all the benefits of the pension laws existing at the time of his service, and in case such officer, noncommissioned officer, or private dies in the service of the United States or in returning to his place of residence after being mustered out of such service, or at any time, in consequence of wounds or disabilities received in such service, his widow and children, if any, shall be entitled to all the benefits of such pension laws. SEC. 23. That for the purpose of securing a list of persons specially qualified to hold commissions in any volunteer force which may hereafter be called for and organized under the authority of Congress, other than a force composed of organized militia, the Secretary of War is authorized from time to time to convene boards of officers at suitable and convenient army posts in different parts of the United States, who shall examine as to their qualifications for the command of troops or for the performance of staff duties all applicants who shall have served in the Regular Army of the United States, in any of the volunteer forces of the United States, or in the organized militia of any State or Territory or District of Columbia, or who, being a citizen of the United States, shall have attended or pursued a regular course of instruction in any military school or college of the United States Army, or shall have graduated from any educational institution to which an officer of the Army or Navy has been detailed as superintendent or professor pursuant to law, after having creditably pursued the course of military instruction therein provided. Such examinations shall be under rules and regulations prescribed by the Secretary of War, and shall be especially directed to ascertain the practical capacity of the applicant. The record of previous service of the applicant shall be considered as a part of the examination. Upon the conclusion of each examination the board shall certify to the War Department its judgment as to the fitness of the applicant, stating the office, if any, which it deems him qualified to fill, and, upon approval by the President, the names of the persons certified to be qualified shall be inscribed in a register to be kept in the War Department for that purpose. The persons so certified and registered shall, subject to a physical examination at the time, constitute an eligible class for commissions pursuant to such certificates in any volunteer force hereafter called for and organized under the authority of Congress, other than a force composed of organized militia, and the President may authorize persons from this class to attend and pursue a regular course of study at any military school or college of the United States other than the Military Academy at West Point, and to receive from the annual appropriation for the support of the Army the same allowances and commutations as provided in this act for officers of the organized militia: Provided, That no person shall be entitled to receive a commission as a second lieutenant after he shall have passed the age of thirty; as first lieutenant after he shall have passed the age of thirty-five; as captain after he shall have passed the age of forty; as major after he shall have passed the age of forty-five; as lieutenantcolonel after he shall have passed the age of fifty, or as colonel after he shall have passed the age of fifty-five: And provided further, That such apppointments shall be distributed proportionately, as near as may be, among the various States contributing such volunteer force: And provided, That the appointments in this section provided for shall not be deemed to include appointments to any office in any company, troop, battery, battalion, or regiment of the organized militia which volunteers as a body or the officers of which are appointed by the governor of a State or Territory. SEC. 24. That all the volunteer forces of the United States called for by authority of Congress, shall, except as herein before provided, be organized in the manner provided by the act entitled "An act to provide for temporarily increasing the military establishment of the United States in time of war, and for other purposes," approved April twenty-second, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight. SEC. 25. That sections sixteen hundred and twenty-five to sixteen hundred and sixty, both included, of title sixteen of the Revised Statutes, and section two hundred and thirty-two thereof, relating to the militia, are hereby repealed. SEC. 26. That this act shall take effect upon the date of its approval. Approved, January 21, 1903. EXTRACT FROM ARMY APPROPRIATION ACT, APPROVED MARCH 2, 1903. Provided further, That for the purpose of furnishing the necessary articles requisite to fully arm, equip, and supply each regiment, battalion, squadron, company, troop, battery, signal, engineer, and hospital corps and medical department of the organized militia of the several States, Territories, and the District of Columbia with the same armament and equipment as are now prescribed for corresponding branches of the line or staff in the Regular Army, without cost to said States, Territories, or the District of Columbia, but to remain the property of the United States, and to be accounted for in the manner now prescribed by law, the Secretary of War is hereby authorized, under such regulations as he may prescribe, on the requisitions of the governors of the several States and Territories, or the commanding general of the militia of the District of Columbia, to issue the said armament and equipment to the organized militia; and the sum of two million dollars is hereby appropriated and made immediately available until expended for the procurement and issue of the articles constituting the same. APPENDIX A, 1900.-General Chaffee's report on China relief expedition .. 395-407 419-455 APPENDIX B, 1902.-Statement of fiscal affairs of Cuba during American 455-465 APPENDIX C, 1902.-Amnesty proclamation 465-466 APPENDIX D, 1902.-Memorandum by Chief of Artillery on Army and Navy 466-468 APPENDIX F, 1902.-Order of Secretary of War on education.... 469 APPENDIX K, 1902.-General Bates' report on maneuvers at Fort Riley.... 470-479 479-480 APPENDIX A, 1903.-Act to increase the efficiency of the Army (establishing 481-482 APPENDIX B, 1903.-General Orders, No. 35, Adjutant-General's Office, 1903, 482-483 483-487 APPENDIX F, 1903.-Act to promote efficiency of militia, and extract from 487-493 Academy, Military. (See Military Academy.) Adjutant-General sent to Philippine Islands to inaugurate measures of Aguinaldo, capture of.. Ahern, Capt. George P Ainsworth, Gen. F. C... Alaska: Army in- Increase of...... Reduction of....... Strength of Cable between State of Washington and- Construction recommended Construction authorized 177 173 220 169 78 171 78, 147, 246, 326 305 360 495 Military roads and telegraph lines; recommendation for appropriation. 172 Appropriations, expenditures, and estimates, comparative statement.. Arellano, Don Cayetano Arlington National Cemetery. Army: Act to increase efficiency of, Appendix A, 1903.. 311, 373 99, 207 481 Organization, improvement of. (See Reorganization of the Army.) |