Nearly 25% failed to sign for draft, a sampling says

A sampling of postal districts across the country showed that over a million of the nation's 19- and 20-year-old men -- nearly 25 percent -- failed to register for the draft last month, the Boston Globe said Wednesday. Noncompliance ranged from 7 percent in Phoenix, Ariz., to 47 percent in Peoria, Ill., with 32 percent in Chicago, 30 percent in Boston, 27 percent in Kansas City, 22 percent in Nashville and 13 percent in Dallas. Selective Service officials would neither confirm nor deny the report, saying that a preliminary national registration figure would be announced late next week.