World War I draft registration

Selective Service Act of 1917

Other short titles	Conscription Act of 1916 Enrollment Act of 1916
Long title	An Act to authorize the President to increase temporarily the military establishment of the United States.
Nicknames	Selective Draft Act of 1916
Enacted by	the 65th United States Congress
Effective	May 18, 1917
Citations
Public law	69-96
Statutes at Large	40 Stat. 76, Chapter 15
Codification
Titles amended	50 U.S.C.: War and National Defense
U.S.C. sections created	50 U.S.C. Appendix §§ 201–211, 213, 214
Legislative history
Introduced in the House as H.R. 3545 by Julius Kahn (R–CA) on April 27, 1917 Passed the House on April 28, 1917 (398–24) Passed the Senate on April 28, 1917 (81–8, in lieu of S. 1871) Reported by the joint conference committee on May 16, 1917; agreed to by the House on May 16, 1917 (198–179) and by the Senate on May 17, 1917 (65–8) Signed into law by President Woodrow Wilson on May 18, 1917

The Selective Service Act of 1917 or Selective Draft Act (Pub.L. 65–12, 40 Stat. 76, enacted May 18, 1917) authorized the United States federal government to raise a national army for service in World War I through conscription. It was envisioned in December 1916 and brought to President Woodrow Wilson's attention shortly after the break in relations with Germany in February 1917. The Act itself was drafted by then-Captain (later Brigadier General) Hugh S. Johnson after the United States entered World War I by declaring war on Germany. The Act was canceled with the end of the war on November 11, 1918. The Act was upheld as constitutional by the United States Supreme Court in 1918.

At the time of World War I, the US Army was small compared with the mobilized armies of the European powers. As late as 1914, the Regular Army had under 100,000 men, while the National Guard (the organized militias of the states) numbered around 115,000. The National Defense Act of 1916 authorized the growth of the Army to 165,000 and the National Guard to 450,000 by 1921, but by 1917 the Army had only expanded to around 121,000, with the National Guard numbering 181,000.

By 1916, it had become clear that any participation by the United States in the conflict in Europe would require a far larger army. While President Wilson at first wished to use only volunteer troops, it soon became clear that this would be impossible. When war was declared, Wilson asked for the Army to increase to a force of one million. But by six weeks after war was declared, only 73,000 men had volunteered for service. Wilson accepted the recommendation of Secretary of War Newton D. Baker for a draft.

...
Wikipedia