The Daily Dispatch: December 17, 1863., [Electronic resource]

Volunteering in New York.

‘ It is lamentable to observe the almost-entire apathy which private here in regard to procuring enlistments under the last call of the President. The Board of Supervisors, the Common Council, the Loyal League, and the citizens generally, have satisfied themselves with a little talk, and are now taking absolutely no steps at all in the matter. It is getting to be a serious affair, and unless some energetic action is had immediately, it is certain that the city will not raise its quota, nor anything like it.

’ Not a cent of cash bounty is given to volunteers at any of the recruiting offices, and the inevitable consequence is that recruits are few and far between. Gen. Spinola and other officers who are authorized to recruit have been trying in vain to induce the authorities to offer sufficient bounties. In the meantime the precious days and weeks are rapidly slipping away, and the little State of New Jersey, by counting out its greenbacks liberally, is absorbing a large portion of our surplus and floating population. Of course this is not "as it should be," but there is no present probability of improvement.