in his judgment, justice, equity, and necessity, require such
details."

This statute retained two features that had already given rise to
much friction, and that were destined to be the cause of much
more. It was still within the power of state governors to impede
conscription very seriously. By certifying that a man was
necessary to the civil administration of a State, a Governor
could place him beyond the legal reach of the conscripting
officers. This provision was a concession to those who looked on
Davis's request for authority over exemption as the first step
toward absolutism. On the other hand the statute allowed the
President a free hand in the scarcely less important matter of
"details." Among the imperative problems of the Confederacy,
where the whole male population was needed in the public service,
was the most economical separation of the two groups, the
fighters and the producers. On the one hand there was the
constant demand for recruits to fill up the wasted armies; on the
other, the need for workers to keep the shops going and to secure
the harvest. The two interests were never fully coordinated.
Under the act of 1864, no farmer, mechanic, tradesman, between
the ages of seventeen and fifty, if fit for military service,
could remain at his work except as a "detail" under orders of the
President: he might be called to the colors at a moment's notice.
We shall see, presently, how the revoking of details, toward the
end of what may truly be called the terrible year, was one of the
major incidents of Confederate history.

Together with the new conscription act, the President approved on
February 17, 1864, a reenactment of the tax in kind, with some