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be a member of any well-organized religious sect or organization at present organized and existing and whose existing creed or principles forbid its members to participate in war of any form and whose religious convictions are against war or participation therein accordance with the creed or

principles of said religious organizations, but no person so exempted shall be exempted from service in any capacity that the President shall declare to be noncombatant."

Determination as to whether the members of this church come within the purview of this section rests with the Exemption Boards now being appointed, and to make the exemption thereunder.

Very truly yours,

Provost Marshal General.

The manner in which American conscientious objectors were sent to military camps in World War I; the abuses they sustained from certain military authorities; the numerous negotiations of peace churches with the government; the forging of a farm furlough system-all these have been told and retold and the documents of personal experiences are numerous as one scans the diaries and letters of the conscientious objectors. Both government and church were poorly prepared to cope with this problem which had to be resolved in a way satisfactory to a society as it underwent the acute tensions of war. In reality it was the individual, in the home community and in the military camp, who bore the brunt in those difficult days.

The achievement of government recognition of conscience against participation in war and the subsequent working out of a plan to provide for conscientious objection was the result of the various Mennonite groups working singly and sometimes cooperatively. (Other peace churches such as the Quakers and Church of the Brethren likewise were influential.)

The Ohio Mennonites and Amish were especially involved in the intercessory efforts that followed the Mennonite General Conference in late August 1917 near Goshen, Indiana. Here a lengthy statement of position had been drafted; caution and restraint were advised. It became quite clear that spokesmen for nonresistant people should lay their case before key persons in government.'

On September 1, 1917, General Conference representatives, Aaron Loucks, D. D. Miller, and S. G. Shetler, went to interview government officials in behalf of Mennonite conscientious objectors facing conscription.