Part 39

Our military legislation was drafted after very earnest consideration, to accomplish the following objects:

1. To provide in successive bodies adequate numbers of men to be trained and used as combatant forces.

2. To select for these armies men of suitable age and strength.

3. To distribute the burden of the military defense of the Nation in the most equitable and democratic manner, and to that end to recognize the universality of the obligation of service.

4. To reserve to the public authorities power so to control the selection of soldiers as to prevent the absorption of men indispensable to agriculture and industry, and to prevent the loss of national strength involved by the acceptance into military service of men whose greatest usefulness is in scientific pursuits or in production.

5. To select, so far as may be, those men for military service whose families and domestic obligations could best bear their separation from home and dependents, and thus to cause the least possible distress among the families of the Nation which are dependent upon the daily earnings of husbands and fathers for their support.

These considerations, shortly stated, amount to a policy which, recognizing the life of the nation as a whole, and assuming both the obligation and the willingness of the citizen to give the maximum of service, institutes a national process for the expression of our military, industrial, and financial strength, all at their highest, and with the least waste, loss, and distress.

The act of Congress authorizing the President to increase temporarily the Military Establishment of the United States, approved May 18, 1917, provided for the raising and maintaining by selective draft of increments (in addition to the Regular Army and National Guard) of 500,000 men each, together with recruit training units for the maintenance of such increments at the maximum strength, and the raising, organizing, and maintaining of additional auxiliary forces, and also for raising and maintaining at their maximum strength, by selective draft when necessary, the Regular Army and the National Guard drafted into the service of the United States.

It also provided that such draft "shall be based upon liability to military service of all male citizens, or male persons not alien enemies, who have declared their intention to become citizens, between the ages of 21 and 30 years, both inclusive"; that the several States, Territories, and the District of Columbia should furnish their proportionate shares or quotas of the citizen soldiery determined in proportion to the population thereof, with certain credits allowed for volunteer enlistments in branches of the service then organized and existing.

The Nation was confronted with the task of constructing, without delay, an organization by which the selection might be made for the entire country by means of a uniform and regulated system.

A suggestion of administration, incomplete because of entirely different conditions, arose from the precedent of the Civil War draft; and on May 22, 1917, the Judge Advocate General was detailed as "Provost Marshal General" and charged with the execution, under the Secretary of War, of so much of the act of May 18 "as relates to the registration and the selective draft." Plans had already been formulated for the operation of the selective draft, and with the formal designation of the Provost Marshal General the work of organization began.

It was obvious that to build up a new Federal organization would require a greater period of time than was afforded by the military necessity. The existing governmental organizations of the several States presented an available substitute, and the statute authorized their use. This expedient was unprecedented, but its practice has abundantly justified its adoption.

The immediate need was for a comprehensive registration of every male of draft age. To effect this registration each State was divided into districts containing a population of approximately 30,000, in each of which a registration board was appointed by the governor. Usually this board consisted of the sheriff, the county health officer, and the county clerk; and where the county's population, exclusive of cities of more than 30,000 inhabitants, exceeded that number, additional registration boards were appointed. Cities of over 30,000 were treated as separate units. The election district was established as the actual unit for registration in order that the normal election machinery might be utilized, and a registrar for every 800 of population in each voting or election precinct was appointed by the registration board. In cities approximating 30,000 of population, the registration board was made up of city officials, and where the population exceeded the unit number additional registration boards of three members were appointed, one a licensed physician.

Governors and mayors were given considerable latitude in making geographical divisions of the States and cities for the purpose of defining registration jurisdictions; the only limitation being that approximately 30,000 inhabitants should be included within the confines of a district. The general scheme was that the board of three should exercise supervision over the precinct registrars, the governors supervising the work of the registration boards, while the mayors of cities containing 30,000 or more inhabitants acted as intermediaries between governors and registration boards. Each State was constituted a separate unit and each governor was charged with the execution of the law in his State.

By proclamation of the President, dated May 18, 1917, Tuesday, June 5, 1917, was designated as registration day throughout the United States, with the exception of Alaska, Hawaii, and Porto Rico; and, due to the fact that registration organization of the States had been so quickly and thoroughly completed, about 10,000,000 male citizens of the designated ages were registered on the day set, and the first step in the operation of the selective service law was accomplished.

Registration consisted in entering on a card essential facts necessary to a complete identification of the registrant and a preliminary survey of his domestic and economic circumstances.

It is noteworthy that this registration throughout the entire country was carried out in the main by the voluntary and energetic efforts of citizens, and the Government was thereby saved a very great expense through the efficient organization which had been constructed and furnished with all necessary materials during the short period of sixteen days.

With registration completed there followed the operation of examination, selection, and mobilization. The unit jurisdiction of approximately 30,000 of population was maintained as far as possible, and for each district or division a local board of three members was appointed by the President upon the recommendation of the governor. The board members were residents of the districts they served, and the personnel comprised representative and responsible citizens of the community, including usually a licensed physician. In many cases registration boards were reappointed local boards. Such boards exercised original jurisdiction in all cases except claims for discharge on account of engagement in industry or agriculture.

In every Federal judicial district one or more district boards were organized, consisting usually of five but in some cases of a larger number of members, comprising leading citizens of the community and appointed by the President upon the recommendation of the governor. District boards exercised appellate jurisdiction over local boards and original jurisdiction in industrial and agricultural claims.

The initial step in the process of examination and selection was to establish the order of liability of each of the 10,000,000 registrants to be called for service. The cards within the jurisdiction of each local board, taken as a unit, had been serially numbered when completed and filed; and duplicates of the cards so numbered were deposited with the governor and with the district boards. The average number of registrants within the jurisdiction of a local board was about 2,500, the highest being 10,319. In order to establish the order of liability of each registrant in relation to the other registrants within the jurisdiction of the same local board, a drawing was held July 20, 1917, in the Public Hearing Room of the Senate Office Building in Washington, as a result of which every registrant was given an order number and his liability to be called for examination and selection determined by the order number.

The official lists of the numbers drawn by lot were furnished to every local board and from these lists the boards made up the availability order list of all registrants within their respective jurisdictions.

The determination of the order of availability left only the process of physical examination and elimination. The War Department, through the Provost Marshal General's Office, had already determined and given notice of the number of men to be furnished by each State, and at the date of the drawing practically every State had ascertained and notified its local boards of the number required to complete their respective quotas for the first draft. The calculations of the War Department and of the States for the quotas were based upon section 2 of the act of May 18.

Immediately upon the completion of the order of call lists, the local boards began to summon for physical examination, beginning with the man who was No. 1 on the list, and continuing in numerical sequence, a sufficient number of registrants to fill their quotas. The average number summoned for the first examination was about twice the number required--i. e., if a board's quota was 105, the first 210 registrants of that jurisdiction were called for physical examination.

The Selective Service Law required certain persons to be exempted from military service, including Federal and State legislative, executive, and judicial officers, ministers of religion, students of divinity, persons in the military or naval service of the United States, and certain aliens. The law further authorized the discharge from draft, under such regulations as the President might prescribe, of county and municipal officers, customhouse clerks and other persons employed by the United States in certain classes of work, pilots and mariners, and, within prescribed limitations, registrants in a status with respect to persons dependent upon them for support, and persons found physically or morally unfit. Exemption from combatant service only was authorized in the case of persons found to be members of any well-recognized religious sect or organization whose existing creed or principles forbid its members to participate in war in any form, and whose religious convictions are against war or participation therein.

On June 30, 1917, the President promulgated rules and regulations as authorized by the law prescribing the reasons for and manner of granting discharges, and the procedure of local and district boards.

The selective service system required the 4,557 local boards to conduct the physical examination of registrants within their jurisdictions, and to determine and dispose of claims of exemption and discharge in the first instance, excepting industrial and agricultural claims.

The 156 district boards which were established as above stated, proved to be the fulcrum of balance between the local boards and the registrants. In practically every instance their members have been chosen from among the most able and conspicuous representatives of the legal and medical professions, and from the fields of industry, commerce, and labor.

By regulation the case of every person discharged from the operation of the selective service law by a local board on the ground of dependency was automatically taken to the district board for review, the appeal being noted by Government appeal agents appointed by the Provost Marshal General.