Comments on: From Em, Charlestown Mass. 7/27/1916 http://worldwar1letters.wordpress.com/2008/06/25/from-em-charlestown-mass-7271916/ Letters Home from a Yankee Doughboy 1916-1919 Sat, 18 May 2013 15:05:30 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: worldwar1letters http://worldwar1letters.wordpress.com/2008/06/25/from-em-charlestown-mass-7271916/#comment-146 Sun, 18 Jan 2009 15:27:36 +0000 http://worldwar1letters.wordpress.com/?p=3406#comment-146 Dear Readers:
Em’s reference to Graft in Somerville refers to promises made by Somerville city officials to provide financial relief for local members of the Militia with dependents for whom deployment was an economic hardship. Numerous fund-raisers were held on behalf of the Mass. Militia Relief Association, but apparently the “benefits” did not reach their intended recipients in any meangful way, giving rise to widespread suspicions of corruption.

Ultimately the Massachusetts legislature addressed the problem by passing a bill which released members of the Militia from extended deployment duty on the Border in the event of economic hardship.

Regards,
REL

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