SUEGKONS" ItEPORlS — OHIO — SEVENTH DISTRICT. 405 



to be a cause of exeiiiptioii ; the lUiiess of the man for military service being left to the diserimiua- 

 tion of (he e.xainluiiig-surgeoii. 



I would also recommend for adojitioii, in paragraph 85, a clause for the exemption of such 

 enrolled, not drafted, meu as are, at the time of their examination, laboring under acute disease, 

 temporary debility, or disability supervening upon an attack of disease, to such a degree as that, 

 in the oi)inion of the examiniug-surgeon, their disability may disqualify them for the service a cer- 

 tain stated i)eriod. * « * 



The number of men that can be accurately examined daily, alone, without excessive labor, 

 working six hours a day, is about Jifty, but, with the assistance of a clerk and orderly, semnty-fice 

 can be accurately examined very coujfortably and without fatigue. * » * 



The fiauds most successfully practiced by recruits and substitutes iu order to get into the 

 service, and the most diflicult sometimes to discover, are the concealment of epilepsy, and misrep- 

 resentation of age. Induced by high local bounties, great numbers of boys, some of them scarcely 

 sixteen years of age, and, on the other band, men often exceeding forty-eight or fifty years, have 

 enlisted at the different recruiting-oflices, and have attempted to pass an examination at this 

 office. Many of these boys, whose youthful a])i)caraiice at once betrayed their unripe age, were 

 not even allowed to strip, but were sent out of the room without even having their names recorded. 

 Many of those over age would resort to the trick of coloring their hair and shaving their faces, 

 the better to pass an examination, not so much with the view of getting into the service, as of 

 getting the lai'ge bounty. 



That we have been, in some instances, deceived is probable enough ; and the wonder is that we 

 have not been oftener deceived, considering that the number rejected for under and over age 

 exceeds all the other causes of rejection together. 



Boys that have been rejected at one office often apply to another, and I have frequently exam- 

 ined boys and old men who, by their own acknowledgment, had been rejected by the examining- 

 surgeous in various districts of other States as well as of this State. 



While the recruit or substitute makes it his business to conceal any existing disqualiticatiou 

 in order to get into the service, the drafted or enrolled man, by an exaggeration of some real or 

 pretended disability, endeavors to keep out of it. Chronic rheumatism, old and long-forgotten 

 injuries, sprains, slight i)leuritic adhesions and weakness of breast, previous attacks of sickness, 

 deafness, near-sightedness, sore eyes, and physical disability are some of the most frequent claims 

 by which he expects to escape the ser\ ice. 



Such are some of the most successful frauds practiced by recruits, substitutes, drafted and 

 enrolled men; and tliere is no remedy I know of that will entirely obviate the difficulty. 



The greatest i)hysical aptitude for military service is uniiuestionably, as far as my observation 

 extends, found in the American-born, especially in men of the Northwestern States. 



My experience as to the physical qualifications of the colored race lor military service has as 

 yet been very limited, not havijig examined to exceed three hundred of them; yet, as far as my 

 observation goes, 1 think their physical qualitications equal to those of the white race. Those that 

 I have examined were generally healthy, stout, and exceedingly well physically developed. 



The enrollment-law, in my opinion, is practically efficient as constituted, and I will not 

 attempt to suggest any amendment other than that, shoukl there be occasion for another call, every 

 man within the age of twenty and forty five years, whether exem])t for i)liysical disability or not 

 exempt, be re enrolled, excepting such as are by law exempt from having served two years in the 

 Army. The necessity for this is obvious from the fact that great numbers of enrolled men who, 

 in our oi)inion, were very properly exempted, throughout the various districts of the United 

 States, on account of physical disability, have since sufficiently recovered from the same as to be 

 efficient subjects for military duty. * * * 



M. LEMEN, 

 Surgeon Board of Enrollment Seventh District of Ohio. 



OoLUMBus, Ohio, June 12, 1865. 



