The Union and journal. [volume] (Biddeford, Me.) 1858-1882, 1863-11-13
Results of the Draft.
Official Statement OF Provost-Marshai-
General Fry.


General Fry.
ProyosT.M ARsuAL- GENERALS OFFICE, !
WASHINGTON, ID. c., Oct. ID, 1868.
Sir have the honor to report for your infor-
nation certain general facts connected with the
draft, as shown by reports made up to this time
The machinery for executing the Enrolment
Act is in complete working order. The law as
il stands cannot be made to develop the entire
military strength of the nation, and the execu-
ton of II has been rendered exceedingly difficult
by the efforts made in various ways to resist or
evade it, or to escape from its operation,
Its fruits, therefore, are not as abundant as
they will be from perfect law and more thor.
ouEhly established system OF executing 1t. AL
the advantages, however, which could reasona-
bly have been expected from the law are accru-
Its general principles distribute the burdens
of military service fairly among those liable to
bear them, but there are perhaps. more generos'
ity than Justice in some Of its humane Provls-
ions. With certain notifications, which can
readily be made by Congress, the military
strength of the country may by the indirect OPP
Grafton Of this act, be surely and cheapy brought
into the field.
Several of the Western States have not been
subjected to the present draft on account OF the
excess of volunteers heretofore furnished. and
from the same cause the quotas in other West
crn states uIc IeHuCItu Vui'c thS P'N'
ent draft is therefore but partial one, and no
specific total was established as the quota for It.
or those drawn in the present draft, including
the fifty per ceat. additional, over eighty per
cent. have reported in accordance with the or
dcrs of the boards. or the twenty per cent who
have not yet reported many are not wilui de,
sertcrs, being unavoidably absent, at sea and
the like.
or all examined, about thirty per cent. have
been exempted on account OF ply steal disability,
about thirty per cent. have been exempted un-
der the provisions Of the second section Of the
act, or found not liable to military duty on &C.
count Of alicnagc, unsuitablcness OF age, non'
residents. &c. Those who are not liable to mil.
.itary duty, and form no part OF the national
forces, aud therefore have been enormously en-
rolled, 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 num-
Der Of exemptions is thus made to appear much
larger than II really is. :,
About forty per cent OF the men examined
have been held to service, and have entered the
army in person., furnished substitutes or paid
communication.
About onc.half of those held to service have
maid communication of the remainder about one
third have gone in person and two-thirds have
furnished substitutes, and all, cxcepta few in
transit and small proportion Of deserters from
among tUC CdTllCI dSS'ptSu,
the ranks of their regiments in front of the enc
my. 1t is fair to suppose that most of those
who wilfully fail to report and thus become de-
scrters are physically fit for service II they had
been examined the proportion exempted for
physical disability would have been reduced to
about twenty-five per cent. The proportion OF
exemptions would be still further reduced by
purging the enrolment lists before the draft Of
cases Of manifest unftness, and Of aliens and
others not liable to military duty, as may be
done where the 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 two
hundred thousand soldiers, after entering SER
vice, have been discharged on the surgeons GER
tifcatc of disability. 1t is probable that at
least onc-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 nothing of
their subsequent expense to the government.
In Great Britain, under the system of yolun-
tary enistmcnts, the reflections averaged over
q per cent. In France, from 1881 TO 1912, the
average number of exemptions annually was o.
$50; so that. to secure the contingent Of $4,000
men, l7i,S6O conscripts were annually exam
ined.
OF the recruits who presented themselves for
enlistment in our regular army in 1852, 20 per
cent. were rejected for physical intirmitics cx-
elusive of age or stature. Between LIST January
and LIST July last more than one.half were re-
icctcd. These were men who desired To be ac-
cepted. 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 account Of
physical uniitness.
There have been but few cases of incompetent
cy, fraud, neglect or abuse in the examination
OF drafted men. These men have, however, in
many WAYS, been swindled by rogucs having no
connection with the Boards Of Enrolment, as,
for example, the facts that certain drafted men
were physically unfit for service has become
known to these sharpcrs, when it was perhaps
not known TO the men themselves, and they
have so far imposed upon the Ignorance or crc-
dulty of the drafted men as to get from them
sums of money to secure an exemption to which
the rogues knew they were entitled and would
surely receive, and the drafted men, finding
themselves exempted as promised, have some.
times thought and given out that they secured
exemption by bribery of drafting officers, where
as they were legally entitled to exemption and
have themselves been swindled by sharpers.
All has been done that seemed proper under
existing laws to check these evils, and to meet
nropcrly the few cases of criminality aud incom-
pctcncy which have occurred among the officers
of this bureau.
All the expenditures up to this time on &c.
count OF this bureau, including the enrolment,
draft, and pay OF officers and persons connected
with il, are but little over Sl,20O,0O0. These
expenditures include all made on account Of the
machinery which has produced the arrest and
return of twenty thousand descrters.
The amount Of money received from the draft
IN to this date Is about ten times as great as all
tho expenses incurred ON account Of the Enroll
mcut act; those resulting from the New York
riots arc not, however, included in this
statement. as they arc moro properly attributa-
bic To other causes and other persons, than TO
The draft or the officers of this bureau.
am, very respectfully. your ob't servant,
JAMES b. Fry,
Provost MaNha al General.