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.
Examination, selection, and mobilization.
Representative citizens of each community employed.
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 order of liability of registrants.
Numbered cards.
The drawing in Washington on July 20, 1917.
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.