21 Year Old Call Won't Change Draft Situation

Selective Service qualifications of University students won't change a bit as a result of an order from Major General Lewis B. Hershey, draft director, that local boards should try to fill their February quotas with men 21 years old or over.

So John M. Wood of the Cambridge draft board stated last night, allaying fears stirred up among students by a story in a metropolitan newspaper.

Wood explained that Hershey's order merely meant that local boards should exhaust any surpluses of eligible 21 year olds before they induct younger men. Men with 2AS classifications, he assured the CRIMSON, would remain unaltered until the period for which the deferment was given had expired.

No Calls at Some Boards

Draft boards that have already run out of 21 year olds may not call men up for a month or more, Wood added, while other boards use their 21 year olds to make up the state quota.

On the same day that he issued the order relating to 21 year olds, Hershey told the Senate Preparedness Committee there has been "some indication" in the last five weeks that the armed services may not need as many men as anticipated earlier.

Commenting on the Universal Military Training proposal before Congress, Hershey said Congress should let the Defense Department start U.M.T. now with men deferred from the draft such as students and farmers. He did not elaborate on this suggestion.