CONGRESS, U. S. 



317 



aent, the debate which has sprung up does not 

 really seem to me tc be upon that amendment, 

 but upon the question which has been raised 

 between the Senator from Ohio and the chair- 

 man of the Committee on Military Affairs. 

 Upon that question I desire to express the 

 opinion that Congress ought to encourage vol- 

 unteering, rather than to rely upon what, of 

 necessity, must be an unpopular measure of the 

 Government the draft. I think we have had 

 evidence enough in the country that the army 

 can be supplied with men by volunteering ; and 

 although the Senator from Massachusetts will 

 not admit that the draft has been a failure thus 

 far, he will hardly claim that it has been a suc- 

 cess. Out of 125,000 drafted men, there went 

 into the service about 6,000 ; about 20,000 paid 

 the $300 commutation ; and 37,394 were ex- 

 empted for physical disability. The Senator 

 says that the Department made a mistake in 

 the number of causes of exemptions for phys- 

 ical disability. I am not prepared to discuss 

 that question with the Senator. He is better 

 informed on the subject, unquestionably, than 

 I can be ; but that is a very large exemption 

 for physical causes. According to this report, 

 there paid commutation money, 20,138 ; fur- 

 nished substitutes, 10,402 ; failed to report, 

 17,940 ; exempted for other causes, about 

 32,319. Under the draft, therefore, in Xew 

 England, Pennsylvania, and Xew York, up to 

 the 1st day of November, the Government 

 realized about 6,000 troops who were drafted ; 

 10,000 substitutes ; and perhaps 20,000 volun- 

 teers, who were induced to volunteer under 

 the policy adopted by the Administration in 

 paying $300 bounty the $300 that were paid 

 by those who were drafted. I think that can- 

 not be claimed as a success. 



"But, sir, from the commencement of this 

 war every effort on the part of the Adminis- 

 tration to secure troops by appeals to the pa- 

 triotism of the people, by appeals to their 

 desire to provide for their families before they 

 enter the service by giving them bounties, has 

 been a success. At least, prior to the issuance 

 of a proclamation by the President, which I 

 shall not now discuss, theje was no failure in 

 the volunteer system. I claim that it was a 

 success ; and I may venture to say an army of 

 volunteers is a better army than an army of 

 conscripted men. They go freely, cheerfully, 

 and they serve freely and cheerfully. 



" What then is the plain duty of Congress ? 

 With these facts before us, is it not our plain duty 

 to undertake to fill up the army by volunteering 

 rather than by a draft ? I do not ask that the 

 draft law be repealed, for I know that such a 

 motion in this body would not prevail ; but it 

 were better that it were repealed, in my judg- 

 ment, and that the Government should pay 

 liberal bounties to the soldiers in advance of 

 their going into the field, in order that they 

 might well provide for their families during 

 their absence/' 



Mr. Fessenden, of Maine, was of a different 



opinion. He tuid: " I believe there has been 

 rather a mistake in the policy of the authorities 

 with reference to this subject, and a mistake, 

 too, on our part. I believe that the continued 

 offer of bounties, and the continued increase 

 of bounties and they have been increasing al- 

 most geometrically from the beginning instead 

 of having a tendency to increase and promote 

 the patriotism of the people, has had a ten- 

 dency to diminish and destroy it. The effect 

 has been, in my judgment, carried on at such a 

 rate as it has been, especially in my section of 

 country, to turn the attention of the people 

 from the fact and the consideration that every 

 man owed to the Government when necessary 

 his personal service, which as a citizen he was 

 bound to render, to the question, ' How much 

 can we make by holding off a little longei 

 before we volunteer?" And the system, as 

 now proclaimed, going on as it does, must ne- 

 cessarily be one that increases and enlarges 

 from day to day. 



' The question then arises, do you mean to 

 keep up that system and abandon your law ? 

 The law either ought to be enforced or aban- 

 doned. We ought to have a draft or else strike 

 the law from our statute book. We adopted 

 the policy. Why ? Because we foresaw that 

 after this war had continued so long the result 

 would be that we should find it difficult to ob- 

 tain men. With all the patriotism that exists 

 in the community, when it comes to the indi- 

 vidual case it is found hard to raise the number 

 of men required. ISTow, will you abandon at 

 once the idea, and say to the people that you 

 have abandoned it ; that there is no such thing 

 in the United States of America as an obligation 

 resting on every able-bodied citizen to serve 

 his country, when his country needs his ser- 

 vices ? Sir, we cannot do so. It is the idea 

 upon which that law was predicated, upon 

 which it was passed, to give the Government 

 the power to command the services of our citi- 

 zens ; and, in my judgment, it should be en- 

 forced. Spend the money you get from exemp- 

 tions in bounties for the purpose of filling up 

 the ranks ; but, SIT, there is no seeing how long 

 the credit of this country can continue what it 

 is if we are to go on recklessly and spend 

 money as if we had a profusion of it and more 

 than we knew what to do with. 



Xow, sir, in my judgment, the failure of 

 the draft, so far as it has been a failure, has 

 been owing to the very clumsy manner in 

 which the thing was attempted to be carried 

 out, arising out of these exemptions for cause 

 more than any thing else." 



Mr. Lane, of Kansas, said : " Mr. President, 

 suppose we resort to a draft alone, and retain 

 the $300 exemption clause. I show you that 

 we cannot, by any possibility, raise an army 

 under any system of draft which retains that 

 clause. We cannot fill our armies under any 

 conscription law which retains the $300 ex- 

 emption clause. If we rely upon volunteering 

 alone, we may, and perhaps will, fill our ar- 



