St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1917-08-18
WAR NEWS FROM u. S.
BULLETINS. 4
Continued from page II

Continued from page ~
since the drafted person loses his
civil income and thus loses his
means of support, the wife is left
without support, and this lack of
support is the effect which the act
aims to avoid. But wherever such
effect does not in fact follow and the
wife is not left without reasonably
adequate support, but will receive
such support from other sources,
there is no real dependency render
ing discharge advisable.
The following classes of cases are
within this ruling:
(A) Wife and Children.
i. Where the parents or other
relatives of the wife or the husband
are able, ready, and willing to pro-
vide adequate support for her land
children, it any during the absence
of the husband.
2. Where the wife owns land
which has produced income by the
husbands labor but which could with
reasonable certainty be rented dur
ing his absence to other persons so
as to produce an adequate support.
3. Where there exists some ar
arrangement by which the salary or
wage of the husband is continued, in
whole or in part, by third persons,
being employers, or insurers, or
others, and such portion of the sal
airy or wage, either alone or with an
allotment of the soldiers pay, or
with other definite income, Will fur
nish a reasonably adequate support.
OBJ Other Dependents.
1. Where in one of the foregoing
ways a reasonably adequate support
is provided for a widowed mother,
infirm parents, or orphan child under
16 years (as enumerated in sec. go.
par. h, 2, 3, 4, 81 of son, brother,
or father called into service.
Under Presidential Regulations,
section %. page, 50, providing that
"any certificate or discharge may be
withdrawn, modified, or renewed BY
the local board" the board is au-
thorized to reopen any claim of ex-
emption already passed upon and
still awaiting disposition on appeal
to the district board, for the Yur-
pose of receiving any affidavits or
| making other inquiries relative to
dependency as defined in the pres
ent rulings, and the local board shall
| transmit to the district boar1 such
afiidavits and its own minutes there
on for consideration on appeal
The foregoing rulings are caicu-
lated to carry out the spirit and
/ terms of the act and to enable pa
! triot men to remain in the military
the burden of support hitherto car
ried by them alone IS in a position
to be distributed TO: a time among
others who are patriot cally ready to
make in this manner their cOntribu
ton to military service by setting
| another man free to enter the Army
CROWDER.
The following telegram has als1
been received by governors OF the
| states:
Section of the select:ve service
law exempts no person from mill
tary service on the ground Of de-
pendency. It only authorizes the
President to exclude or discharge
! from draft "those in a status with
respect to persons dependen. upon
them for support when renders
their exclusion or discharge adsis-
able"
| The controlling necessity is to raise
an army. 1t is advisable TO disturb
dependents just as little as the ne
cessity of raising an army will per.
nit To this end section IS Of the
and after the most earnest cOns!i
Grafton. If experience is to prove
that the generous conditions pre-
crjbed by section IS, or any abuse Of
them, will interfere with the rails
ing of any army, then it is no Longer
advisable to discharge so wide a
class and the conditions stated there
in will have to be restricted until ar
advisable rule is reached.
Abuses are Indicated.
Nothing has happened to change
the belief that the persons enumerat
ed IN section Is could be discharged
without interfering with the raising
of an army, but there are indications
that abuses of section Is may rem
der its continuance no longer ad
visable.
Reports are to the effect that il
some districts as high as 80 per CEN
of persons called before local boards
are filing claims for discharge on the
ground of dependent relatives. lSuct
a percentage Of claims when viewed
in connection with all available sta
tistics indicates beyond question thal
advantage is being taken of the pro
visions of the law and regulation:
which were intended to reduce to {
minimum the misery at home nor
mally attendant upon war.
| There lis a moral certainty, in thu
extravaganza of this percentage, thaf
hundreds of unfounded claims are
included in these totals.
This state of affairs greatly in
creases the burden of local boards
istrants claim exemption, only the
uncompromising action of loca
boards can prevent a new regulation
on the subject of dependency which
shall reduce discharges for depend
ency to a far more restricted class
and to very necessitous and clearly
defined circumstances.
In the absence of stern repres
sion by local boards Of unmerit0riou:
claims this result Is inevitable since
any such percentage of exemption!
as reports of claims indicate wOulG
nullify the law and prevent the rails