Selective Service Act of 1917.

The article offers the text of the Selective Service Act, which was approved on May 18, 1917, by the United States Congress. The President is given temporary authority to increase the size of the Regular Army by imposing a military draft. The 14 sections of the legislation include topics such as the selection of officers, voluntary military service, establishment of local draft boards to review claims of exemption from the selective draft, and mandatory registration of potential draftees. Sections 2 and 3 define the issues of who can be drafted, the use of paid substitutes in military service, and state quotas. Exemption from selective military service because of religious conviction is mentioned in Section 4.