Assignment of Quotas for the Draft. the enrolling and calling out the national forces, and for other purposes," approved March 3, 1865, the provost marshal general is required to change the present quotas in the pending draft by reason of corrections in the enrollment, made since their assignment? In the 13th section of the act, it is enacted, "that where any revised enrollment in any congressional or draft district has been obtained or made, prior to any actual drawing of names from the enrollment lists, the quota of such district may be adjusted and apportioned to such revised enrollment, instead of being applied to or based upon the enrollment as it may have stood before the revision." It will be seen that the language of this section is in the past tense, and properly so, although referring to future and existing enrollments. An enrollment must ever precede any action under the section. It was, therefore, right to speak of the enrollment as a past fact, as something that had been done. Regarding the section by itself, and as unaffected by other clauses in the statute, it applies as well to any future as to an existing enrollment. But at the time of the enactment there was an enrollment and pending draft under a call for additional troops, and this appears from the proviso to the 15th and 27th sections. It is provided in the 15th section that the rule of credits fixed therein shall not apply to the pending call; and in the 27th section, it is "provided, that nothing herein contained shall operate to postpone the pending draft, or interfere with the quotas assigned therefor." Neither of these provisos can be regarded as repugnant to the 13th section. They do nothing more than prevent a construction of the act that would change the rule of credits as to the pending draft, or that would postpone it, or that would interfere with quotas assigned therefor. Indeed Congress has by implication declared that the quotas assigned for the present or pending draft shall not be interfered with. This could have been done in the enacting parts of the statute, but it may be as well and aptly done by proviso. Substitutes in the Draft. Now if the corrections provided for in the 13th section are made to apply to the present draft, the quota as assigned therefor will be interfered with. This is what Congress has said shall not be done. After the pending draft, the provisos will have performed their office, and all future drafts must be made subject to the rules prescribed in the act. I am therefore of opinion that the provost marshal general is not required to change the present quotas in the pending draft by reason of corrections in the enrollment made since their assignment. I am, sir, very respectfully, Hon. E. M. STANTON, Secretary of War. JAMES SPEED. SUBSTITUTES IN THE DRAFT. 1. The 23d section of the act of March 3, 1865, chap. 79, does not supersede the 4th section of the act of February 24, 1864, chap. 13. 2. The "recruits" whom enrolled persons may cause to be mustered into service under the 23d section of the act of March 3, 1865, are to be considered as other volunteers obtained at the expense of the United States. ATTORNEY GENERAL'S OFFICE, March 14, 1865. SIR: The first question propounded in your letter of the 10th instant is, whether the 23d section of the act of March 3, 1865, "supersedes" the 4th section of the act of February 24, 1864? The 4th section of the act of February 24, 1864, enables any enrolled person, before a draft, to furnish "an ac⚫ceptable substitute, who is not liable to draft, nor at the time in the military or naval service of the United States," and provides that the person so furnishing such substitute "shall be exempt from draft during the time for which Substitutes in the Draft. such substitute shall not be liable to draft, not exceeding the time for which such substitute shall have been accepted." Under this enactment, any person enrolled and liable to draft, may obtain exemption from the draft during the whole period of time for which he shall procure a substitute to be enlisted, provided the substitute shall be so long not liable to draft. It is not a mere credit for a particular draft which such person obtains by furnishing a substitute before the anticipated draft, but it is an absolute exemption from liability to be drawn at any and every draft which may occur during the entire term for which his substitute has been accepted by the Government, provided the substitute be so long not liable to draft. If, for example, his substitute is accepted as a three years volunteer, and remain so long not liable to draft, the principal, by the provision of the law of 1864 just referred to, is insured against the risk of being drafted during the whole period for which his substitute enlisted, no matter how many drafts may occur between the enlistment of the substitute and the expiration of his term of service. But the Government, under this provision, is to be at no expense in consequence of the authorized substitution of one individual for another in the draft. The party who desires to avail himself of the benefit of the privilege conferred by the law, is properly and justly required to compensate the substitute. Such being the provision of the law of 1864, on the subject of "substitutes" furnished in anticipation of a draft, the law of March 3, 1865, provides (in its 23d section) as follows: "That any person or persons enrolled in any subdistrict may, after notice of a draft and before the same shall have taken place, cause to be mustered into the service of the United States, such number of recruits not subject to draft as they may deem expedient, which recruits shall stand to the credit of the persons thus causing them. to be mustered in, and shall be taken as substitutes for such persons or so many of them as may be drafted, to the extent of the number of such recruits, and in the order Substitutes in the Draft. designated by the principals at the time such recruits are thus as aforesaid mustered in." It is clear that this enactment provides for quite another case than that contemplated by the provision adverted to in the statute of 1864, and confers upon an enrolled person a privilege entirely distinct from that given to him by that statute, of which he may avail himself at his option, in preference to the privilege conferred by the act of 1864. Under the provision of the 23d section of the act of March 3, 1865, he may, in advance of a draft, "cause to be mustered into the service" a "recruit not subject to draft," which "recruit" will "stand to the credit" of the enrolled person causing him to be mustered in, in the event of the principal being drafted, and will be taken on the happening of that contingency as a substitute for such principal. But the "credit" shall avail him only for the particular draft in advance, and in anticipation of which he may have secured the "recruit." There is no provision in the act of 1865 that the person furnishing a "recruit" under the 23d section shall be "exempt from draft" during the time for which the recruit may have been accepted and enlisted. But the only benefit which a person so furnishing a recruit derives under the act of 1865, is the securing, in the event of his being drafted, a "credit" on the particular draft in anticipation of which the recruit may have been furnished. The "recruit" may be mustered into service for three years, and yet as a substitute he can only avail the person who caused him to be mustered in for and with respect to the one draft before and in anticipation of which he was obtained. The liability of the principal to be drafted at any other drafts, occurring after the mustering in of the "recruit" and during the term of his service, is not at all affected. There is manifestly, therefore, no conflict between the respective sections of the acts of 1864 and 1865, to which you have called my attention. One does not impinge upon or even cross the path of the other. They give different and distinct rights and privileges to the citizen liable to draft. Substitutes in the Draft. He has the alternative course to pursue before any draft, either to buy a "substitute" and secure him to be mustered in, and thus obtain exemption from the draft during the entire term of the enlistment of the substitute, if the latter be so long not liable to draft, or obtain credit for such recruit in case he should be drafted, subjecting himself, however, to the liability of being compelled to repeat the operation at every succeeding draft that may be ordered by the President. Chiefly, I suppose, the design of the provision of the act of 1865 was to offer inducement, and present a stimulus, to numbers or associations of individuals in any sub-district, before the liability of any of them became fixed by a draft, to obtain volunteer recruits for the army. Congress, in this law, offers such associations a premium to use their exertions to fill up the armies. It says to the residents of the multitudinous counties, townships, wards and precincts throughout the country, "organize yourselves into recruiting societies, induce volunteers to enlist into the service before the draft, pay them such amounts of bounty as you may be able to raise by your contribution to the recruiting funds of your several districts, and when they have been enlisted into the service, the volunteers you may have raised will stand to the credit of as many of you as may happen to be drafted to the extent of the number of the recruits in the order designated at the time the recruits are mustered in." Such is the declaration and promise of the new law. Its policy is to encourge recruiting, not the procuration of substitutes; to induce the public to organize associations for the advancement of volunteering, rather than the purchase of substitutes. In enacting the new law, and inaugurating this new policy, Congress, however, has not taken away the right of the enrolled person, before the draft, to furnish a substitute, with the qualification before stated, and thus secure his exemption from draft during the time for which his substitute shall have been accepted. He still has it in his |