lists of registrants still were being
enlarged at many of the local draft
boards today. Additional cards re-
ceived before the order number
lists are completed will be handled
in a routine manner-simply num-
bered serially and placed in their
proper places.
Others which may be numbered
after the order schedule is COM
pleted will occupy the same place
in the final list as they would have
had they been received earlier.
There will be no advantage or dis
advantage to late registrants, ex-
cused by their local boards for their
tardiness. Late names simply will
be cut in at the point where their
serial numbers we're drawn in the
national lottery.
Registrants will be given five days
in which to return their filled out
ouestionnaires unless extension Of
time is granted on special requests
to the local boards. The five days
will be counted beginning on the
day after mailing.
Aarohers and associate members