The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1917-06-30
EvAOEO DRAFT IN
CIVIL WAR DAYS
Process Which Was In Force In Time
Of Rebellion Had Little Resem-
blance to System
Of Today.
MANY BotNT1Es PAID
Some Noted Men We're Said to Have
paid Their Substitutes Fair
Figures For
Going.
MANY BotNr1Es PAID


ent thing in 1917 from what 1t was IN
1863. In those days the process was
much simpler. Every county, every
city, every township, was simply as
signed a quota that it had to I'LL. so
much population in town, SO many
able bodied men to furnish. II they
volunteered, well and good-that was
all that had to be done about 1t.
they did not, the names or the men
still liable for military duty were put
in a box or hat, each on separate
slip of paper, and one name after an
other was drawn out, sometimes by
blndfolded boy If your name was
drawn, you were liable to serve, pro-
vided you passed the physical exam
nation.
The draft was responsible for a
considerable amount of something
else that sounded a good deal like 1t,
and that was graft. Some OF the ex-
aiming doctors were not above sus-
picion, and a good many men OF ro-
bust appearance turned out to nave
strange and hitherto unsupported dis
eases, while the examining doctors
bought new houses and high stepping
trotterS.
There was still another form OF
graft which flourished in those days.
Before the draft was resorted to, anu
even while it was in progress. large
| bounties in money were offered 10
men to volunteer to fill quotas. State,
| town and subscription bounties we're
sometimes so piled up that men re-
| ceived $500 in certain instances 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
i the name was announced; instantly
he volunteered. got his bounty, and
! had the enlistment dated back one
! day, so that 1t appeared on the rec
! nrd that he had enlisted before he
/ .,as expected to give the man who
I'd tipped him off, and also the man
no had antedated his enlistment
ometimes 1t was one and the same
person) a percentage Of his bounty
money.
1t is sad to think that such things
were done in that heroic time, but
in few cases undoubtedly they were.
The present draft system seems to
render any such corruption as that
impossible.
Noted Men Send Substitutes.
Evidently the draft in 1917 is go.
Ting to be different from that Of the
civil war days in another respect.
/ There will be no sending of subsu-
flutes. In those days a man who was
drafted and did not want to go had
the privilege Of sending substitute.
Very few men of wealth actually
served as drafted men. Substitutes
m 70
ply of able bodied men, from $500 to
81 900 Among the distinguished men
who sent substitutes to the civil war
were James G. Blaine and Grover
\ Cleveland.
Generally speaking, it was deemed
a reproach after the war to have sent
substitute. but in many cases-it
was so in Cleveland's-the drafted
men had an aged parent or some
other dependent person to support
or take care Of, and could not accept
without condemning this person to
public charity. 1t took young Grove:
Cleveland some years after the war
was over to pay off the debt occas.
toned by this necessity.
Bounty Jumping Was Frequent.
:, The substitute, actually in the
service, often turned out to be man
who had to be watched, for his spirit
of patriotism did not rank high. But
he was never as bad as the bounty
jumper The bounty jumper was a
man who enlisted, got his bounty
entered the service, deserted, and
then enlisted somewhere else and go:
another bounty. The eagerness OF
certain districts 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 going
to have an honest draft and an hon
: est enforcement Of it. which shows
that the country has made progress