- Transcription
File Local Exemption Boards
Ashe Co [handwritten at top]
T. C. BOWIE
ATTORNEY AT LAW
JEFFERSON, N.C.
November 5, 1917.
Hon. T. W. Bickett,
Raleigh, N.C.
Dear Governor:
I note with some interest your advice to the Local Exemption Board in regard to attorneys preparing affidavits, and I desire to inquire of you whether you intend to place such a construction upon your order as to prohibit attorneys from making charges for preparing affidavits for parties who desire exemptions under the new regulations and ruling of the Department known as Bulletin No. 96. As I understand it an attorney preparing such affidavits is not acting on behalf of the Government but on behalf of the petitioner who is seeking to avoid military service. I do not understand that it could be construed to be the patriotic duty of any attorney in North Carolina to gratuitously render his services to any party who is seeking to avoid military service. Most certainly the Board has not the time to prepare such affidavits, and it is not their duty to do so, and I do not understand that any attorney could be required to perform such services not for the Government but for the individual voluntarily and without compensation. I would like to know if it is the purpose of your order to cover such cases as this in order that I may govern myself accordingly.
With best wishes and highest regards, I am
Yours truly,
