Washington, Oct. 16.
President Roosevelt, addressing the nation on Conscription Day as 16- 404,000 young Americans began re" gistering for military service today, denounced despotism and attributed the need of the draft to threats from abroad and to "those who have dared threaten the whole world with war."
Linking up conscription with the 30-year-old American custom of the muster, the President defended the need for draft in the United States and outlined the reasons for such step.
"Those who have dared threaten the whole world with war, those who Have created the mame and deed of total war have imposed upon us and all free peoples the necessity of preparation for total defence," he said.
He called for readiness afd vigilance against the threats of aggression from abroad.
"On this day," he said, "more than 16,000,000 young Americans are reviving the 300-year-old Americam custom of the muster,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.