Year: 1863

The Conscription Law and Poor Men.


A certain class of newspapers, whch occa-


s;onallv utter loud call upon every man OF


egery party to obey the laws, Whatever 'ney


be.u as if anv but their own followers ever pro-


oosad resistance to them, are engaged at the


COMO time and all the time, in msrepresentlng


tho most important and necessary ones called


into existence by the national struggle for


life, and in fomenting disafection thereto.


What can be the object of this constant labor


except to stir up the very resistance to the


laws. which they dare not openly advocate


Such is, apparently enough, its only tendency


The conscriptlon act of the last Congress IS


law of the land. If these journals are sincere
in their call upon all to obey the laws,


why constantly misrepresent the object and
effect of its provisions Conscrpt laws OF
some kind have been necessity IN every great


war; But. probably no law of the kind was
svsr framed which was so just and humane in


its treatment of all classes Of the people, or
which so well protected the poor citizen. We
have already spoken of the $500 exemption
clause, So called, upon which these pretentlous
respecters of law make their chief clamor as
affordng the best prospect of success in binding
the people and stirring up discomfort and ~fe-
sistance. 1t has been clearly shown that one


chief object and effect of this provision IS to


limit the price of substitutes in case of draft
TO $500, as the magjmHm; it being apparent
that without the provision, and under the COM
mon brokerage system it would cost much more
to procure them. So far, then, its effect Is di-
rectly in favor of the poorer classes. We
now copy the following upon the subject from
the New York Times


''The peace Democrats have commenced an
attack on the conscripton law of Congress,
because, as they allege, it makes distinction
between the rich and poor. The Mozart Hall
Democrats, led by Fernando Wood, have pro-
claimed hostility to the act on this ground,-
one of their resolutions, passed formally at
headquarters, on Tuesday night, declaring
that,


the infamous distinction which it 1.-THE Conscription
lawl makes between rich and poor, whereby the
former is allowed to buy his freedom for the sum of
three nundred dollars while the latter unable to
command that sum, is TO be torn away from his en-
ployment, his home and his family, and forced, at
the point of the bayonet, into the ranks of the
army


The tabJeau of the reluctant conscript
pricked away from home by bayonets is cal |
culated to be effec i've, and if the objection to
the law as thus presented, were we'll taken, |
its moral force would be greatly impaired. - |
But the fact is otherwise. The complaint
made of the law is wholly unjust, and the at
tempt to create prejudice against it must fall |
The law does not fix three hundred dollars as
The sum that one must pay in order to OBJ
tam exemption from the draft. II giges TO tie
Secretary Of Var discretionary power to fg
the sum 0hich shall buy exemption IN each
i7ad5rjdual case, bit IN 40 case shall over
three hundred dollars be demanded. The Sec
retary may require of rich man $500 for ex-
emption, and he may let a poor man of-one
who deserves exemption for reasons of sick
ness and helplessness of his family-for the
sum of S3 if he will, The language of the
law is this:


THAT any person drafted and notified TO appear
furnish aecept be 5e subytn ~ 10f ms
his place in the draft, he may pay such person
as the Secretary of War may authorize receive il
such sum, not exceeding three hundred dollars as
the Secretary may determine, tor the proeurafion
OF such SUBSTITUTE


1t is impossible for language to be palmer
than this, and it scatters to the winds the
wretched bit of demagoguism that Fernando
Wood u Co. are about to poison the minds of
their followers with. Besides this specific
provision of the law which enables the Secre-
tary Of War, by sliding scale, to adapt it to
the case of any man. according to his wealth
or poverty, the law in other respects is full of
humane exemptions, intended to relieve poor
families from too large a share of it's burdens
The second section of the law contains exemp-
tons as follows:


THAT the following persons be and are hereby ex-
cepted and ex empted from the provisions of this
pendent upon his labor for support;
the only son of aged inirm parent or parents
dependent upon his labor for support
the only brother of children not years old having
neither father nor mother, depe ndent upon his la
motheress children under IL years of age depend
ent upon his labor tor support. Where
there IS father and sons in the same family and
household and two of them are in the military SER
vice OF the United States none Commissioned of.
acers musicians privates the residue of such fam
emit" '''' '0N'' '0 eN-


With such exemptions as these, which are
of manifest prOprety, and which preclude, as
far as law can, the possibility of aged and in
firm parents or orphaned children suffering
and with the discretion which is given to the
Secretary OF War to fix the sum of exemption
money, IN every case as low as the condition
and necessities of the drafted person NAV
render proper-it cannot occur that anv. the
slightest, injustice can happen under its en-
forcement 1t was intended to bear equally
on all classes, according to their condition,
and it does, in its letter and spirit, treat the
poor as justly as the rich


Mozart Hall imagines no doubt that it has
started out on very promisinr tack in origi-
hating this impeachment of the conscription
act; but SO soon as the people, having their
attention drawn to the subject, learn how
wise and benign in its provisions the law
really is, they will have stronger reason
than ever 10 distrust, as utterly false and dis
loyal, the opposition of the Copperheads to s
the necessary war measures of the nation. t