Evening star., 1940-10-27

second, when it was drawn. Back
stage stood the table for the master
sheets on which the numbered tapes
will be pasted. Above this table
is a camera which will reproduce
each sheet as it is completed and
record it on plate for printing
and distribution to all the draft
boards.
Admission BY Invitation.
The microphones, telephones and
telegraph instruments over which
the radio and the press will chron-
icle the lottery were being placed,
and Capt. Ernest M. Culligan, public
relations officer at selective service
headquarters, was aiding a small
army of newspapermen, photogra
pliers and technicians in getting
places assigned and equipment set.
There are rows of seats behind
the section reserved for officials and
the working press, and there is
small balcony, but admission to the
auditorium will be only by written
invitation. Many civil and military
officials are expected to witness the
opening ceremonies. OUTSIDE the
building, which lies between the
Labor Department and the Inter-
state Commerce Commission struc-
ture, the public address system will
carry the announcement of each
number as it is drawn. The Army
Band will be on hand to pay a
preliminary concert and welcome
the President.
The number of capsules TO be
drawn is smaller than had been
anticipated. While 10000 capsules
and numbered slips we're on hand,
only $500 were prepared for the
lottery. 1t was possible thus to limit
the total by arranging for areas
with heavy registrations to split
their numbers among additional
boards. One Washington board had
1881 registrants before a new board
was established to split the load.
There were boards in New York,
Chicago and other congested regions
that would have required a longer
lottery If they had not been divided.
1000 open" Numbers.
Instructions were sent out to the
States to hold each boards regis
trations down to $500. Thus there
will be a number for every registered
man and 1000 open" numbers. The
spare numbers will take care of late
registrants.
The first World War draft saw
10,500 names drawn and the last
lottery held 1900 numbers. But
the local communities are better di-
vided this time.
The 10-gallon glass bowl that
ushered in selective service in 1917,
brought from Independence Hall in
Philadelphia for the occasion, was
locked over the week end in the
spacious Office of Director Dykstra,
once the living room of an apart
ment, at Twenty-first and c streets
NV, overlooking the Lincoln Me-
mortal, the river and the Arlington
hills. Field glasses from window
would bring into focus the white
shaft that is the Tomb of the I'm
known Soldier, that nameless Amer
ican who perished in France and
symbolizes all who did not return.
Standing near the bowl Tuesday
will be the man who provided it
when the Selective service admin
istration needed a container for the
lottery on that June day in 1917
1t. Col. Charles R. Morris. inactive
reserves, of Elizabeth, N. j. And he
will blindfold Secretary Stimson
with the same cloth he used to bind
the eyes of Secretary of War New
ton D. Baker then. The cloth came
from the upholstery of a chair that
stood in Independence Hall when
the Constitution was signed. The
table that will hold the familiar
bowl day after tomorrow supported
it in lotteries of II and ia small
mahogany table that has served
since in an office in the Senate
Office Building.
How the Lottery Works.
Should Secretary Stimson, stand
ing beside President Roosevelt,
draw-and this is guess and hypo-
thesis-No. 2,310. every draft board
having a number that highland
there will be boards in sparser areas
which have not-Will list the regis
trants who got that number when
the cards were shuffled and counted
as the first man to receive ques-
tionaire.
This would happen, assuming
SPE