New York, June 30, 1864.
My Dear General,
— I desire to submit to your consideration, and to that of the Secretary of
War, an idea which has repeatedly occurred to my mind, namely, the idea of a
continued draft; I mean a draft according to which a district should be obliged
to send so many men, say every month or three weeks or a fortnight. The
advantages of such a distribution of drawing men, over a long time, seem to me
obvious.
(1.) The army would benefit by receiving a continuous afflux
of men in small numbers, instead of receiving from time to time large numbers
in entire regiments of raw soldiers. The recruits would fall in much
easier, and the system would resemble the European method of continuously
replenishing the battalions in the field from the “home stations,” or whatever other
names are given to the recruiting bodies distributed over the country, where
recruits are drilled for the different regiments.
(2.) The drawing of men would be done easier. There would be
no repeated and periodical excitement, and ever-renewed discussion of the
constitutionality of the draft.
(3.) Communities would find it easier, as all distributed
burdens are easier to bear. Men and substitutes could be easier found.
(4.) In point of political economy, it is always easier for
a community to adapt itself to a comparative gentle and continuous withdrawal
of capital or labor, than to a sudden or spasmodic withdrawal.
There are doubtless objections to my proposal. If they over-balance
the advantages the plan must be thrown aside. You, in the centre of government,
must judge of this. You have information and the counsel of many, which a
single man in his library has not; and for which his patriotism, however
ardent, or his attention to public affairs, however keen and regular, forms no
substitute. . . .
SOURCE: Thomas Sergeant Perry, Editor, The Life and
Letters of Francis Lieber, p. 349
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