The Madison Daily Leader

RAISING THE ARMY
WILL GET HALF MILLION MEN BY SELECTIVE DRAFT.

Washington, D. C., April 10.—The thoughts uppermost in the minds of patriotic Americans since the bill was introduced in congress for the immediate raising of an army of 1,200,000 men naturally are:
How is that force to be raised?
What citizens are subject to draft?
How is that draft to be applied?
What number of volunteers will be required?

To answer those questions it may be stated that the first force to be raised in addition to existing regular army and national guard troops will be five hundred thousand under the universal service plan to be raised by selective draft of young men between the ages of 19 and 25 years; 260,000 recruits for the national guard by voluntary enlistment of men between the ages of 18 and 40; 160,000 recruits for the regular army by voluntary enlistment of men between the ages of 18 and 40.

This force of 920,000, in round numbers, with the present regular army and national guard, will give an army of 1,200,000.

To apply the selective draft to get the first increment of 500,000 under universal service there will be an enrollment, probably by the postoffice, of all young men between the ages of 19 and 25. The census bureau estimates that 1,000,000 young men attain the age of 19 each year, so that the seven classes to be enrolled will list 7,000,000 young men, only 500,000 of whom, or one in fourteen, will be called out.

There will be no draft applied to men over 25 years of age at present, unless the army fails to recruit up the regular army from its present strength of 120,000 to its war strength of 280,000, and the national guard from its present strength of 160,000 to its war strength of 420,000. If the voluntary enlistment plan fails to provide this force of 420,000 needed, however, the draft will be applied to men up to the 40 year age limit.

The army of 1,200,000 is all it is planned to raise during the three months of the present fiscal year. It will strain the army facilities, due to shortage of officers, to put this number under training.

In the next fiscal year the president, it is expected, will avail himself of the authority given to call out the second increment of 500,000 between the ages of 19 and 25 under the selective draft plan, giving an army of 1,700,000.

The $2,000,000,000 appropriation asked by the army is based on the plan of getting an army of 1,200,000 men under arms at the earliest possible moment.

After the enrollment is made, and that will be the first step in administration of the law when passed, divisional training areas will be established in strategic points about the country and the work of whipping the new army into shape will be taken up.

Registration of men from 19 to 25, made compulsory in the bill, with penalty of imprisonment of from three months to a year for violation, probably will be made at postoffices, though this is yet to be finally decided. The army general staff has suggested to congress that the following information with respect to each person registered should be obtained:
Name, age, date and place of birth, nationality of self and parents, occupation, name and address of employer, if any; education, residence and place of business or employment, married or single, number of dependents if any, and facts upon which claim is based.

At the outset the war department will be liberal in granting exemption to all men with dependents or who are needed in industry, filling the first force with young men without home responsibilities.

A registration of aliens as a defensive measure has been suggested, but is not incorporated in the army bill.