A  bill  to  exemp 
Conf  Pam  12mo  #54 

DTT15D135X 


^'U.  yxi;r  (W<^.  14<Ji^ 


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%  [House  Bill  No.    .] 

HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES,  February   19,  1863.— Read 
first  and  second  times,  and  ordered  to  be  printed,  "• 

[  By  Mr.  Miles,  from  Committee  on  Military  Affairs.] 


A.   BILL 

To  exempt  certain  persons  from  military  duty,  and  to  repeal  all  Acts 
heretofore  passed  by  Congress  on  the  same  subject. 

1  Section  1.   The  Congress  of  the  Confederate  States  of  America  do 

2  enact f    That  certain  persons,  as  hereinafter  provided,  are,  and 

3  shall  be  exempt  from  military  service  in  the  Provisional  army  of 

4  the  Confederate  States  : 

5  I.  Persons  who  shall  be  held  unfit  for  military  service   in  the 

6  field  by  reason  of  mental  or  physical  incapacity  or  imbecility, 

7  under  rules  to  be  prescribed  by  the  Secretary  of  War. 

8  II.  The   Vice   President  of  the   Confederate  States,  and   the 

9  officers,   judicial   and   executive   of  the   Confederate  and  State 

10  Governments,  including  postmasters  appointed  by  the  President 

1 1  and  confirmed  by  the  Senate,  and  such  clerks  now  employed  in 


9 

12  their  offices  as  are  allowed  in  writing  by  the  Postmaster  General, 

13  and  excluding  all  other  postmasters,  their  assistants  and  clerks, 

14  and  except  such  State  officers  as  the  several  States  may  have 

15  declared  or   may     hereafter    declare,  by    law,  to   be    liable    to 

16  military  duty  in  the  Provisional  army  of  the  Confederate  States. 

17  III.  Members  of  both  Houses  of  the  Congress  of  the  Confed- 

18  erate  States,  and  of  the  Legislatures  of  the  several  States,  and 

19  their  respective  officers. 

20  IV.  All  volunteer  troops  heretofore  raised  by  any  State  since 

21  the    passage    of   the    act    <*  further  to  provide    for   the  public 

22  defence,"  approved  April  16,  1862,  while  such  troops  shall  be  in 

23  active  service  under  State  authority  :  Provided,  This  exemption 

24  shall  not  include  any  person  liable  to  military  duty  under  said 

25  last  named  act. 

26  y.     Pilots  and  persons  actually   and    regularly  engaged   in 

27  the  merchant  marine  service. 

28  VI.  Captains,  engineers,  pilots  and  mechanics  of  boats  actually 

29  and  regulaily  employed  in  river  or  canal  navigation. 

so  VII.  Presidents,  superintendents,  engineers,  and  section-mas- 

31  ters   of    railroads,    and   the    artisans   and   mechanics  regularly 

32  employed  in  the  workshops  of  railroad  companies. 

33  VIII.  The  president,  general  superintendent,  and  operators  of 

34  telegraph  companies,  and  the  local  superintendent  and  operators 


3 

35  of  said  companies,  not  to  exceed  two  in  number  at  any  locality, 

36  except  the  seat  of  Government  of  the  Confederate  States. 

37  IX.  Such  printers  of  each  newspaper  now  being  published  in 

38  the  Confederate  States  as  the  editor  or  proprietor  thereof  may 

39  certify  on  oath  to  be  indispensable  for  conducting  the  publication. 

40  Also  the  Public   Printer,   and  those  employed  to  perform    the 

41  Public  Printing  for  the  Confederate  and  State  Governments. 

42  X.  Ministers    of   religion    authorized   to   preach  according  to 

43  the    rules   of  their  sect,  and   in  the  regular  discharge  of  minis- 

44  terial  duty,  also,  all    persons  who  have  been,  and  now  are  mem- 

45  bera  of  the  society  of  Friends,  and  the  association  of  Dunkards, 

46  Nazarines  and  Menonists,  in    regular   membership  in   their   re- 

47  spective   denominations:    Provided,  Each   member   of  said   de- 
4S  nominations  shall  have  furnished  a  substitute    or  paid  the  tax  of 

49  five  hundred   dollars    into    the   public    treasury,    as    authorized 

50  under  the  exemption   act,   approved   October    11,  1662,  or  shall 

51  hereafter  pay  said  tax. 

52  XI.  Physicians  who  now  are,  and, for  ihe  las:   five  years  have 

53  been,  in  the  actual  practice  of  their  profession. 

54  XII.  Superintendents  of  public    hospitals,  •  lunatic    asylums, 

55  and  the  regular  physicians,  nurses  and    attendants   therein,  and 

56  the  teachers  employed  in  the  institutions  of  the  deaf,  dumb  and 

57  blitid. 


4 

58  XIII.  Presidents  and  teachers  of  colleges,  academies,  schools 

59  and  theological  seminaries,  who  have    been-  regularly  engaged  as 

60  such  for  two  years  previous  to  the  passage  of  this  act. 

61  XIV.  One  practical  apothecary  in  each  drug  store  now  estab- 

62  lishcd,  and  regularly  engaged  in  the    sale    of    drugs,    upon   the 

63  payment  by  said   apothecary,  or  his  employer,  of    five   hundred 

64  dollars,    annually,    into    the    the   treasury    of  the    Confederate 

65  States. 

6Q  .   XV.  The    regiment    raised    under,  and   by   authority    of  the 

67  State  of  Texas,  for  frontier  defense,  now  in   th^   service  of  said 

68  State,  and  while  in  such  service. 

69  XVI.  All  artisans,  mechanics  and  employees  in  the  establish- 

70  ments  of  the  government  for  the  manufacture  of  arms,  ordnance, 

7 1  ordnance  stores,  and  other   munitions  of    war,  or  army  supplies, 

72  who  may  be  certified,  under  oath  by  the  officer  in  charge  thereof, 

73  as  indispensable  to  such  establishments.     All  artisans,  mechan- 

74  ics,  and  employees  in  the  establishments  of  such  persons  as  are, 

75  or  may  be  engaged,    under   contracts   wrh   the  government,  in 

76  furnishing  arms,  ordnance,  ordnance  stores,  and  other  munitions 

77  of  war :  Providtd,  The  Chief  of  the  Ordnance   Bureau,  or  some 

78  ordnance  officer  authorized  by  him  for  the  purpose,  shall  approve 

79  of  the  number  of  operatives   required  in    such  establishments : 
60  And  provided,  also,  That  the  persons  so  contracting  with  the  gov- 


5 

81  ernment  shall  make  oath,  in  writing,  to  be  filed  with  the  Sec- 

83  rotary  of  War,  tfkit  the  artisans,  mechanics,  and  employees  in 

83  said  establishments  are  indispensable  thereto  on  account  of  their 

84  skill  in  such  work  and  labor ;  and  that,  after  diligent  effort,  they 

85  have  been  unable  to   procure  artisans,  mechanics  or  employees, 

86  who  have  been  discharged  from  the  Provisional  Army,  or  who 

87  are  not  subject  to  military  duty.     Also,  all  persons  employed  in 

88  the  manufacture  of  arms  or  ordnance  of  any  kind  by  the  several 

89  States,  or  by  contractors  to  furnish  the  same  to  the  several  State 

90  governments,  whom  the   Governor  or  Secretary  of  State  thereof 

91  may  certify  to  be  necessary   to  the  same :  Provided,  That-said 

92  last  named  contractors  shall  make  oath  as  required  in  this  para- 

93  graph  of  contractors  with  the  Confederate  government. 

94  XVII.  All  persons  engaged  under  the  authority  of  the  Secre- 

95  tary  of  the  Navy  in  the  construction  of  ships,  gun-boats,  engines, 

96  sails,  or  other  articles  necessary  to  the  public  defense. 

97  XYIII.    Superintendents  and  operators   in  wool  and   cotton 

98  factories,  and  paper  mills,   whom  the   Secretary   of  War   may 

99  approve  as  necessary  for  such  establishments.     The  owners  of 

100  said  wool  and  cotton  factories  and  paper  mills  to  make  affidavit 

101  in   writing,  to  be  filed  with  the    Secretary   of  War,  that   said 

102  superintendents  and  operators  are  skilled  as  such  and  indispen- 

103  sable  to  said  establishments. 


6 

104  XIX.    Superintendents,  meahanics,  and  miners,  employed  in 

105  the  production  and  manufacture  of  lead  ami  iron;  also,  persona 

106  engaged  in  burning  coke   for  the   smelting  and   manufacture  of 

107  iron;  regular  miners   in   coal  mines,  and  one  collier  to  each  fur- 

108  nace  and  forge  for  making  blooms,  and  pig   and  bar  iron,  not  to 

109  embrace  laborers,    messengers,  wagoners  and  servants,   unless 

110  employed  at  works  conducted  and  by   the  officers  or  agents  of  a 
HI   State,  or  in  works  employed  in   the  production  of  iron  for  the 

112  Confederate    States:    Provided^    The  persons  interested   in   the 

113  exemption  from  military  duty  of  said  superintendents,  mechanics, 

114  miners  and  colliers,  shall  make  afiidavit  in  writing,  that  said  per- 

115  sons    are    skilled   in    said   labor,  and  are  indispensable  to  such 

116  works;  and  that,  after  diligent  eifort,  they  have  been  unable  to 

1 17  procure  superintendents,  mechanics,  miners  an*&  colliers  who  have 

1 18  been  discharged  from  the   Provisional  Army,  or  who  are  not 

119  subject  to  military  duty. 

120  XX.  Blacksmiths,  mill-wrights   and  the  engineers   of   flour, 

121  grist  and  saw  mills,  skilled,  actually  and  regularly  employed  in 

122  said  trades,  and  regularly  engaged  in  working  for  the  public. 

123  XXI.  All  exemptions  herein  granted  to  persons  by  reason  of 

124  their  peculiar  mechanical  or  other  occupation  or  employment,  not 

125  connected  with  the.public  service,  shall  b^  subject  to  the  condi- 

126  tion  that  the  products  of  the  labor  of  Buch  exempts,  or  of  the 
lil7  companies  and  establiyhmeuts  in  which  they  are  employed,  shall  be 


1 28  sold  and  disposed  of  by  the  proprietors  thereof  at  prices  not  to 

129  exceed  75  per  centum'  upon  the  cost  of  production,  or  within  a 

130  maximum    to   be    fixed   by  the    Secretary  of  War,  under    such 

131  regulations  as  he  may  prescribe  ;  and  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  said 

132  proprietors  to  have  at  all  times  exhibited,  in  the  most  conspicuous 

133  place  in  their  said  establishments,  a  list,  in  writing,  verified  by 

134  affidavit,  of  the  cost  of  each  item  entering  into  the  production  of 

135  the  articles  or  wares  offered  by  them  for  sale  to  the  public  ;  and 

136  if  it  shall  be  made  known  to  the  Secretary  of  War'  or  any  oiEcer 

137  authorized  to  enroll  such  persons,  that  said  exhibit  has  not  been 

138  made,  or  that  any  of  the  conditions  of  said  exemptions,  specified 

139  in  this  paragraph,  have  been  violated,  or  in  any  manner  evaded, 

1 40  by  said  proprietors,  the  exemption  granted  shall  no  longer  be 

141  extended  to  them,  their ,  superintendents   or   operatives  in   said 

142  establishments,  but  they  and  each  and  every  of  them  shall  be 

143  forthwith  enrolled  and  ordered  into  the  Confederate  army,  and 

144  shall  in  no  event  be  again  exempted  therefrom  by  reason  of  said 

145  manufacturing  establishment  or  employment  therein. 

• 

146  XXII.  In  addition  to  the  exemptions  specified  in  the  foregoing 

147  paragraphs,  the  Secretary  of  War  is   hereby   authorized,  and   it 

148  shall.be  his  duty,  under  the   direction    of  the   President,  to  ex- 

149  empt  or  detail  from   the   provisional   army,  upon   any  terms   or 

150  conditions  he  may  prescribe,  such   other   persons  as  he   shall  be 

151  satisfied,  with  the  sanction  of  the  President,  ought  to  be  exempt- 


8 

1 52  ed  or  detailed  for  the  police  of  plantations  cultivated  exclusively  by 

153  slave  labor  and  owned  by  widdows.  minors  under  eighteen,  lunatics 

154  and  persons  in  the  service  of  the  country;  also,  for  the  mainte- 

155  nance  and  support  of  the  army,  the  public  defense,  or  the  general 

156  vital  interests  of  the    country:  and    it   is   the    true   intent   and 

157  meaning  of  this  act  that  the    enumeration  of  the    exemptions  in 

158  the  foregoing  paragraphs,  shall  not  be    construed  to    limit  or  ro- 

159  strain  the  exercise  of  the  power  herein  granted. 

1  Sec.  2*  That  the   foregoing   exemptions   shall    only  continue 

2  whilst  the  persons  exempted   are    actually   engaged   in  their  re- 

3  spective  pursuits  or  occupations. 

1  .      Sec.  3.  That  all  acts   or   parts   of  acts   heretofore   passed  by 

2  Congress  to    exempt   persons   from  military  service  in  the  pro- 

3  visional  army  of  the  Confederate  States,  are  hereby  repealed. 


Hollinger  Corp. 
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