THE SUMMER SESSION KANSAN
80th Year, No. 8
The University of Kansas—Lawrence, Kansas
Friday, July 3, 1970
July 9 'wins' draft lottery
WASHINGTON (UPI) — The draft vulnerability of 600,000 19-year-olds was decided Wednesday in a scientifically devised lottery that assigned the No. 1 spot in next year's induction priority to those born July 9, 1951.
The callup order for draft eligibles who are 19 this year turned on the separate selection of two capsules at a time—a red one bearing a birthdate and a green one with a number setting that date's order of induction.
July 9 was the 11th date capsule drawn during the $3\frac{1}{2}$ hour lottery at the Commerce Department auditorium. Those born on that date learned they would be first to be summoned next year when Robert Roth, 21, a Hartford, Wis., youth adviser to the Selective Service then drew from another drum the call up capsule containing the number 1.
At the other end, youths who become 19 July 7, next Tuesday, were placed 365th on the induction priority list although their date capsule was the 221st drawn.
The two capsule system was worked out by mathematics experts to put the drawing on the most random chance basis possible. In the first Vietnam War draft lottery Dec. 1, the first birthdate drawn was the first on the call up
list, the second was second and so on.
The effort to achieve true randomness seemed borne out by the fact that a birthdate from all of the 12 months of the year had been pulled by the time 34 capsules were drawn and that it was not until the 335th drawing that any single month was exhausted of dates.
Because the Pentagon has not set next year's military man power needs, officials were reluctant to spell out any firm guidelines on what the drawing meant for this year's 19-year-olds.
They said as a rule of thumb those who landed from 1 to 185 on the list should consider themselves possible draftees unless they have college or similar temporary exemptions. Those who landed in the higher categories probably could plan on being safe from the draft.
The actual drawing began 17 minutes later than scheduled because one of the cranks used to hand turn the drum with the call up priority capsules broke off and had to be fixed.
The process went much slower than officials had anticipated, lasting three hours and 31 minutes instead of the hour and a half they had predicted.
Outside the auditorium, a small
band of draft protesters passed out leaflets opposing the system. After the drawing concluded, a telephoned bomb threat was received at the Commerce Department and the auditorium was quickly cleared as a security precaution.
The 108 youth advisers who did the drawing were of draft age themselves. Roth, a Ripon College graduate, told newsmen that he reports for army service at Ft. Sill, Okla., July 12 as a commissioned second lieutenant.
As the lottery was in progress, the Defense Department announced that draft calls for this year's eligibles was being reduced one third in August with a quota of 10,000 compared to 15,000 in July. In addition, a spokesman speculated there was a chance that late this year the quota for some months might be reduced to zero.
Pentagon spokesman Jerry W. Friedheim said one or two months of "zero draft" later this year can be considered "a possibility."
Defense Secretary Melvin R. Laird revealed in a broadcast Tuesday night that the August draft would be less than half of the August 1969 quota when 29,-500 were drafted. It tourned out to be approximately a third.
Friedheim also announced that
Photo by Greg Sorber
Flash of fire symbolizes the Fourth
A twirling sparkler sends off a shower of flashes in a free-wheeling design. The Fourth of July will bring brightly glowing displays of fireworks across the nation as America celebrates Independence Day in a mood of sparkling gaiity.
the total draft for 1970 is now expected to be between 150,000 and 170,000 men, a reduction of 10,000 in the top figure.
Reductions in the size of the armed forces, at a rate of about 30,000 a month, are helping reduce the draft.
The quotas for May, June and July were 15,000 each. The August draft will bring total inductions for the first seven months of the year to 124,500-107,000 fewer
than for the same period last year.
If the low figure of the department's 1970 estimate proves correct and the total draft is 150,000 for this year only 25,500 draftees would be needed during the last five months of the year.
August quotas since the start of the Vietnam buildup have been 16,500 in 1965; 36,600 in 1966; 29,-000 in 1967; 18,300 in 1968 and 29,500 in 1969.
Eldridge Hotel bows to history
The Eldridge Hotel, antedating Quantrill's sacking of Lawrence and almost as famed in frontier history closed Wednesday, unable to compete with the plush motor hotels of a new era.
The registration desk, latest of the structures which supplanted the original Eldridge House, went dark after an evening of gaiy that almost, but not quite, concealed its function as a wake for an institution born in the days of "bloody Kansas."
Mike Getto, manager in the last
Rotarians danced to a percussive band in the final burst of music in a ballroom that once reverberated to the name bands of the big—band era and to such locally famous aggregations from the University of Kansas campus as Chuck Shofstal's Orchestra and the Hub Else Band.
years of the hostelry, said the costs of keeping it open had become prohibitive. Getto assumed management of the hotel, managed before him by his father and before that by his grandfather, 12 years ago. His mother was Virginia Hutson, daughter of the late W. G. Hutson, known throughout the Middle West as the operator of hotels in Kansas and Missouri.
Getto said the fate of the building was not decided, but it would not be razed. He said there was a possibility it might be converted into apartments for the elderly.
A marker in the wall of the five-story hotel, on the original site at Sixth and Massachusetts Street, thumbnail its history.
"Free State Hotel burned by Sheriff Jones, May 21, 1856. Eldridge Hotel burned by Quantrill, Aug. 21, 1863."
Britain sets third bid to Common Market
LUXEMBOURG (UPI)—Britain made its third bid in nine years to become a member of the European Common Market but told the six present members that, unless conditions were fair, it would not join.
Also seeking membership with Britain in the prosperous economic club were Ireland, Norway and Denmark.
All four countries officially launched their membership bids at a two-hour ceremony in Luxembourg's 22-story European Center.
The formal opening of membership talks between the four applicants and six existing members—France, West Germany, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg—produced no surprises.
"We were not taken aback by anything said today," said Belgian Foreign Minister Pierre Harmel, president of the market's ruling Council of Ministers.
The 10 European nations must now "get on the job" Harmel said of expanding Europe's economic and political boundaries.
The next round of talks between the six Common Market nations and Britain take place at the market's Brussels headquarters July 21. These will be followed by talks between "The Six" and the three other applicants in September. The talks may take from 18 months to two years to complete.
British spokesmen described the formal opening of talks as "businesslike." There was a minimum of ceremony.
The talks were followed by rounds of bilateral conversations between the 10 foreign ministers attending the meeting.
Speaking at the formal opening of the talks, the chief British negotiator, Anthony Barber, said a solution must be found during the forthcoming negotiations for sharing the burden of financing the Common Market.
"Unless such a solution is found, the burden of the United Kingdom could not be sustained and no British government could contemplate joining," Barber said.