Nor were the dreams of Germany confined to the boundary of the old world. German commercial agents in South America had for years been laying the foundations of what they hoped would be a great German state. Maps of South America, as it would be in 1950, in German books show the southern third of the continent as a great German state. The conflict between free An Inevita- America and imperial Germany, between the ble Conflict liberty of the common man under the American system, or the abject slavery of the subject to a German kaiser was an inevitable conflict.

OUR ARMY AND NAVY.

Upon the declaration of war there was at once imposed upon the country the duty of gathering together the resources of the nation in men, money and materials. As forecasted in the message of the president the management of the war "will involve the organization and mobilization of all the material resources of the country to supply the materials of Organizing war and serve the incidental needs of the Nation in for War the most abundant and yet the most economical and efficient way possible.

"It will involve the immediate full equipment of the Navy in all respects, but particularly in supplying it with the best means of dealing with the enemy's submarines.

"It will involve the immediate addition to the armed forces of the United States, already provided for by law in case of war, of at least 500,000 men who should, in my opinion, be chosen upon the principle of universal liability to service, and also the authorization of subsequent additional increments of equal force so soon as they may be needed and can be handled in training.

"It will involve also, of course, the granting of adequate credits to the Government sustained, I hope, so far as they can equitably be sustained by the present generation, by well-conceived taxation."

The military arrangements immediately made provided for the raising of an army of approximately 1,200,000 men. As here outlined by the secretary of war the problem Raising an of raising the army was attacked: Army.

"As you know, the Congress of the United States has ordained that we shall undertake extensive military preparation. It is provided that the Army of the United States shall consist of the Regular Army, the National Guard, and the National Army.

"The Regular Army and National Guard recruited to war strength, and to them ought to be added 500,000 young men between the ages of 21 and 31, drawn from the body The Draft of our country by selective processes which will Law. recognize the needs of industry, the needs of dependents, and those relations in life which ought not to be sacrificed if our national strength is to be preserved to its maximum efficiency."

Registration.

As a matter of fact it was found necessary to raise by the first draft 687,000 men. To do this the following plan was adopted. All men between the ages of 21 and 31 were required to register on registration day, June 5, 1917. The lists of those registering were made up and numbers. for each registered. man were assigned. These numbers were drawn by lot at Washington, the order in which they were drawn being the order in which the men were later called before the local boards throughout the country for examination. As the men were examined, some were excused from service because of physical unfitness, relatives dependent upon them for support or other reasons for which the law provided. In this way the 687,000 men were secured.

The draft law provides that other drafts may be made from time to time from the men who registered. In a letter sent by Provost Marshal General Crowder to the local and district boards throughout the country the plan to be adopted in the second and additional drafts was outlined as follows:

"By the great drawing in Washington the order of availability for all men whose circumstances were equal was determined. We shall not disturb this order unless some great need of the Nation requires it. We shall make four classes of temporary and contingent discharges, but within each class (including the class of those immediately available) men shall stand in the order determined by the drawing.

"The unit for classification is the jurisdiction of a local board. The first class in any jurisdiction will meet all calls until it is exhausted, whereupon the second class becomes available.

tion.

"You have before you a sheet showing the classification that must be accomplished. Without permitting yourselves, for the moment, to be appalled by the magnitude of the task, I Method of ask you to suppose that the 10,000,000 registrants Classifica- in the United States have been segregated into these five classes. In Class I we shall then have, in every community, immediately available for military service single men and a few married men whose removal will not disturb the reasonable adequate support of their dependents. In the industrial and agricultural aspect, we shall then have segregated into this class, men who have not especially fitted themselves for

industrial or agricultural pursuits so that our only incursion into the labor supply will affect but a small percentage of unskilled labor.

"In Class II we find men who can be taken without disturbing the support of any dependent and, as I shall presently show you, if the necessity of drawing on Class II arrives, we must demand even from agriculture and industry an adjustment to replace a small percentage of skilled labor affected by the draftmen who, while occupying no pivotal or important position, can serve industry or agriculture better than unskilled men.

"Should the pinch of military necessity increase beyond Class II, it would mean that the Nation would have to begin to commit itself to hardship and to an adjustment in agriculture and industry to meet the paramount necessity. We take in Class III a very small class of persons upon whom others are dependent for support, but we do not break up the closest and most sacred of the family relationships. We also invade the field of agriculture and industry to the extent of taking, in the small percentage affected, men who have specialized themselves or who occupy rather pivotal positions.

"In Class IV we find the men whom we shall take as a last resort. Before that class is reached it is perfectly safe to say that by the addition of other classes as to age, say those who have attained 21 since registration day and perhaps adding the classes of 18 and 19 and 20 years' old men, we shall have included two or three million men in our available list, and thus have saved Class IV.

"Class V comprises the field of absolute exempts."

The classes referred to in the letter of Provost Marshal General Crowder are given in the regulations as below:

CLASS I.

Single man without dependent relatives.

Married man, with or without children, or father of motherless children, who has habitually failed to support The Classes. his family.

Married man dependent on wife for support.

Married man, with or without children, or father of motherless children; man not usefully engaged, family supported by income independent of his labor.

Unskilled farm laborer.

Unskilled industrial laborer.

Registrant by or in respect of whom no deferred classification is claimed or made.

Registrant who fails to submit questionnaire and in respect of whom no deferred classification is claimed or made.

All registrants not included in any other division in this schedule.

CLASS II.

Married man with children or father of motherless children, where such wife or children or such motherless children are not mainly dependent upon his labor for support for the reason that there are other reasonably certain sources of adequate support (excluding earnings or possible earnings from the labor of the wife), available, and that the removal of the registrant will not deprive such dependents of support.

Married man, without children, whose wife, although the registrant is engaged in a useful occupation, is not mainly dependent upon his labor for support, for the reason that the wife is skilled in some special class of work which she is physically able to perform and in which she is employed, or in which there is an immediate opening for her under conditions that will enable her to support herself decently and without suffering or hardship. Necessary skilled farm laborer in necessary agricultural enterprise.

Necessary skilled industrial laborer in necessary industrial enterprise.

CLASS III.

Man with dependent children (not his own), but toward whom he stands in relation of parent.

Man with dependent aged or infirm parents.

Man with dependent helpless brothers or sisters.

County or municipal officer.

Highly trained fireman or policeman, at least 3 years in service of municipality.

Necessary customhouse clerk.

Necessary employee of United States in transmission of the

mails.

Necessary artificer or workman in United States armory or

arsenal.

Necessary employee in service of United States.