On this day in 1918

Thursday, Sept. 12, 1918. “There was a definite and patriotic purpose to meet the call of the government shown by all,” The Record reports as Troy men between the ages of 18 and 45 register for the wartime draft today. Today’s registration, extending from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., reflects an increased need for American manpower in Europe. When the U.S. entered the world war last year, registration was required only for men between the ages of 21 and 30. “The call to muster came throughout the city promptly at 7 a.m., when fifteen blows off the city hall bell announced the official opening of the memorable record of men within the draft age,” our reporter writes, “and at that hour the recording forces were at their stations, with one or two exceptions. “These delays, however, were few, and the response of men subject to registration was spontaneous. They came promptly and continuously, and the members of the selective draft boards in the three city districts expressed confidence that the city’s estimated registration quota, 8,513, will be met, as the quota for 1917, 6,350, was.” To keep up the patriotic spirit, the Troy High School Cadet Corps, 115 strong, marches through the city, accompanied by Doring’s Band. The cadets, boys between the ages of sixteen and nineteen, receive mandatory military training at Prospect Park beginning next week. Our writer claims that the Troy High unit is the first high school cadet corps to be organized in New York State. “The slacker, if he exists, was not in evidence,” our writer notes, “If he does exist, he will be fond and dealt with according to law later.” Officers Are Named by County W.C.T.U. Harriet L. Doyle is elected president of the Rensselaer County Women’s Christian Temperance Union at the anti-alcohol organization’s 32nd annual meeting today at Fifth Avenue Baptist Church in Troy. At tonight’s closing session, Lillian Phelps of Niagara Falls compares the prohibition movement to St. George conquering the “great dragon of intemperance.” The W.C.T.U. expects the New York State legislature to vote next year on a federal constitutional amendment banning the sale of alcoholic beverages throughout the country. The American liquor industry is “now fighting for its life,” Phelps claims. Changes to state excise rules have already cut the number of saloons in New York, while a wartime ban on brewing as of December 1 will further cut off the alcohol supply. “The temperance workers were told that if the saloons are closed and for a generation the law is complied with, the appetite for liquor will be lost and the race won,” The Record reports.