Draft Rate Lower, Hershey Aide Says

The recently reduced rate of draft induction will continue at least through this spring, the office of Major General Lewis B. Hershey, director of selective service, announced last night. The current minimum draft age is 21 1/2 and is slowly rising, the statement added.

The notice also said that there had been a relaxation in the requirements for occupational deferment. "Almost any young man with better than average ability, or with a good letter from his employer, can get a deferment," an office spokesman stated. The present induction rate is about 11,000 men per month.

Hershey's office issued the statement to refute claims made by Retired Admiral DeWitt C. Ramsey. Ramsey, president of the Aircraft Industries Association, said that draft policy is paradoxical.