The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1864-08-18

The Draft. a
OFFICIAL FROM rHE SOLICITOR OF THE WA
DEPARTMENT.
War DEPARrMENT, SoLIcrroR's OFFlcs,l
WASHINGTON, August 1, 1894.
The President of the United States is AZ
thorized by the act Of July 4, 1864, ITO ca
for any number Of men as volunteers for tn
respective terms of one, two or three years
for military service; and any such volunteer
or in case ofa draft, IS hereinafter provided
any substitute shall be credited to the town
township. ward of . city, precinct, or cleo
ton district, or Of . county not so subdvid
ed towards the quota Of which he may hav,
volunteered or engaged as substitute.
"ln case any quota or part thereof sha)
not be filed within Atty days after such call
the President is required Immediately to or
der . draft for one year to an such quota D
part thereof which may then be unified"
This sct in addition to, and in amend
ment Of, the prior acts for "enrolling ant
calling out'the National forces" and must b.
construed in connection therewith. 4Ii
On the 18th day Of July, 1854. the Presi
dent called for 500, 900 volunteers under sbe
provisions Of the above cited act.
r Volunteers and drafted men are thus to he
introduced into the service for one, two. O,
three years; whereas, by the prior enroll
nent laws Of 1868 and 1894, the only period
Of service provided was for three years OF
the war and hundreds Of thousands Of sol.
diers are now in the service as three years
men fg po,, IS s
n Questions having arisen relative to TIE
settlement Of quotas of which the one years
men are now to constitute part, consid.
GRAFTON ofthe two objects, principles and pro-
visions Of the enrolment laws has become
necessary. uage
The chief object of these laws is to bring
able-5odied men into the military service,
and to distribute IS equally as practicable
the burden ofsupplying them.
In order to equalize the quotas, the terri
tory from which troops are to be drawn is
required by law to be divided into Districts.
etc, and each district is to supply its due
proportion Of men.
But as some districts send more and others
less than their respective share Of troops,
and send some soldiers for a longer and
Others for shorter term of service, the law
requires the President to equalize the ono
tas of the respective districts, by taking iato
consideration the number Of men, and terms
Of their service, in each district. 4 Hf2'I
Ifthe number of men were taken into
considera ion without regard to the time of
their service, It is clear that the g-ossest in.
srIouI,ons ot different districts 70 tie sggTs SSe
gate military service Of the country. aps
If district A furnishes 1000 men for one
year, !. contributes only one.third as much
to the military service as district B. which
furnishes l 900 men for three years, although
for the first year the contributions of A and
B are, in mere point Of numbers, equal.
But during the second and third years Of
ths three years. term, district A is oontrihu-
ting nothing. and to equalize these districts
A must raise 1000 men for the second year
and 1000 men for the third year of that
term. sea aSe3
Hence this rule Of equalization requires
that the number Of men from each district
should be multiplied by the number of years
of each mans service. The product gives
the amount of years. service actually rem.
dered and it is this product found for each
ward, district, ETC., which is to form the basis
Of comparison for equalizing the service re.
quired from all the districts respectively
Such is the requirement OF the statute, and
it embodies practical good sense and even.
handed justice.
To apply these principles to the present
state of facts, and to the draft to be made on
the 9th of September next.
The amount of service rendered by each
s'distriot" etc., has been already asoertained
by multiplying the number of men by their
respective periods Of service, thus settling
the old account of such district up to this
date, in accordance with the principles ahoye
stated. M Cd"
A new call is now made for 500, 900 men
This number win be distributed among the
"districts," J" etc., as required by law, in strict
proportion to the number Of military forces
enrolled therein. That distribution having
been made each district will be charged in
account with its quota in the first instance.
But In some districts troops have already
been furnished in excess of all their quotas
Each district must have its separate account
made up, either by crediting the excess Of
charging the defect ofyears divided by three
(sssumjng as the unit Of all former quotas
one man rendering three years service).
In other words, in setting and eaualizlny
the old accounts of the different districts
their respective number Of years service
will be divided by three, and the quotient
will give the number of men furnished here.
tofore by each district, every person being
thus Seckoned IS one three years man and
the eroess of men over former calls will be
deducted from, or the dedoisncy in former
calls viii be added to, and constitute part Of