I The following acts of Congress and Proclamation by the President are published for the information and government of all concerned:

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That all able-bodied male citizens of the United States, and persons of foreign birth who shall have declared their intention to become citizens of the United States under and in pursuance of the laws thereof, between the ages of eighteen and forty-five years, are hereby declared to constitute the national forces, and, with such exceptions and under such conditions as may be prescribed by law, shall be liable to perform military duty in the service of the United States.

SEC. 2. That the organized and active land forces of the United States shall consist of the Army of the United States and of the militia of the several States when called into the service of the United States: Provided, That in time of war: the Army shall consist of two branches which shall be designated, respectively, as the Regular Army and the Volunteer Army of the United States.

SEC. 3. That the Regular Army is the permanent military establishment, which is maintained both in peace and war according to law.

SEC. 4. That the Volunteer Army shall be maintained only during the existence of war, or while war is imminent, and shall be raised and organized, as in this Act provided, only after Congress has or shall have authorized the President to raise such a force or to call into the actual service of the United States the militia of the several States: Provided, That all enlistments for the Volunteer Army shall be for the term of two years, unless sooner terminated, and that all officers and men composing said army shall be discharged from the service of the United States when the purposes for which they were called into service shall have been accomplished, or on the conclusion of hostilities.

SEC. 5. That when it becomes necessary to raise a volunteer army the President shall his proclamation stating the number of men desired, within such limits as may be fixed by law, and the Secretary of War shall prescribe such rules and regulations, not inconsistent with the terms of this Act, as may in his judgment be necessary for the purpose of examining, organizing, and receiving into service the men called for: Provided, That all men received into service in the Volunteer Army shall, as far as practicable, be taken from the several States and Territories and the District of Columbia and the Indian Territory in proportion to their population. And any company, troop, battalion or regiment from the Indian Territory shall be formed and organized under such rules and regulations as shall be prescribed by the Secretary of War.

SEC. 6. That the Volunteer Army and the militia of the States when called into the service of the United States shall be organized under, and shall be subject to, the laws, orders, and regulations governing the Regular Army: Provided, That each regiment of the Volunteer Army shall have one surgeon, two assistant surgeons, and one chaplain, and that all the regimental and company officers shall be appointed by the governors of the States in which their respective organizations are raised: Provided further, That when the members of any company, troop, battery, battalion or regiment of the organized militia of any State shall enlist in the Volunteer Army in a body, as such company, troop, battery, battalion or regiment, the regimental, company, troop, battery and battalion officers in service with the militia organization thus enlisting may be appointed by the governors of the States and Territories, and shall when so appointed be officers of corresponding grades in the same organization when it shall have been received into the service of the United States as a part of the Volunteer Army: Provided further, That the President may authorize the Secretary of War to organize companies, troops, battalions, or regiments, possessing special qualifications, from the nation at large not to exceed three thousand men, under such rules and regulations, including the appointment of the officers thereof, as may be prescribed by the Secretary of War.

SEC. 7. That all organizations of the Volunteer Army she be so recruited time to time as to maintain them as near to their maximum strength as the President may deem necessary, and no new organization shall be accepted into service from any State unless the organizations already in service from such State are as near to their maximum strength of officers and enlisted men as the President may deem necessary.

SEC. 8. That all returns and muster rolls of organizations of the Volunteer Army and of militia organizations while in the service of the United States shall be rendered to the Adjutant-General of the Army, and upon the disbandment of such organizations the records pertaining to them shall be transferred to and filed in the Record and Pension Office of the War Department. And Regimental and all other Medical officers serving with volunteer troops in the field or elsewhere shall keep a daily record of all soldiers reported sick, or wounded as shown by the morning calls or reports, and shall deposit such reports with other reports provided for in this section with the Record and Pension office as provided herein, for other reports, returns and muster rolls.

SEC. 9. That in time of war, or when war is imminent, the troops in the service of the United States, whether belonging to the Regular or Volunteer Army or to the militia, shall be organized, as far as practicable, into divisions of three brigades, each brigade to be composed of three or more regiments; and whenever three or more divisions are assembled in the same army the President is authorized to organize them into army corps, each corps to Consist of not more than three divisions.

SEC. 10. That the staff of the commander of an army corps shall consist of one assistant adjutant-general, one chief engineer, one inspector-general, one chief quartermaster, one chief commissary of subsistence, one Judge Advocate, and one chief surgeon, who shall have, respectively, the rank of lieutenant-colonel; one assistant adjutant-general, who shall have the rank of captain, and the aids-de-camp authorized by law. The staff of the commander of a division shall consist of one assistant adjutant-general, one engineer officer, one inspector-general, one chief quartermaster, one chief commissary of subsistence, and one chief surgeon, who shall halve, respectively, the rank of major, and the aids-de-camp authorized by law. The staff of a commander of a brigades shall consist of one assistant adjutant-general, one assistant quartermaster, and one commissary of subsistence, each with the rank of captain, one surgeon, and the aids-de camped authorized by law. The staff officers herein authorized for the corps, division, and brigade commanders may be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, as officers of the Volunteer Army, or may be assigned by him, in his discretion, from officers of the Regular Army or the Volunteer Army, or of the militia in the service of the United States: Provided, That when relieved from such staff service said appointments or assignments shall terminate.

SEC. 11. That the President is hereby authorized to appoint in the Volunteer Army, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, not exceeding one major-general for each organized army corps and division, and one brigadier general for each brigade, and any officer so selected and appointed from the Regular Army shall be entitled to retain his rank therein: Provided, That each general officer of the Volunteer Army shall be entitled to the number of aids-de-camp authorized for an officer of like grade in the Regular Army.

SEC. 12. That all officers and enlisted men of the Volunteer Army, and of the militia of the States when in the service of the United States, shall be in all respects on the same footing as to pay, allowances, and pensions as that of officers and enlisted men of corresponding grades in the Regular Army.

SEC. 13. That the governor of any State or Territory may, with the consent of the President, appoint officers of the Regular Army in the grades of field officers in organizations of the Volunteer Army, and officers thus appointed shall be entitled to retain their rank in the Regular Army: Provided, That not more than one officer of the Regular Army shall hold a commission in any one regiment of the Volunteer Army at the same time.

SEC. 14. That the general commanding a separate department or a detached army is authorized to appoint from time to time military boards of not less than three nor more than five Volunteer officers of the Volunteer Army to examine into the capacity, qualifications, conduct, and efficiency of any commissioned officer of said army within his command: Provided, That each member of the board shall be superior in rank to the officer whose qualifications are to be inquired into: And provided further, That if the report of such a board is adverse to the continuance of any officer, report be approved by the President, such officer shall be discharged from service in the Volunteer Army, at the discretion of the President, with one month's pay and allowances.

SEC. 15. That all Acts and parts of Acts inconsistent with the provisions hereof be, and the same are hereby, repealed.

Approved, April 22, 1898.

WHEREAS a joint resolution of Congress was approved on the twentieth day of April, 1898, entitled "Joint Resolution for the recognition of the independence of the people of Cuba, demanding that the Government of Spain relinquish its authority and government in the Island of Cuba, and to withdraw its land and naval forces from Cuba and Cuban waters, and directing the President of the United States to use the land and naval forces of the United States to carry these resolutions into effect," and

Whereas, by an act of Congress 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 22, 1898; the President is authorized, in order to raise a volunteer army, to issue his proclamation calling for volunteers to serve in the Army of the United States:

Now, therefore, I, WILLIAM McKINLEY, President of the United States, by virtue of the power vested in me by the Constitution and the laws, and deeming sufficient occasion to exist, have thought fit to call forth and hereby do call forth, volunteers to the aggregate number of 125,000, in order to carry into effect the purpose of the said Resolution; the same to be apportioned, as far as practicable, among the several States and Territories and the District of Columbia, according to population, and to serve for two years, unless sooner discharged. The details for this object will be immediately communicated to the proper authorities through the War Department.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the city of Washington, this twenty-third day of April, A. D., 1898, and of the Independence of the United States the one hundred and twenty second.

[SEAL.] WILLIAM McKINLEY.

By the President:
JOHN SHERMAN
Secretary of State.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, First. That war be, and the same is hereby, declared to exist, and that war has existed since the twenty-first day of April, anno Domini eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, including said day, between the United States of America and the Kingdom of Spain.

Second. That the President of the United States be, and he hereby is, directed and empowered to use the entire land and naval forces of the United States, and to call into the actual service of the United States the militia of the several States, to such extent as may be necessary to carry this Act into effect.

Approved, April 25, 1898.

BY COMMAND OF MAJOR GENERAL MILES:

H. C. CORBIN,
Adjutant General.