National Draft Quota Set at 17,000; Ceiling for January Raised to 100

Selective Service officials announced Monday that 19-year-olds with draft numbers 100 and below may be drafted in January. The agency expects 100 to be the ceiling for several months, officials said.

The "First Priority Selection Group" includes those men who reached the age of 19 in 1970, received their lottery numbers at the July drawing, and have not been deferred or exempted.

Men between the ages 20 and 26 who received their lottery numbers in November 1969-and who have not yet been called-remain eligible for induction in the first three months of next year if they were classified I-A or I-A-O at the end of 1970 and have numbers that had been reached by their local draft boards. Under present policy, they will be ordered to report before the 1971 pool.

The ceiling for last January was 30, and each month the ceiling was raised 30 numbers. The highest number reach-in 1970 was 195.

"When the Department of Defense introduced the lottery they didn't know what a lottery meant. They set limits not understanding that for many boards not enough men would be available. Many boards couldn't meet the quota assigned last year," Arthur J. Boyd, a draft counsellor with the American Friends Service Committee, said last night.

"But the Defense Department had done all this public relations work and couldn't, at that time, raise the projected ceiling. I guess they've realized their error, and are going to leave themselves leeway by projecting 100 as the January limit," he added.

The Pentagon announced Saturday that the January 1970 draft call of 12,000 would be increased to 17,000 next year.