The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1917-06-09
MAN
COULD BUY
SUBSTITUTE

ierent thing IN 1917 from what
II was in 1868.
In those days the process was
much simpler.
Every country, every city,
every township, was simply as
signed a quota that II had to fill.
SO much population in a town,
80 many able-bodied men to fur
nish. If they volunteered, we'll
and good-that was all that had
to he done about II.
If they did not. the names OF
the men still liable for military
| duty were put in box or a hat,
each on separate slip of paper.
and one name after another was
drawn out. sometimes by blind
folded boy.
III your name was drawn. you
were liable to serve. provided you
passed the physical examination.
Draft-(}raft.
The draft was responsible for
considerable amount of some
thing else that sounded good
deal like II, and that was graft.
Some of the examining doctors
were not above suspicion. and a
good many men of robust ap-
pearance turned out to have
strange and hitherto unsupported
diseases, while the examining
doctors bought new houses ana
housekeeping trotters.
There was still another form
of graft which flourished In
those days. Before the draft was
resorted to, and even while IL was
in progress, large bounties In
money were offered to men to
volunteer to fill quotas. State,
town and subscription bounties
were sometimes so piled up that
stances as bonus to enlist,
though $500 was probably about
the average.
| Well, mans name was drawn
to serve, but he was privately
tipped off" before the name
was announced; instantly he vol
unteered, got his bounty, and had
the enlistment dated back one
day, SO that 1t appeared on the
record that he had enlisted before
he was drafted.
In that case he was expected to
give the man who had tipped him
off, and also the man who had
antedated his enlistment (some-
times 1t was one and the same
lperson) a percentage of his
bounty money.
1t Is sad to think that such
Things were done in that heroic
time, but i'm a few cases undoubt-
eddy they were. The present
draft system seems to render any
such corruption as that impos-
lsible.
Noted Men Sent Substitutes.
Evidently the draft in 1917 IL
going to be different from that OF
the Civil war days in another re-
spect. There will be no sending
of substitutes. In those days a
man who was drafted and did not
want to go had the privilege of
|sending a substitute.
Very few men of wealth actu-
ally served as drafted men. Sub
stitutes cost them, according to
the local supply Of ablebodied
men, from $500 to $1,000.
Among the distinguished men
who sent substitutes to the Civil
war were James G. Blaine and
Grover Cleveland.
| Generally speaking, 1t was
deemed reproach after the war
to have sent substitute, but In
many cases-it was so in Cleve-
land 's-the drafted man had an
aged parent or some other de-
pendent person to support or take
lcare of, and could not accept ser
vice without condemning this per-
lson to public charity. 1t took
lyoung Grover Cleveland some
years after the war was over to
pay off the debt occasioned By
this necessity.
Bounty Jumping Was Frequent.
The substitute, actually in the
lservice, often turned out to be .
Imam who had to be watched, for
his spirit of patriotism generally
did not rank high. But he was
never as bad as the bounty jump
err The bounty jumper was
man who enlisted, got his boun-
ty entered the service, deserted.
and then enlisted somewhere else
and got another bounty. The
eagerness OF certain towns to fill
their quota was so great that they
often made no inquiry into the
identity of the men whom they
FURNISHED, and the business OF
bounty jumping was regularly
organized.
As things look now, we are go
ing to have an honest draft and
an honest enforcement OF 1t.
which shows that the country has