Year: 1865

EXECUTIVE CHAMBER.


HARRRIsBURG, Goth Jan, 1865.


10 the PRESIDENT Sir The act of
me 81 OF March 1868, commonly called
me enrolment act, provided (seclion Al
That Tor the purpose of the act each Cor.
gressional district of the respective States
should form district, and tsection n
.hal all persons enrolled should be sub.
Ject to be called into the military service
OF The United States, and TO continue in
service during the present rebellion. nor
however exceeding the term Of three wears,
and lurlher (section l2) that in assigning
10 the districts tho number of men to he
furnished therefrom, the President should
take INTO consideration the number of
volunteers. and militia furnished by the
several States iE which sad Districts
were situated, and the period of their
service since the commencement of
the rebellion, and should so mako said
assignments as to eQualize the numbers
among the districts of the several States.
considering and allowing for the numbers
already furnished us atorsaid, and the
time o. their service.


The time of actual service which by
this act you were directed 10 consider
and allow sor, could not, without impract.
icable labor, Tor Indeed a. ALI be fxal
with exactitude for each district, ont il
could easily have been SO appropriated
by averages that little if any practical in.
justice would have been done. The com
mencement OF the third year of the war
was close at hand at the time of the pas,
sage OF the act II would not have been
dllhcult TO ascertain, ofone thousand men
enlisted for three year, what was the aver.
age number that remained actually in the
service at the end of the first and second
years respectively, and thus the act could
have beea Substantially complied With.
For instance, suppose it to have been
iound that one thousand mer enlisted .or
three years, there remained in the SC rvice
an average Of forty per cont at the close
OF the first year, and lweSty per cent, at
the close OF the second year. The result
would have been under the provision of
the act, that sixteen hundred one-year's
men would have been taken as the
equivalent Of one thousand three years
men.


unfortunately the heads Of bureauR. to
whom the matter seems 10 have been en-
trusted, began by falling into q strange
misconstvuelion Of the act They did in
effect strike from the 18th section the
/ phrases "period of their service" and
time of there service" and insert in lieu
thereof the phrase term Of their enlist
nent," and then proceeded to apRor,ion
credits by multiplying the nlmber OF
years for which they were enlisted. Cal
culatons made on this basis were of course
most extravagant, and the people every
where felt that somehow injustice was be.
ing done. In the attempt TO soften this
numerous and contradictory orders have
been issued from the Provost Marshal
Generals office, and long essays by him
self and others have been in vain
published 10 explain and justify their
action.


In fact, as soon a3 they get beyond the
morally certain limit Of the actual service
of The man, their calculation has no long
er practical basis. It's principle, carried
to legitimate extreme, would justify
the enlistment OF one man for 10000
years, and crediting him as the whole
quota OF tho State, with a small excess.


Surely every reasonable man can say
| for himself whether he has found that
getting one pair OF boots tog three years
is practically equivalent to getting three
S4aigs OF boots for one year.


The visionary character Of the system
on which they have proceeded cannot be
better illustrated than by the result at
which they have arrived on the present
occasion. The quota of Pennsylvania on
! the last call was announced to be Gl,1OO.
Her quota omale up deficiencies under
that call was announced to be 66, ,099 men.
! On the 24th instant it was annouced that
The quota of the Western district had, on
revision, been fixed at 22,543, which
would make that ofthe whole State about
! Al, 600. and late on tho same day IT was
/ further announced that the quota Of the
Western district was 20, ,5l2 and that the
whole State 49,5S3. All these changes
being caused by no intervening circum-
stances that am aware of. IN fact our
quota on the last call was filled, and
there can be no deficiency TO be now
supplied.
Their plan is unjust TO the districts and
to the government. 1t wholly ignores
the losses of men by desertion, sickness,
death and casualties. The losses from
most of these causes are greater during
the first year of service than afterwards.
A town which has furnished three thous-
and men for one year, has probably lost
three ffths Of them from these causes be-
fore the expiration of that term have lost
seventeenth -twentieths OF them. The first
town will thus have given sixteen hun.
dred men to the countryside second
but eight hundred and fifty. There is no
equality in this. The exhaustion OF the
industrial population of the towns, is IN
very unequal proportions As to the
Government-th government has in the
first case the actual service during the
whole year OF fourteen hundred men-in
the second case the actual service of say
four hundred men during the whole first
wear. OF probably not more than two hun
dred men during the whole second year,
and saw one hundred and fifty men at the
most during the whole third year. Be
sides, the AMOUNT Of service that may oe
required promptly is TO be considered
aud not merely the agreed term OF service
At the late storm Of Fort Fisher, one AZ