The Daytona daily news. [volume] (Daytona, Fla.) 1903-1926, 1910-03-31
UD WORLD ARMIES
Drafting Methods BY Which Their
Strength Is Maintained.
TRICKS OF THE. coNscRIpTs.

Enforced Military Service That h So
Hateful to Them.
We hear good deal about conscrip-
tion. but few people know what II ac-
tually means In no country is every
person who is able to fight drafted
INTO the army. All males who are liza.
Die to serve undergo a physical exam
nation. resulting in only a certain
number being passed as at for service.
NO government has sufficient funds
to draft the whole Of these men into
the regular army. so a selection il
made by ballot. the number OF men en-
rolled varying according to the funds
IN the hands Of the authorities.
The pay provided for the conscript
is necessarily very trifling indeed and
will not compare with that paid to vol
unteer soldiers. In fac. it is generally
true that the conscript must fall back
upon his private means.
The methods vary in each country
But take the case OF one European
power Every male subject not phys
lcally incapacirated is liable TO enter
the army at the age Of twenty, al
though those who care to enlist NAV
do so at eighteen
A register is kept of all the youths
who reach the age of twenty In the
particular year. Men under FIVE feet
two inches in height are exempt from
service. as we'll. Of course, as those
who suffer from natural infirmities
which render them unsuitable for ac-
tive service.
Other men are also exempt If they
have helpless dependents - thus the
only son Of widow or of disabled
father. the latter category also includ-
Ing the only son Of father who Is
above seventy years Of age. Then the
eldest OF family OF orphans Is ex-
empt. and In the case Of two sons only
one is liable. there being various other
| exemptions.
The term served by the conscript Is
one OF twenty-five years. three years
being spent in the regular army, six
and one-half In the army reserve. six
In the territorial army and the re-
naming nine and half years in the
territorial reserve. all liability to serv-
ice ceasing at forty-five.
| The service is frequently so hated
that all manner of methods are adopt
cd in order to avoid it. In many
cases substitutes are provided by the
wealthy. though there are stringent
] regulations with regard to the pro-
| vision of the substitutes.
In most European countries military
maiingering in order TO avoid compui-
sorry military service has reached the
stage of fine art. In fact. formida-
BILE list of new crimes has been added
to the statutes as a result. and medical
men frequently have to suffer for their
assistance in this particular kind of
fraud.
Thus some time ago a number Of
Cologne doctors were arrested upon a
charge of having administered pills to
young conscripts. These pills consist
ed of drugs which produced the symp
toms of heart disease so effectively as
completely to deceive the military au
thorities. with the result that the con
scripts were declared unit for service
In this case the fraud was brought tC
light by one of the conscripts dying as
result Of an overdose Of the medi
cine.
In Germany, where the conScript Is
frequently treated with the greatest
harshness, there are very few town,
where there are not specialists whose
living depends solely in inducing suct
a condition of affairs as will render
young men exempt by reason of unfit
ness.
In the French army it is quite com
mon for youths TO feign all manner O.
Ills, deafness being the usual ailmen
trusted to in order to escape the serv
= a result the military doctor:
have lie All especial study of meth
DDS of detecting feigned deafness ant
to trap the cunning youth who act
the part of a deaf man.
Another common practice in France
is to tamper with the eyesight. though
this frequently results in permanen
injury. For instance. short sight Il
produced by wearing powerful con
cave glasses for a considerable tim
despite the risk of bringing about per
nanent blindness. 1t is no uncom
mon occurrence for men to commit sui
eide rather than submit to forced sery
ice In the army.
In eastern Europe most brutal meth
DDS are adopted by parents in orde
that their sons may be able TO wor
for them instead OF serving in tn
army The boys are frequently i
treated, and it is not at all uncommo
even for their limbs to be broken Q
their sight TO be destroyed in order
prevent any likelihood of their havin
to become soldiers.
Switzerland probably has the cheap
est army and the least burdensom
methods of consumption, the servic
being much lighter than in the othe
continental armies. Indeed. the col
script in the infantry army has to III