The first year of the conflict has been largely occupied with the assembling of these armies, and in the despatch of those trained for battle duty to France. To insure this despatch in safety the navy has been greatly increased in size and efficiency, although it stands to the honor of America that her navy proved itself instantly worthy of her trust. With the beginning of the war there was a rush of men to enlist in the Regular Army and in the National Guard, which was to be part of the army of the United States. The government, however, decided upon a method of service, known as selective service and sometimes called “the draft,” which would be more democratic and fair than the enlistment method, and which would supplement the other methods. The selective-service law, passed by Congress on the 18th of May, 1917, established a class of men between the ages of twenty-one and thirty-one from which the President may draft soldiers. All men between those ages were enrolled on the 5th of June, 1917. The administration of the draft is in the hands of the War Department under the supervision of the President. Every voting district has a local draft board, and every congressional district a board of appeal, which decides contested cases. All men between the ages given are subject to service, unless they are exempted for reasons allowed by law. No exemptions can be bought. No substitutions can be made. The richest man in the country of draft age is as subject to service as the poorest man. Exemptions are permitted those men who are supporting dependants who cannot support themselves, those men who are working in occupations necessary for the winning of the war, such as ship-building and the making of munitions of war, and those men who are physically unfit for war service. In the registration 9,659,382 men enrolled. By a drawing system conducted publicly in the Capitol of the United States at Washington the order by which these men were to go in the army was determined by lot. The President issued instructions to the exemption boards on the 2d of July, and the first National Army of 687,000 men was called to service on the 5th of September, 1917. Following this call every man in the rest of the nearly 10,000,000 men received a document, known as a questionnaire, which gave a number of questions to be answered, and which he filled out. According to his answers the local board determined to what class he belongs. There are five groups of selective service, ranged according to a man’s obligations and his occupation. Single men without dependent relatives head the first class. Licensed pilots, who are so necessary to navigation as to be almost indispensable, end the last class. No fairer system of military service was ever devised.