Here was a bold reliance on faith in a people.

Most exacting duties were laid with perfect confidence on the officials of every locality in the nation, from the governors of states to the registrars of elections, and upon private citizens of every condition, from men foremost in the industrial and political life of the nation to those who had never before been called upon to participate in the functions of government.

By all administrative tokens, the accomplishment of their task was magic." No distinction regarding color or race was made in the selective draft law, except so far as non-citizen Indians were exempt from the draft.
But the organization of the army placed Negro soldiers in separate units; and the several calls for mobilization, were, therefore, affected by this circumstance, in that no calls could be issued for Negro registrants until the organizations were ready for them.

Figures of total registration given previously in this chapter include interim accessions and some that automatically went on the rolls after September 12, 1918.

Inasmuch as the tables prepared by the Provost Marshall General's department deal only with those placed on the rolls on regular registration days and do not include the accessions mentioned, comparisons which follow will be based on those tables.