nd agricultural claims.

[Sidenote: The order of liability of registrants.]

[Sidenote: Numbered cards.]

[Sidenote: 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.

[Sidenote: Physical examination and elimination.]

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.

[Sidenote: Certain officials and classes exempted.]

The