§ Mr. ROWNTREEasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs if he can state the detailed arrangements President Wilson has made in the United States in connection with the position of the conscientious objector to military service?
Mr. BALFOURThe arrangements with regard to conscientious objectors in the United States are briefly as follow:
By the United States Military Service Act no conscientious objector shall be compelled to serve in any forces provided by that Act, but no person so exempted shall be exempted from service in any capacity which the President shall declare to be non-combatant.
Pursuant to this Section (Section 4 of the Act) the President issued, on 20th March, an Executive Order declaring the following military service to be non-combatant service:
- (a) Service in the Medical Corps wherever performed.
- (b) Any service in the Quartermaster Corps in the United States. Also service in various formations in the rear of zone of operations.
- (c) Any engineer service in the United States. Also service in various formations connected with engineering in the rear of zone of operations.
The Executive Order concludes with various instructions as to deciding cases of conscientious objection, and as to posting conscientious objectors to various units. These would be too long to set out in reply to a question, but, for convenience of hon. Members, I have caused a copy of the Executive Order to be placed in the Library for reference.