The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1863-12-31
TgE PROPOSED AMHNDMBNTsTO
I'll CONAGRIPTeQN L. 3

with +ba least amount OF discomfort to the
neonIe. Private interests must sutfer-that
%lcannot be helped to equallze the chances, to
distribute fairly the burden, and to make it
bear most heavily upon those who are strong
est. is the task OF Congress.
If there are to be two classes subject to draft
Isone change should be made, we think, in the
present rule defining these classes. All the
unmarried men between twenty and f%orty-hve
years should constitute the first-class, togeth-
er with those married but childless. This
part of the community can go to the war with
the least inconvenience and suffering to those
! dependent upon them. But we believe that
ia better way would be to make but one class,
and let the enrolment include all within the
military ages in that.
We r~eiterate that the three hundred dollar
exemption clause should be retained. Substi-
tute brokers and copperheads are its principal
opponents, the last-named because they see
that its abrogation will inflict an additional
hardship upon the people, and make a draft,
and the Administration Which orders it, still
more unpopular. The brokers oppose the ex-
emption clause, of course, because while it is
retained their profits are but moderate. Ii
Congress will pass one anendmeut-which
we shall presently suggest-the business OF
the brokers will be entirely broken up while
if the exemption clause is repealed, they count
upon making their fortune.
The question is, whether enlistments shall
be kept in the hands Of the State and General
Government, or whether they shall fall into
the hands of unprinclpled middle-men, whose
interest it is to rob the recruits. In France,
where both plans have been tried, it was found
that the broker system grew rapidly into an
l~iniquity too great to be borne; the brokers
retained the lions share OF the %bountles, and
furnished to the Government the poorest class
Of men. Our experience, during the late draft
was similar. In France the brokers were at
ter a fair trial abolished and under the sys-
tenn now in use there, the consCrlpt either
serves III person or pays an established price.
If he chooses to furnish a substitute rather
than pay the exemption money to the Gov
eminent, he is at liberty to do that, but he is
held responsible for that substitute and if
the latter deserts, his principal is taken te
serve the remainder Of the term. If Congress
were to enact a similar rule, the result would
be that very few would procure substitutes
themselves those who could not serve in per-
son would pay the exemption fee TO the Gov
erLmcnt, in whose hands the recruiting would
thus remain, to the exclusion of landsharks,
bounty thieves and brokers.
IL 10 hLNSA W VIM tAiSAb VIZ hAN NALASA ~
dollar exemption clause favors the ricii at the
expense Of the poor. Nothing can be more
wide of the truth than this idea on the CON
trary, this clause is the only protection Of the
man of moderate means, and it is intended
tor this very purpose by the French Govern
ment, who adopted it after trying various ex-
periments which we ought not to blunder in
to again. One of these was to have no ex-
emption, but to leave the conscript himself tc
buy his substitute. A very high price for sub
: stitutes followed, which price was chiefly alb
Sol bed by a class of brokers or sharks, whc
were created by this system. The same re,
: suit would follow here. During the State
= draft in Massachusetts, in 1862, when no ex.
emption clause was in force, the price Of sub.
]stitutes rose at once to $500. The draft was
then suspended to try the bounty system, du-
3 ring which, writes a correspondent, with
bounties at 5000, some of these same sharks,
who brought Inc a few men, assured me thai
they had a much larger number awaiting the
resumption of the draft, whom they could
control, and for whom they would not take
500"
Tho is reason to believe that much of the
pressure for removing the three hundred dol
lar Communication clause comes from these bro
kers, and this pressure is one Of the causes o.
the duilmess Of recruiting at our present high
bounties. No doubt many men who intend
to enlist are holding back in the hope of 9
draft without Communication.
! A gentleman who has had much p~ractica
experience in the management of the draft
under both State and Federal Governments
. sends us the following suggestions, which we
reprint here as worthy OF the attention o.
Congress
"Raise the price of communication S0meHbdt
: In France | think it is usually three thousand
five hundred francs about seven hundred dol
= lars,) but as large numbers Of exempts are
made also to pay, the whole burden should
not be thrown upon those between eighteen
. and forty-ive years old. me Communication
therefore. should not be raised much-say moi
over four hundred doIiars-and should all be
> used as Il bonus to induce the re- enlistment o.
old soldiers under the direction of Govern
ment, upon such a scale as may be f om time
to time expedient. The present bounty shoulC
be continued out Of common purse-Say three
hundred dollars, and fifteen to twenty-five
dollars brokerage to all recruits, old and new
The veteran is worth a great deal more than
the raw recruit and it is to be hoped that the
communication fund would afford him q larg,
bonus over the raw recruit, and in some de-
gree compensate him for the inequality he has
: OF late been subject to, Of seeing the new
mel come in on much better terms than he
has had.
I'VE ought to prevent the procurement OF
substitutes by the conscripts and their brok-
ers, 30 as to keep the whole control of recruit.
ing in the hands Of the General and State
Governments. To do this we should agair
take a hint from France, where, besides using
other devices, they make the conscript respon
. sible for the desertion Of his substitute during
, the whole term for which he is drafted. Thit
plan would in our country induce all who are
able to get a substitute to do it through thu
Government agency, OF, i'll other words, tx
Ip&y the protection from draft into the army
J but not from militia service.
The French, after practically preventing
conscripts from procuring substitutes, use th'
= fund almost entirely for getting old soldiers
J and pay to these a bounty somewhat in pro
: portion to the time each man has made. TX
sum up:
: Let us have the $500 clause, or raise it t.
not over $500, and make it our protection fo
! three years, using it for veteran recruits
= Pay in addition $500 bounty to all, and a bro
kerage.
Let the conscript get a substitute if h,
! chooses, taking his risk of his desertion dur
ing the whole term.
'If you want to try any new experiment
: extend the age to fifty years men of fifty
y being better than youths of twenty and un.
: der.
"After the enrolment, give thirty days no
. tice Of the draft, and let every married mar
: have a right before the draft to pay . smallel
amount, perhaps One-third or one-half of the
. full communication but let all the names b,
dfdU1, so that these commuters shall not di
> minish the chance of escape of those unabl,
! to pay in advance"
= From Nashville.
u NASHVILLE Dec. 26, 1868.