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Operation of the Selective Draft Law and Formation of the

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Nation's Military Forces

ONGRESS passed the bill May 18 authorizing the formation of the new army by conscription-after a month's earnest debate. The measure provides for increasing the regular army to 287,000 men and the National Guard to 625,000. It further adopts for the United States the theory and system of compulsory service-which constitutes a revolutionary change-and provides a system of selective drafts between the ages of 21 and 30 years whereby men may be taken by the Government.

The President is authorized to take 500,000 at once and 500,000 later, in addition to the regular army and National Guard increases. In all, this legislation provides an army of approximately 2,000,000 to be raised in the first year following the passage of the law. The vote in the Senate was 81 to 8 and in the House 397 to 24.

President Wilson signed the measure the day it passed, and at once issued the proclamation printed in the preceding pages, calling the nation to arms. In this proclamation he defined the workings of the law, and fixed June 5 as the day for registration. This day is to be made the occasion of great patriotic demonstrations throughout the country.

About 10,000,000 men between 21 and 30, inclusive, are expected to be registered. After the registration and exemptions have been completed, those declared to be eligible for drafting will have their names placed in jury wheels and 500,000 will be drafted for Federal service in the formation of the new national army. It is expected that the second call for 500,000 men will follow within a few weeks. The new army will be completed as follows:

The regular army will be recruited to the maximum war strength of 287,000 men by voluntary enlistment or, as a last resort, by selective enrollment.

The National Guard will be recruited to the

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Fifteenth-Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and Oklahoma.

Sixteenth Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, California, Nevada, and Utah.

National Guard Called Out

Coincident with the proclamation, President Wilson issued orders for the mobilization of the entire National Guard, which will immediately be drafted into the Federal service; 60,000 of this force out of a total of 160,000 were drafted into the Federal service prior to May 15. New National Guard units will be expanded to a total of 400,000, to be known as the National Guard Army, consisting of sixteen divisions.

All men taken into the army will serve for the period of the war.

Although local units will be kept intact, so far as possible, the regular army, National Guard, and enrolled men will be welded into a homogeneous army, with

officers appointed and assigned by the President.

Enlisted men will receive pay of $30 a month, an increase of $15, and the pay of the other grades is increased.

Recruits of the regular army will go into training at once. The National Guard units will be in training, it is expected, by July 1, and the 500,000 enrolled men by Sept. 1.

There was a prolonged conflict over a provision authorizing the formation of four divisions of volunteers at the pleasure of the President, which was intended to authorize former President Roosevelt to head this volunteer army; it was finally incorporated into the bill. Announcement was made on May 19, however, that the President had decided not to avail himself of the authority to organize volunteer divisions. He announced at the same time that a division of the United States regulars would be sent to France at the earliest date practicable, to be commanded by Major Gen. John J. Pershing, who had been in command of the expedition to Mexico. The Secretary of the Navy announced May 19 that 2,600 marines would accompany the Pershing expedition.

Training Camps Established

Officers' training camps were opened on May 15 as follows:

First-Troops from all New England States, Plattsburg Barracks, N. Y.

Second-New York Congressional Districts 1 to 26, (including Long Island, New York City, and a strip north of the city,) Plattsburg Barracks, N. Y.

Third-Remainder of New York State and Pennsylvania Congressional Districts 10, 11, 14, 15, 16, 21, 25, and 28, Madison Barracks, N. Y.

Fourth-Remainder of Pennsylvania State, including Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, Fort Niagara, N. Y.

Fifth-New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and District of Columbia, Fort Myer, Va.

Sixth-North and South Carolina and Tennessee, Fort Oglethorpe, Ga., near Chattanooga, Tenn.

Seventh-Georgia, Alabama, and Florida, Fort McPherson, Ga., near Atlanta. Eighth Ohio and West Virginia, Fort Benjamin Harrison, near Indianapolis. Ninth-Indiana and Kentucky, Fort Benjamin Harrison.

Tenth-Illinois, Fort Sheridan, near Chicago.

Eleventh-Michigan and Wisconsin, Fort

Sheridan.

Twelfth-Arkansas, Mississippi, and Louisiana, Fort Logan H. Root, Ark., near Little Rock.

Thirteenth-Minnesota, Iowa, North and South Dakota, and Nebraska, Fort Snelling, Minn., near St. Paul.

Fourteenth-Missouri, Kansas, and Colorado, Fort Riley, Kan.

Fifteenth Oklahoma and Texas, Leon Springs, Texas, near San Antonio.

Sixteenth-Montana, Idaho, Oregon, California, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, Arizona, and New Mexico, Presidio, San Francisco.

In addition there will be two separate cavalry divisions which probably will be situated in the Southwest, near the Mexican border. Officers for the cavalry divisions will be trained at all of the sixteen officers' training camps, which will open with 40,000 prospective officers under training.

Each infantry division consists of nine full regiments of infantry, three regiments of field artillery, one regiment of cavalry, one regiment of engineers, one division hospital, and four camp infirmaries. The total strength of the sixteen is 15,022 officers and 439,792 men.

The two cavalry divisions combined will have 1,214 officers and 32,062 fighting men, including mounted engineers and horse artillery units, and each will have also its divisional hospital and camp infirmaries.

The proportion of coast artillery troops to be provided out of the first 500,000 will be 666 officers and 20,000 men, with requisite medical troops.

Supplementing these tactical units will be: Sixteen regiments of heavy field artillery, strength, 768 officers and 21,104 men; eight aero squadrons, or one new squadron to each two new infantry divisions; eight balloon companies, ten field hospitals, ten ambulance companies, twenty-two field bakeries, six telephone battalions, sixteen pack companies, six ammunition trains, and six supply trains.

Provisions of Conscription Bill

Under the provisions of the conscription measure men without dependent wives or children are required to serve unless exempted on some other ground. Unmarried men with dependents, on the other hand, are not required to serve. Unmarried men belonging to exempted

classes under regulations to be prescribed by the President also may be exempted, even if they have no dependents.

The President himself is the final authority on all questions of exemption or discharge. The law authorizes him to appoint a local board for each county or similar subdivision and a local board for each 30,000 population in cities of 30,000 or more. These local boards will consist of three or more persons, none of them to be connected with the military establishment. The members of these boards will be chosen from local authorities or other citizens of the subdivision in which the board has jurisdiction.

Local boards have power to hear and determine, subject to review by district 'boards to be appointed for each Federal judicial district, all questions of exemption and all questions of including individuals or classes in the selective draft or of discharging them from it.

In densely populated judicial districts, as in New York City, more than one board will be appointed to revise the findings of local boards in each district when appeals are taken.

The entire scheme is to localize the exemption boards and boards of review as much as possible, officials feeling that in this way, and by keeping military men off the boards, the minimum of friction will result.

solely by the President, have authority to review on appeal, affirm, modify, or reverse the decision of local boards, as to any individual or any class of individuals. Those not satisfied with the decision of the Board of Review may appeal directly to the President. In appointing all boards, the President has absolute control at all times of the exemption machinery. The exemption work is a purely civil procedure. The army has no part in the matter until after all questions of exemption or discharge of individuals or classes have been finally disposed of and the new draft army, is called to the colors.

The specific exemptions fixed by the bill include State and Federal officials of the legislative, executive, and judicial branches, persons in the naval or military service, members of religious sects with conscientious scruples against war. The President is authorized to exclude from the draft or to draft for "partial militar service only," county and municipal officers, Custom House clerks, persons employed by the United States in the transportation of the mails and certain other designated classes, together with "persons engaged in industries, including agriculture, found to be necessary to the maintenance of the military establishment or the effective operation of the military forces or the maintenance of the

The district boards, also appointed national interest during the emergency."

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Mobilizing America's Resources

HE mobilizing of America's resources and the organizing of its man power for the war proceeded in earnest in May. In every direction new forms of co-operation in industry were established with the help of leading business men, technical experts, and men whose organizing abilities had been previously employed in private enterprise.

Committees to serve under Bernard M. Baruch, Chairman of the Committee on Raw Materials of the Advisory Commission, and Julius Rosenwald, Chairman of the Committee of Supplies, were appointed by the Council of National De

fense. These committees assisted in the co-ordination of industries. Judge Elbert H. Gary was appointed Chairman of the Committee on Steel, and among the members of the committee was Charles M. Schwab of the Bethlehem Steel Company. A. C. Bedford, President of the Standard Oil Company, was appointed Chairman of the Committee on Oil. Other committees to handle alcohol, aluminium, asbestos, magnesia, and roofing; brass, coal tar by-products, lumber, lead; mica, nickel, rubber, sulphur, wool, and zinc, were selected from the chief leaders in those lines.

The Commercial Economy Board of the Advisory Commission to promote efficiency, eliminate waste, and especially to assist commercial houses in releasing employes for Government service without dislocating business, proceeded with its work. A committee was appointed to increase output of coal and by co-operation with the Committees on Raw Materials and Transportation to accelerate the movement of coal to points where the need is greatest.

Medical men organized a board to work with the Council of National Defense.

The Women's Committee, presided over by Dr. Anna H. Shaw, endeavored to prevent overlapping by the numerous women's organizations, and to organize their work in an efficient manner.

Measures were undertaken to recruit for farm work boys between the age of 16 and the age of enlistment, of whom there are 5,000,000, with 2,000,000 estimated as idle. This was directed by the Department of Agriculture through the United States Boys' Working Reserve.

The leaders of capital and labor on May 15 met at Washington, and, putting aside all differences, agreed to co-operate. Samuel Gompers, President of the American Federation of Labor and Chairman of the Labor Committee of the Advisory Commission, invited a group of America's greatest industrial magnates to discuss methods of co-operation between employers and workers. Those who accepted included John D. Rockefeller, Jr., Emerson McMillan of New York, Daniel Guggenheim, Theodore Marburg of Baltimore, and Colgate Hoyt of New York. The meeting in the Labor Federation building at Washington was unprecedented. Mr. Rockefeller promised that he would do all he could to co-operate with labor. Similar pledges were received from other men representing great industrial interests, who were not present at the meeting. At its conclusion the

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spokesmen of capital and labor went in a body to the White House, and were received by the President, who said that this was a most welcome visit, because it meant a most welcome thing-co-operation of the whole nation. The labor union leaders of America have also conferred with the British labor representatives who have been visiting Washington and learning how in England employers and workers have co-operated for the prosecution of the war.

The Government received invaluable assistance from the iron and steel producers, who formed a central organization and took charge of all orders for war munitions. All steel mills were classified according to tonnage, so as to make a proper distribution of the financial burden. The copper producers made an agreement with the Metals Committee of the National Defense Council to supply copper at the average market price for the last ten years, instead of the current market prices. Secretary of the Navy Daniels stated that his department is thereby saving $850,000 in the cost of cartridge cases under contracts just awarded. The agreement was brought about by Bernard M. Baruch. Satisfactory arrangements were also made by the Navy Department with the petroleum interests to supply the navy's needs at reasonable cost. Judge Gary, Chairman of the United States Steel Corporation, announced that the Government was to obtain the steel it required at lower prices. Other branches of trade and industry also acted on the principle that patriotism demands the subordination of profit-seeking to war needs.

The State Governments began to organize so as to help the National Government, New York in particular being well advanced with its scheme of defense work. Early in May a conference of Governors and State delegates was held at Washington and received explanations regarding the various projects of committees of the National Defense Council.

VISIT OF NOTED DIPLOMATS

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Marshal Joffre and Ministers Balfour and Viviani
Welcomed by the United States

Text of Their Most Eloquent Speeches

HE entrance of the United States into the great conflict was immediately followed by a decision on the part of the British and French Governments each to send on one of its warships a high commission to convey the greetings and sense of appreciation of those Governments to this country, and also to discuss ways and means for securing the most effective co-operation of the United States.

The British Commission was headed by Arthur J. Balfour, Foreign Minister and former Premier; his personal staff included the Hon. Sir Eric Drummond, K. C. M. G., G. C. B.; Ian Malcolm, M. P.; C. F. Dormer, and G. Butler. Sir Eric Drummond is a half-brother and heir presumptive of the Earl of Perth. Mr. Malcolm at different times was an attaché of the British Embassies in Berlin, Paris, and Petrograd, and during the war has been the British Red Cross officer in France, Switzerland, and Russia.

Other members of the party were Rear Admiral Dudley R. S. de Chair, K. C. B., M. V. O.; Fleet Paymaster Vincent Lawford, D. S. O., Admiralty; Major General George T. M. Bridges, C. M. G., D. S. O.; Captain H. H. Spender-Clay, M. P.; Lord Cunliffe, Governor of the Bank of England. Admiral de Chair is one of the naval advisers of the British Foreign Office. General Bridges was the head of the military mission with the Belgian field army and served in both the Boer war and the present conflict. Captain Spender-Clay married the daughter of William Waldorf Astor. The commission also included the following:

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Board of Trade, S. McKenna of the War
Trade Intelligence Department, and M. D.
Peterson of the Foreign Trade Department,
Foreign Office.

Wheat Commission.-A. A. Anderson, Chairman, and Mr. Vigor.

Munitions.-W. T. Layton, Director of Requirements and Statistics Branch, Secretariat of the Ministry of Munitions; C. T. Phillips, American and Transport Department, Ministry of Munitions; Captain Leeming, Mr. Amos.

Ordnance and Lines of Communication.Captain Heron.

Supplies and Transports.-Major Puckle.

The French Commission was headed by former Premier Viviani, Minister of Justice; General Joffre, Marshal of France; Vice Admiral Chocheprat, Senior Vice Admiral of the French Navy, and Marquis de Chambrun, a member of the Chamber of Deputies, a lineal descendant of Marquis de Lafayette. The party also included M. Simon, Inspector of Finance; M. Hovelacque, Inspector General of Public Instruction, and the personal staff of Marshal Joffre, comprising Lieut. Col. Fabry, Chief of Staff; Lieut. Col. Remond, (artillery,) General Headquarters; Major Rerquim, Ministry of War; Lieutenant de Tossan, Tenth Army, and Surgeon Major Dreyfus of the Medical Corps. The other members of the party are Lieutenant A. J. A. K. Lindeboom of the Ministry of Marine, a specialist in sea transport, and Captain George E. Simon, Aid de Camp of Admiral Chocheprat.

Arrival of British Mission

The visit of these eminent men was meant to fulfill two separate functions, the one to express to the people of America the gratification of the allied Governments over our action, and the other to discuss practical ways and means with our Government to secure its most effective co-operation with the Allies.

The British Commissioners stole secretly away from England April 11 on a

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