380 surgeons' reports — Kentucky — sixth district. 



tbose of auy other race. Properly trained ami disciplined, they are the very men with which to 

 garrison the sonthern forts, as neither a hot climate nor malarial fevers affect them in any material 

 degi-ee. # * » 



The "oath" or "afiirmation" required to " verify all claims to exemption " is absurd, and ii 

 waste of time. Does a blind eye, a cleft palate, lupus or cancer of the tongue, an aneurism, a 

 dislocated or ankylosed joint, a curved spine, the total loss of a right thumb or great toe, stone in 

 the bladdei', hernia, fistula in ano, prolapsus aiii, varicose veins of the legs, bunions, malformation 

 of the feet, club-foot deformities, the loss of a hand or foot; does any of these, I say — and they are 

 not all that are in the same category — require an oath or afiirmation before exemption can be right- 

 fully granted? Unless, the surgeon is a Mind man, or has no feeling in his lingers, are not oaths 

 and afiirmations worse than useless iu all such cases! Under the most favorable circumstances, 

 they are, in my judgment, of but very little value. 



It is my sincere belief that iihyaicians and surgeons are, as a class, just as honest and trust- 

 worthy as agents or attorneys can possibly be. Hence the justice of allowing stipulated fees 

 to one, and refusing to allow anything to the other, is not perceived. Perhaps the reason of the 

 law, as it now stands, was founded in the belief that where nothing is given the truth is sure to 

 come forth, and that a fee to physicians or surgeons would be productive of affidavits of the most 

 exempting character, or that they would be more willing with than without a fee to make them, 

 and therefore seek to have the number given as large as possible. But according to my experience, 

 the papers now made out by attorneys for drafted men are of a character more absolute than any 

 physician or surgeon could truthfully make out under any circumstances whatever. The former 

 are paid, the latter are not; yet one has as much to do in the exemption of the man as the other; 

 for what a man would not swear to himself concerning disease or disability iu his own person, most 

 assuredly no physician or surgeon would swear to for him. Either pay the physician and surgeon as 

 the attorney is now paid, or put both upon the same footing, and allow neither of them anything. 

 Lawyers are much more annoying and troublesome than it is possible for auy physician or surgeon 

 to be. » * # 



Commutation might be restored ami made a valuable thing. The Secretary of War should, 

 however, fix the amount sufficiently high to secure beyond a doubt the voluntary enlistment of a 

 better man for the money so paid ; and if tlie money thus paid by each drafted man were placed iu the 

 hands of the receiver of internal revenue, to be disbursed by him to each recruit enlisted and mus- 

 tered in by the provost-mai\shal, upon a certificate from him properly identifying each man, great 

 good would be done to the country and to the service by securing in this way a large bounty-fund 

 to stimulate recruiting, that could not be secured so eiiectually in any other way. It is true that, 

 for the amount so fixed by the Secretary of War as commutation, each man paying it might secure a 

 substitute; but subs' itutes, it is well known, are largely unprincipled, and will desert, while 

 recruits come in under the prestige of honor, and generally feel a pride in maintaining that virtue 

 inviolate. Most of the men who would pay commutation never would go into the Army under any 

 circumstances, but would, as a last resort, put in substitutes. By adopting the plan suggested, the 

 Government would with the same money that would otherwise go into the hands of substitutes, 

 get recruits, men of honor and integrity of purpose, and not bounty jumpers and unprincipled 

 scoundrels. * # * 



Notwithstanding the evils already alluded to as connected with the subject, the principle of 

 substitutitm should, I believe, be inviolably maintained ; for thousands of men who would otherwise 

 be compelled to go into the Army would furnish good substitutes that would do all that the princi- 

 pals themselves could do, while the latter, by remaining at home and conducting large manufactories 

 and business establishments, would do what the substitutes never could and never would, by pay- 

 ing an enormous internal revenue to the Government, thus keeping up the public finances, besides 

 being fairly and fully represented in the Army. Such drafted men would therefore be a double 

 benefit to the country, having each sent a soldier to the Army, while from all would pour a constant 

 stream of treasure into the coffers of the nation, thus supplying the sinews of war as well as the 

 men. But tlie privilege of substituting should be more guarded than at present, to make it safe and 

 valuable as a means of obtaining reliable and trustworthy soldiers for the military service. As the 

 matter stands now, if the man is iihi/sicaUi/ soiaul, tlie other re(]uirements of the law having been 



