Method of straight-line drawing for reducing the cross section of round material, tubing, solid and hollow profiles in at least two drawing stages, which includes feeding material to be drawn with a leading end to a first drawing machine for a first drawing stage, feeding the material to be drawn with the leading end in a straight line downstream of the first drawing machine. Subsequently the material to be drawn is fed with the leading end to at least one second drawing machine having a linearly movable intermittently operable drawing carriage operating at a discontinuous speed at the beginning of the drawing while said first drawing machine is already operating continuously, being disposed downstream of the straight line for at least one second drawing stage. Next, the material to be drawn from the straight line upstream of the second drawing machine is deflected as soon as the leading end of the material to be drawn has reached the second drawing machine, and the length of the deflected material is varied for equalizing differences in feeding speed between said first and second machine.