For almost a month the U.S. government-run Committee on Public Information had issued dozens of stories preparing American men for the great registration day, June 5, 1917. The idea put forth was that if you registered you were in effect volunteering to be drafted; thus this wasn’t conscription, but Selective Service. On May 31, newspapers across the nation ran stories similar to the one in the Lakewood Citizen.

“All men from twenty-one to thirty must register. … This newspaper publication is the only notification you will get.