The instructions for these draft cards are probably online somewhere, but I’m not certain they would even answer the question I have.
The World War I draft card for Bertus Ufkes of Cassia County, Idaho, is typical of cards for the era. Ufkes signed the front of the card and included an exemption request based upon his farm operation.
I’ve seen other World War I draft cards where an exemption from the draft was claimed based upon farm operation, a dependent parent, etc. It’s not often where I see a registrar questioning the registrant’s answer to question 12.
The question I have is: did the registrant usually see the comment the registrar wrote down or did they only see the front of the card?
After all above their signature it does say “I affirm that I have verified above answers and that they are true.”
Marian says:
That’s an interesting one! It seems as if registrants should have received some kind of copy or receipt to prove that they had registered, but that document would probably be different from this form.
It is different from other WWI draft cards that I’ve seen: It shows two occupations (which can happen); and it shows a farm worker who lives in a hotel (no law against it). In the registrar’s shoes, I might have wondered how vital this worker was to the farm operation. On the other hand, it probably happened frequently that weekend and evening work by a farmer’s son was keeping the farm afloat.