The daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1863-1864, 1863-10-31
Interesting Extracts from Pro.
Marshal Gen. Fry's Letter 10
Stanton. III @ll- 9
Operations of the Recent Draft.

- JI Operations of the Recent Draft.
PRovosr MARSHAL GEMS. OFFICE,
g WASHINGTON, d. O., Oct. l9.
S1R-I have the honor to report for you
information certain general facts connecte
i with the draft, as shown by reports mace u
N to this time.
n snSeyeral of the Western States have no
been subjected to the present draft, on ae
: count of the excess of volunteers heretofor
: furnished, and from the same cause th'
/ quotas in other Western States are render
, ed quite small. The present draft is there
fore but partial one, and no specific tota
: was established as the quota for it.
Of these drawn in the present draft, In
t Guiding the fifty per cent additional, over
eighty per cent have reported, IN accord
ance with the orders of the boards. Of the
twenty per cent who have not reported, ma
nv are not wiIful deserters, being unavold-
ABLY absent, at sea and the like. The de-
ssrters are being arrested.
| Of all examined about thirty per cent
have been exempted On account OF physical
disability, about thirty per cent have been
exempted under the provisions OF the sec
tion Of the act, or found not liable to mill
tary duty on account of alienage, unsulta'
bleness of age non residents, &c. Those
who are not liable to military duty, and
form no part of the national forces, and
therefore have been enormously enrolled,
appear in the general reports OF the boards
among those exempted, because their non
liability to serve could not be established
until they came before the boards. The
appear much larger than it really is.
About forty per cent of the men examln-
ed have been held to service, and have en-
tered the army in person, furnished substi-
tutes, or paid aommutaton.
About one half of those held to service
have paid communications; of the remainder
one third have gone in person and two
thirds have furnished substitutes, and all
except few in transit and small proper
tion of deserters from among the earlier
substitutes accepted are in the ranks OF
their regiments in front of the enemy. 1t
is fair to suppose that most of those who
willfully fail to report and thus become de
serters, are physically fit for service. If
they had been examined, the proportion on
exempted for physical disability would have
been reduced to about twenty five per cent.
The proportion of exemptions would be
still further reduced by urging the enrol
ment lists before draft of all cases of mani
fest and unftness and of aliens and others
not liable to military duty, as may be done
where thls system of raising troops is well
established.
The proportions above given are based
upon the reports up to this time from the
seventy three Congressional districts where
the draft has been completed or has most
nearly approached completion.
Since the present rebellion began about
2OO,O 900 soldiers, after entering service have
been discharged on surgeons certificate OF
disability. 1t is probable that at least one
half of them were unfit for service when
received. 1t may be safely said that forty
millions of money was uselessly expended
in bringing them into the field, to say moth
ing Of their subsequent expense to the gov
ernment.
In Great Britain, under the system OF
voluntary enistments, therejectlcns average
over twsntyseven per cent. In Franco, from
1881 to l842, the average number OF ex-
emptions annually was $4,000; so that to
secure the contingent Of $4,000 men l'4,-
500 conscripts were annually examined.
Of the recruits who presented them
selves tor enlistment in our regular army IN
1852, seventy per cent were rejected lor
physical ntirmities, exclusive of age or stat
ure. Between lst January and lst July
last more than one.half were rejected
These were men who desired to be accept
ed. These proportions are OF interest IN
connection with the fact that less than one
third of the drafted men who desire not to
be accepted have been exempted on &C
count of physical unhtnes'.
All has been done that seemed proper
under existing laws to check tlese evils,
and to meet properly the few cases OF Grim
inality and incompeteucy which have oc-
CURED among the officers OF this bureau
All the expenditures up to this time on
account Of this bureau, including the en-
rollment, draft aud day of officers and per-
sons connected with it, are but little over
the S,2O0O0O. These expenditures include
all made on account of the machinery
which has produced the arrest and return oi
twenty thousand deserters.
The amount of money received from the
draft up to this date is about ten times as
great as all the expenses incurred on ac-
count of the Enrolment act. Those re
sulting from the New York riots are not,
however, included in this statement, as
they are more properly attributable to
f other causes and other persons than to the
draft or the officers of this bureau.
am, very respectfully, your Ob' DIT servt,
JAMES B. Fry, Provost Marshal GEN
: Hon y NJ ST.yToN Secretary of War.