BULLETIN WAR DEPARTMENT, WASHINGTON, April 13, 1920. Discontinuance of certain units of the Reserve Officers' Training Discontinuance of Reserve Officers' Training Corps unit--- Section. I II III IV I__Discontinuance of certain units of the Reserve Officers' Training Corps.-The authority for the establishment of Infantry units of the senior, division, Reserve Officers' Training Corps, in each of the following-named institutions, granted in the bulletin referred to after the respective names, is withdrawn: Institutions. Authority granted in Bucknell University, Lewis- Bulletin No. 2, War Departburg, Pa. ment, 1919. Baldwin-Wallace College, Bulletin No. 2, War DepartBerea, Ohio. ment, 1919. Grove City College, Grove City, Bulletin No. 2, War DepartPa. ment, 1919. [000.862, A. G. O.] II__Discontinuance of Reserve Officers' Training Corps unit. The authority for the establishment of an Infantry unit of the junior division, Reserve Officers' Training Corps, in St. Joseph's College, Philadelphia, Pa., granted in Bulletin No. 2, War Department, 1919, is withdrawn. [000.862, A. G. O.] III__Accessions to the Geneva Convention.-Under the provisions of article 32 of the International Convention for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded and Sick in Armies in the Field, signed at Geneva, Switzerland, on July 6, 1906, published on pages 94 to 101 of Bulletin No. 6, War Department, 1913, States or nations, in addition to those named on page 101 of that bulletin, have acceded to the Convention, as follows: Accessions upon deposit of ratification under the second paragraph of article 32: France in 1913. 174481°-20 2 Accession one year after notification of desire to accede under the third paragraph of article 32: Haiti in 1919. [336.6, A. G. O.] IV__Title to Red Cross buildings.—1. The following approved opinion of the Judge Advocate General of the Army relative to title and ownership of buildings erected at the various posts, camps, and stations by the American Red Cross is published for the information and guidance of all concerned : Reservations and Titles. J. A. G. 602.9. [2d ind.] WAR DEPARTMENT, J. A. G. O., TO THE ADJUTANT GENERAL OF THE ARMY: 1. Reference A. G. 680.44, Misc. Div., November 11, 1919. This is a letter from the Director General, Department of Military Relief, American Red Cross, addressed to The Adjutant General, stating that a misunderstanding has arisen as to the title to the buildings erected by the American Red Cross at military camps or reservations other than Regular Army posts, which apparently is due to an opinion of this office rendered under date of March 27, 1919, and requesting a statement from the War Department that will clear up the situation. 2. That part of the said opinion, which is pertinent to the question submitted, is as follows: "2. As the result of an understanding reached at a conference between the Secretary of War, the chairman of the Commission on Training Camp Activities, and representatives of all of the large fraternal orders in the United States with regard to the activities of such organizations at the various training camps, the following order was promulgated in General Orders, No. 2, War Department, January 7, 1918: "Fraternal and benevolent societies of recognized and wellestablished character, either independently or associated together under rules prescribed by the Secretary of War, and to the extent that available ground can be had, or available space in buildings already erected can be spared, for the purpose, may erect, establish, or occupy buildings or such space in buildings already erected for fraternal and social work and service among the members of such societies in the camps and cantonments of the United States, after first obtaining permission from the officer in command. No secret meetings shall be allowed, nor shall any secret, fraternal, or benevolent society conduct any secret work in said camps or cantonments under the authority of this order.' 5. It is clear that in the agreement above referred to between the Secretary of War and the several volunteer or welfare organizations, and in the authority granted by general orders as a result thereof for the erection of buildings by the said organizations at the various training camps and reservations, there was no understanding that the buildings to be erected should become the property of the Government; and in view of the fact that the said buildings were erected and maintained without cost to the Government and without any pecuniary advantage to the organizations, but solely for the benefit and comfort of the soldiers, the commanding officers in granting these licenses, where they were not reduced to writing, can not reasonably be assumed to have required as a condition of the erection and maintenance of these buildings that they should become the property of the Government. On the contrary, it must be assumed that it was the intention of both the Secretary of War and of such commanding officers that the buildings should remain the property of the organizations and be subject to removal by them from the reservations. Moreover, apart from what has been said as to the evident intention of the War Department in the matter, and as to the ownership of the said buildings, there are no legal restrictions that would interfere with or prevent their disposition, when coupled with their removal, by the owners thereof. "6. The conclusion reached, however, in the preceding paragraph does not apply to the American Red Cross. That organization in an application to the War Department in the early part of 1918 for general authority to erect and maintain buildings for its various purposes on the said reservations and at the different camps, proposed and agreed that the buildings which it would construct should upon their completion become the property of the Government; and as a result thereof all the written licenses which have been issued to the said organization since that time have contained a provision to that effect. In view of this agreement it must be held that any verbal license granted subsequently thereto for the erection of such buildings are subject to the said provision.'" (Ops. J. A. G. 602.9.) 3. The director general states in the within letter that the proposal by the Red Cross, referred to in the last paragraph above quoted, was only for the erection of convalescent houses, and he submits in support of his statement a copy of the proposal to the Secretary of War from the chairman of the Red Cross War Council, under date of February 26, 1918, and also a copy of the letter from the Acting Secretary of War, under date of March 5, 1918, accepting the said proposal, which letters confirm his statement. He further states that the Red Cross understands that the buildings erected by ft at Regular Army posts became the property of the Government upon completion. 4. It appears that the statement of fact in paragraph 6 of the said former opinion of this office to the effect that the Red Cross had proposed and agreed that all the buildings which it should be licensed to erect on military reservations and at military |