WASHINGTON, July 31, 1917 – Behind the petticoats of a spouse acquired for the purpose of evading the draft will be no safe place for a slacker to hide. The young men who have thronged to marriage license offices since June 20th in the fond hope that the government would look upon them as exempt probably have thrown their hymenal efforts away.
They may even have committed a misdemeanor and be liable to prosecution. If this be so, their war brides will be liable to prosecution.
Provost Marshall General Crowder, aroused today by the reports of throngs of men of draft age invading the marriage license bureaus in the larger cities, made this purposely plain.
He announced: “By section six of the Act of May 18 (the conscription act) any person who evades or aids another to evade the requirements of this act is guilty of a misdemeanor, and local boards are authorized to warn persons who claim discharge on the grounds of marriage concocted since the date of the act, that both parties are liable o prosecution under this provision.
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