Section 23. No communications concerning pending appeals to the President to be received by administrative officials in Washington.

All administrative officials of the War Department engaged in the execution of the Selective Service Law are hereby directed to decline to discuss cases in respect of which an appeal to the President is pending, or to entertain any communications, suggestions, or additional evidence or statements concerning them.

Section 24. No communication concerning particular cases pending before District or Local Boards to be received by administrative officials in Washington.

The law and regulations place the matter of deferred classification within the jurisdiction of Local and District Boards. There is no authority in any other official to interfere with this jurisdiction in particular cases. So to interfere would be subversive of the letter and spirit of the Selective Service Law and these Regulations. All officials of the War Department engaged in the execution of the Selective Service Law are hereby directed to decline to discuss cases pending before Local or District Boards or to entertain any communications, suggestions, or additional evidence or statements concerning them.

Note 1.-Local Boards will neither receive nor observe instructions except when they come from the Governor or the Adjutant General, or in cases of emergency, instructions issued direct to such Boards by the Provost Marshal General. Government officials and others may communicate directly with Local and District Boards only in the manner provided in the Regulations in the prescribed forms, affidavits, and information required or authorized by the Regulations. But no person has authority to issue instructions to Boards except as specifically prescribed in the Regulations. Boards will scrutinize carefully all communications purporting to be official and in cases of doubt or suspicion refer the matter immediately to the Adjutant General. (Telegram B-1239, January 1, 1918.)

Note 2.-See n. 1, section 5.

Section 25. Correspondence rules of the Office of the Provost Marshal General.

Rule A. Except as specifically provided in these Regulations, all communications intended for the Provost Marshal General concerning the execution of the Selective Service Law within a State, emanating from individuals within the State or from Local and District Boards or other officials engaged within any State in the execution of the Selective Service Law, must be directed to the Adjutant General of the State for reference to the Provost Marshal General. (See sec. 31.) Correspondence sent in violation of this rule to the office of the Provost Marshal General will be returned to the writer.

Note 1.-War Department rules governing correspondence require that all communications be forwarded in duplicate. (Circular Letter, June 21, 1918.)

Rule B. The Office of the Provost Marshal General can give no opinion direct to individuals concerning the circumstances of an individual case nor can it make rulings at the instance of an individual writing to the Office of the Provost Marshal General direct on any phase of the Selective Service Law. Local, District, and Legal Advisory Boards are the centers of information for the communities over which they have jurisdiction. Individuals must be remitted for information to local authorities, who, if they can not answer the question asked, will promptly proceed as required by Rule C.

Rule C. Local and District Boards will honor proper requests for information from individuals. Whenever a Local or District Board receives a request for information which it can not authoritatively answer, or whenever circumstances arise which require the decision of higher authority, the Local or District Board will immediately report the case to the Adjutant General of the State with a request for the necessary information or decision.

Rule D. The Adjutant General of a State will scan all communications received in accordance with Rules A, B, and C. Such as can be answered will be returned to the writer with the information desired. Such as can not be so answered will be immediately forwarded to the Office of the Provost Marshal General. When a request for a ruling or for administrative action arises from circumstances so urgent as to demand immediate action, the telegraph will be used.

Rule E. Whenever a request for information is received from State Headquarters by the Office of the Provost Marshal General, an answer will be prepared and returned as expeditiously as possible, and wherever a general ruling results, such general ruling will be circulated to every Local and District Board in the United States, by telegram where urgent, and in any case by bulletins of compiled rulings which will be issued from the Office of the Provost Marshal General from time to time.

Rule F. Whenever an individual feels that he has a grievance against a board or other information which he desires to report to higher authority, he should address his letter to the Adjutant General of the State. Communications of this kind which require the .action of the Provost Marshal General should be forwarded to the Provost Marshal General containing recommendation and remarks by State Headquarters.

Note 1.-Under our decentralized system, and in compliance with Section 25, State Headquarters must answer questions which are presented in particular cases or, if they can not answer them, forward them to the, Provost Marshal General's office. This decentralization must not, however, be allowed to affect the uniformity of the system and, in order to guard against such result, the following is suggested:

(a) That every effort be made by State Headquarters to encourage Local Boards to study the Regulations carefully to the end that matters clearly covered by the Regulations shall not be referred to the Adjutants General for decision. This may be done by answering questions from Local Boards by reference to appropriate sections of the Regulations.

(b) That State Headquarters answer questions in regard to particular cases clearly, briefly, and without generalization, and avoid answering hypothetical questions.

(c) That circulars, interpreting the Regulations, be issued only in cases where a real necessity for such action appears, and, whenever it is deemed necessary in the interest of the effective administration of the Selective Service Law, to issue such circulars, that they be drafted with the greatest care, using the exact words of the Regulations wherever possible and scrupulously avoiding loose language or general statements. In order to avoid confusion and misunderstanding, it is absolutely necessary that careful study be given every such circular and that it be clearly limited to the interpretation of, or instructions under existing regulations. It is especially requested, whenever there is doubt as to whether a circular makes any change in or addition to existing regulations, that it be referred to the office of the Provost Marshal General before it is issued. (Circular Letter January 25, 1918.) See n. 1, sec. 5.

C. STATE HEADQUARTERS.

Section 26. Authority of Governors and of officials and other persons designated by Governors or by the President to perform duties in the execution of the Selective Service Law.

Section 6 of the Selective Service Law provides:

That the President is hereby authorized to utilize the services of any or all departments and any or all officers or agents of the United States and of the several States, Territories, and the District of Columbia, and subdivisions thereof, in the execution of this Act, and all officers and agents of the United States and the several States, Territories, and subdivisions thereof, and of the District of Columbia, and all persons designated or appointed under regulations prescribed by the President, whether such appointments are made by the President himself or by the governor or other officer of any State or Territory to perform any duty in the execution of this Act, are hereby required to perform such duty as the President shall order or direct, and all such officers and agents and persons so designated or appointed shall hereby have full authority for all acts done by them in the execution of this Act by the direction of the President * *

Section 27. General duties of Governors.

The Governors shall be charged with general supervision over all matters arising in the execution of the selective draft within their States. The determination of questions of exemptions and deferred classifications is within the exclusive jurisdiction of Local and District Boards, subject only to review by the President, but all other functions and duties of boards, departments, officers, agents, and persons within the State, except departments, officers, and agents of the United States not appointed, designated, or detailed under authority of the Selective Service Law, shall be under the direction and supervision of the Governor.

Section 28. Governors charged with responsibility for organization of Medical and Legal Advisory Boards.

Governors are charged with the organization of Medical and Legal Advisory Boards throughout their States.

Section 29. Governor to district State and recommend appointments of Members of Medical Advisory Boards.

Each State shall be carefully districted with due regard to communication and hospital facilities for the erection of a number of Medical Advisory Boards compacted with a view to the equitable and practical distribution of the work of reexamination as provided herein and to the convenience of registrants and economy to the Government in sending registrants before such boards. Members of Medical Advisory Boards will be nominated by the Governor and appointed by the President in accordance with instructions to be hereafter communicated to the Governors.

A member of the Medical Corps of the Army will be assigned as Medical Aide to the Governor of each State. Medical Aides will be required to perform the following functions:

(a) To establish close relations with all examining physicians of their States.

(b) To recommend meetings of examining physicians for the purpose of discussing the medical problems of the draft and for the clearing up of doubtful points.

(c) To visit Local and Medical Advisory Boards; to observe these at work; and to advise with examining physicians.

(d) To recommend to Governors the replacement of weak examining physicians; to arrange for additional examining physicians where needed; to hasten the operations of physical examinations where such are unduly slow or delayed.

(e) To study the causes of rejections at camps, with a view to the detection of inefficiency in the physical examination of registrants. (f) To perform such other duties in connection with physical examinations of drafted men as may be required of them.

Note 1.-Medical Advisory Boards in each State should be designated by numbers (consecutively, with no use of a general number and letters for divisions of counties and cities). Each Board should be notified of the number assigned it and should be required to use this number designation on all vouchers and receipts sent to the Office of the Provost Marshal General. (Circular Letter April 18, 1918.)

Note 2.-Appointments to and removals from Medical Advisory Boards can not be made without reference to the President through the Office of the Provost Marshal General. The Regulations require members of said Boards to be nominated by the governor and appointed by the President. (Circular Letter April 18, 1918.)

Note 3.-The Medical Aide to the Governor should be the instrument of direct communication between the Governor or his adjutant general and the Local Boards and Medical Advisory Boards in all matters concerning questions relating to that part of the Selective Service Regulations which pertains to the physical examination of registrants. (Circular Letter, May 8, 1918.)

Note 4.-Class 1 registrants who are physically disqualified for general military service but qualified for limited military service and also specially qualified for such clerical and administrative work may be inducted into service either as privates or in noncommissioned grades for clerical and administrative work at State Headquarters and the Local, District, and Medical Advisory Boards, such induction to take place under rules and regulations issued for that purpose. (Telegram B-2682, August 19, 1918, and Circular Letter of Aug. 29, 1918.)

Note 5.-Officers of the Medical Corps ordered to report as Medical Aides to Governors are assigned to duty subject to the orders of Governors to whom they should report for instruction. Such officers will be governed solely by instructions from Governors and Adjutants General concerning all matters connected with Medical Advisory Boards. (Telegram A-100, December 4, 1917.)

Note 6-Draft Executives will supply Medical Aides with copies of all modifications of regulations and with rules governing physical examinations.

Section 30. Governor to organize and recommend appointments of permament members of Legal Advisory Boards.

All members of the bar should make their services available to the Legal Advisory Boards to be constituted by the Governor as hereafter provided.

The Governor shall constitute Legal Advisory Boards in such numbers and within such districts that there shall be convenient to every registrant who is to appear before a Local or District Board within the State a Legal Advisory Board to which such registrant may apply - for all necessary advice and assistance in preparing claims, Questionnaires, or any other papers required by these regulations to be submitted by a registrant. After determining the number and location of Legal Advisory Boards necessary to accomplish this purpose, the Governor shall nominate, for appointment by the President, three representative lawyers, to be permanent members of such boards, to take charge of this work within each such district, and to be held responsible that there shall always be a competent force of lawyers or laymen available to such registrants at any time during which the Local or District Boards within such district are open for business.

The Governor shall nominate one of such three persons to be chairman of each Legal Advisory Board; and the member so nominated shall, whenever practicable, be a Judge of the County Court, or of the Common Pleas Court, or of a court of similar jurisdiction.

The Governor shall call upon all members of the bar within the State, and if necessary, upon competent laymen, to offer their services to such Legal Advisory Boards for the purpose of being present at the headquarters of the Local Boards and rendering aid and advice to registrants. Such persons shall be known as Associate Members, and no formal appointment by the President shall be necessary.

For his assistance in this work, the Governor has the active cooperation and assistance of the American Bar Association.

It should be the pride of every lawyer that no registrant within his district is without competent legal advice and assistance in prepar