100 years ago in The Record

Saturday, Aug. 18, 1917

Troy’s first draft district still needs seven men to meet its quota for the U.S. Army, and just to be on the safe side, it’s calling fifty more men in for physical exams. The first draft lottery of the U.S war against Germany took place on July 20. To fill its quota of men, each draft district has called in the first men whose numbers were drawn. Expecting a large number to flunk their physicals, draft boards typically have called in twice the number of men needed to fill their quotas, but large numbers of applications for exemptions from service made the initial call-ups too conservative. The first district (of three in Troy) was assigned a quota of 56 men. As of today, The Record reports that 51 men have passed their physicals without claiming exemptions. The number is down by two from yesterday’s total after the families of two drafted men applied for exemptions on their behalf, after the men had declined to seek exemptions themselves. “In one case, a mother asked for the exemption of her son, saying he is her only support,” our reporter writes, “and, in the other case a wife ask[ed] for the exemption of her husband.” According to the state adjutant general, draftees can’t claim exemptions for family reasons unless they can prove that their dependents would be forced to accept public assistance in their absence.

While there’s no updated number for Troy’s second district, the third district reports success in meeting its quota of forty men. “According to the board members over fifty have passed the necessary physical tests before the local board and do not claim exemptions.”

Just to be safe, however, the district is holding on to its extra men should any of them be rejected later by regular army surgeons.

TROJAN HONORED BY CLERKS

For the past two years, Troy has taken pride in Mayor Cornelius F. Burns’s standing as president of the New York State Conference of Mayors. In a parallel honor, City Clerk John P. McNamee has been elected president of the City Clerks Association of the State of New York. McNamee is elected unanimously at today’s closing session of the association’s annual convention in Glens Falls. His Albany counterpart, David E. Pugh, is elected vice-president. “Mr. McNamee was inducted into office with the compliment that he is and has been one of the live wires of the association, and with the additional tribute that the convention held in Troy two years ago had accomplished considerable toward establishing the association on a firm basis,” The Record reports.