This was delivered by Sheriff McClure, chairman of the local board, and before he had finished, Filan was in tears. Sheriff McClure said: "You have by your actions today escaped the military draft of this country, but while doing so you have implied upon your name a stain which can never be removed, and if I had my way you would be relieved of everything and left with nothing but what you actually possessed when you came to this country; then I would have board, sent back to the country whence you came.

"You came to the United States and have enjoyed the privileges of this great free country; you have prospered as you could not have done in your native land, and now when your adopted country is in danger you are too cowardly to take up arms in her defense. You want to live in peace, till our soil and accumulate a bank account, but while you are doing this other boys are laying down their lives to insure the peace you wish to enjoy. They are offering the supreme sacrifice and you are perfectly content to stand aside and let them fight your battles for you.

"Other boys from your community, of your own nationality, have answered the call, because they were too manly to shirk a duty and evade a man's part simply because the government allows them this prerogative if they wish to take advantage of it.

"Today you have renounced your allegiance to this country; rather than fight in her defense you prefer to live as a man without a country, for you have barred yourself from ever becoming a citizen of the United States. 