326 surgeons' eeports — Pennsylvania — thirteenth district. 



eugaj-eil in examining and uiu^eriug volunteers and substitutes, at an average of about twenty-five 

 per day. Had an order from tlie W;i)- Department been issued to discontinue tlie business of this 

 office, it would not have been more eft'ectual in stopping enlistments than this was. The disloyal 

 districts felt no interest in the draft. Their enrollments had long since become exhausted, without 

 having tilled a single quota, and no quota had been assigned to them under the last call. Still 

 there existed in their midst a large number of young men, from various causes not liable to draft, 

 who were anxious to accept the large bounties offered and enter the service. The requirements of 

 this section deprived them of that privilege, to the great- detriment of the Government, without 

 conferring anj' corresponding benefit upon the districts in which they lived. My opinion is that 

 the men who enter the field and do the fighting should be well paid lor their services, and that those 

 who prefer to remain at home should be made to contribute freely for that purpose, and any legis- 

 lation that would prevent it is not only a detriment to the soldier but to the Government also. 



H. P. MOODY, 

 Surgeon Board of Enrollment Tioelfth District of Pennsylvania. 

 SCRANTON, Pa., June 10, 1SG5. 



PENNSYLVANIA— THIRTEENTH DISTRICT. 



Extracts from report of De. W. S. Baker. 



• * * I have the honor to report that about nine thousand two hundred and 



seventy-four uieu have been examined by the surgeon of the board of enrollment of this district 

 since the opening of the ofiice in May, 1863. * * * 



Drafted men, with rare exceptions, are very desirous of being exempted from service as drafted 

 men. The repugnance to serving in that capacity is so grent that all kinds of artifices and excuses 

 are made to avoid such service. The same men who cheerfully ofl:ered their services as volunteers 

 when no offers of large bounties induced thetu, will use artifices to obtain exemptions when called 

 on for service as drafted men. Americans do not like compulsion, 'and yet, when obliged to go into 

 the service, they generally do it with a good grace; and I see little difference in the cheerfulness 

 with which a squad of drafted men or volunteers start for the rendezvous. 



Our Government has heretofore exacted such light duties and laid such small burdens on the 

 people — it has been so little felt as a controlling power, and men were so free to pursue the avoca- 

 tions of their choice — that a mnv duty to be performed was felt to be onerous and to be avoided if 

 possible. 



The repugnance to serving as drafted men was increased by the taunts of the volunteers at 

 the men for waiting to be drafted. The efforts of the opi)onents of the Government to make the 

 draft odious had an 'effect in keeping up a feeling against it. I think the repugnance to drafting 

 is less than it was two years ago, and when it shall have become a princii)le settled in the minds 

 of the people that all able men owe a service in the armi-es of the reimblic, which must be paid 

 whenever the Government calls for that service, and that it is equally honorable to render the 

 service when chosen by lot as in any other manner, there will be less hostility to the draft. It is 

 right and judicious that bounties should be given; men of small means and dependent families 

 should have an assurance that their dear ones are provided lor while they are away, and there is 

 no better assurance than leasing bounties received with their families ; but the bounties should be 

 uniform and given by the authority of the General Government, or at least by the States. The 

 vicious system of giving bounties helped to create and continue a feeling of opposition to the sys- 

 tem of drafting. Each State, district, and subdistrict being in competition and outbidding others, 

 the less wealthy sub distiicts, despairing of filling their qiu)tas by volunteers, allowed their men to 

 leave and be credited to other districts without an effort to fill their quota. 



When a draft is in [uospect, men begin to think of volunteering, and the number of volunteers 

 increases as the amount of the bounties increases. The system of offering bounties varying in 

 amount operated very unfavorably in some i)articulars. Bach sub-district was in competition with 

 every other ; larger and larger bounties were offered, and enlisting delayed ; finally, most of the 

 enlisting was done duiing the few days immediately preceding the draft. The effect of competition 

 in bounties has been to drain men from the poorer and sparser settlements to the wealthier sub- 



