The Athena press. [volume] (Athena, Umatilla County, Or.) 18??-1942, 1910-01-07
old WORLD ARMIES
Drafting Methods by Which Their
Strength Is Maintained.
TRICKS OF THE coNscRIPTs.
All Manner of Dodses Are Adopted by
the Eligible Young Men to Avoid the
Enforced Military Service That Is So
Hateful to Them.

U
the Eligible Young Men to Avoid the
Enforced Military Service That Is So
Hateful to Them.
We hear a good deal about conscrip-
tion, but few people know what 1t ac-
tually means. In no country is every
person who is able to fight drafted
into the army. All males who are liza
BILE to serve undergo physical exam
ination, resulting in only certain
number being passed as fit for service.
No government has sufficient funds
to draft the whole Of these men into
the regular army, SO selection Is
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 trifing indeed and
will not compare with that paid to vol
unteer soldiers. In fact, 1t 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
ically incapacitated is liable to enter
the army at the age Of twenty, al
though those who care to enlist may
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 well, Of course, as those
who suffer from natural infrmities
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 tnclud-
ing the only son of father who Is
above seventy years of age. Then the
eldest Of a 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 a half years in the
territorial reserve, all liability to serv-
ice ceasing at forty-fve.
The service is frequently SO hated
that all manner Of methods are adopt
ed in order to avoid 1t. 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
malingering in order to avoid compul-
sorry military service has reached the
stage of fine art. In fact, q 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 unfit for service.
In this case the fraud was brought to
light by one of the conscripts dying as
a result of an overdose OF the medi-
cine.
In Germany, where the conscript is
frequently treated with the greatest
harshness, there are very few towns
where there are not specialists whose
living depends solely in inducing such
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 Of
Ills, deafness being the usual ailment
trusted to in order to escape the serv-
ice. AS a result the military doctors
have made an especial study of meth
ods Of detecting feigned deafness and
to trap the cunning youth who acts
the part of a deaf man.
Another common practice In France
is to tamper with the eyesight, though
this frequently results in permanent
injury. For instance, short sight Is
produced eby wearing powerful con-
cave glasses for a considerable time
despite the risk of bringing about per-
manent blindness. 1t is no uncom-
mon occurrence for men to commit sui
eide rather than submit to forced serv-
ice In the army.
In eastern Europe most brutal meth
ods are adopted by parents in order
that their sons may be able to work
for them instead of serving In the
army. The boys are frequently Ill
treated, and 1t is not at all uncommon
even for their limbs to be broken or
their sight to be destroyed in order to
prevent any likelihood of .leir having
to become soldiers.
Switzerland probably has the cheap
est army and the least burdensome
methods Of conscription, the service
being much lighter than in the other
continental armies. Indeed, the con-
script In the infantry army has to un-
dergo actual training for only 1876 days
during the entire period Of his service.
Philadelphia Ledger.