The Debate in Congress on the Conscription Act

The Debate in Congress
On the Conscription Act
(From the Congressional Record of May 16.)

Mr. MILLER of Minnesota. Mr. Speaker, I am in favor of the GOOD amendment, and for reasons that are to me sound. In the first place, this bill does not call to the service men from 19 to 25, as originally proposed. It calls men to the service between the ages of 21 and 31. As we advance the age we more and more draw to the service men who are married, with families dependent upon them.

Mr. GORDON. Those are exempted under the law. Mr. MILLER of Minnesota. You just keep quiet while I use up my own time in my own way. (Laughter). We are not seeking to call these men to the defense of the country, but we demand that they come. I for one do not believe that we have the right to command a man with a family dependent upon him for support unless we at the same time pay him a sufficient wage, which will enable him in some measure to support that family.... It is not true that married men and those with dependents are necessarily exempt. The law says that they may be exempted but it does not say that they shall be. If this war is a real war everyone knows many more millions may be called, and married men will be drafted. That is not entirely theoretical. We all had experience during the period of the mobilization of the National Guard last summer. One of the greatest disadvantages that accrued was because of the dependent families left by the men who were then in one sense drafted to go upon the border.

Mr. KAHN
Mr. Speaker, the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Miller) is entirely in error when he states that we propose to take into the Army men with families dependent upon them. The bill in express words exempts those very men from service in the Army.

Mr. DENT
Mr. Speaker, it is an absolutely unfair argument to make on the floor of this House that you will take men away from their families and leave them in a dependent condition under the present bill. The exemption clause in this bill provides expressly that those married men, and even unmarried men, who have dependent families shall be exempted from its operation.

Mr. MILLER of Minnesota. Will the gentleman yield?

Mr. DENT. No; I can not.

Mr. MILLER of Minnesota. Is that the language in the bill?Mr. DENT. The law is so careful to take care of those people that it goes even one step further and provides that even the soldier now in service, whether he be in the Regular Army or in the National Guard, may be discharged if he has a family dependent upon him for support. So that we have absolutely taken care of dependent families in this country.... ___(Representative Kahn was in charge of the fight to pass the conscription bill in the House, Representative Dent is chairman of the committee on military affairs, and Representative Gordon was a member of that committee.)