CONGRESS. (NAVY PERSONNEL.) 



209 



by this act: And provided also, That all the vol- 

 unteer staff officers herein authorized to be ap- 

 pointed or retained in the service shall be honor- 

 ably discharged on July 1, 1901, or sooner if their 

 services are no longer required: And provided 

 further, That the officers herein authorized shall 

 be appointed by the President, by and with the 

 advice and consent of the Senate. 



" SEC. 15. That the officers and enlisted men 

 of the volunteer army shall be mustered out of 

 the military service of the United States and dis- 

 charged as provided in the act of April 22, 1898: 

 Provided, That enlisted men of volunteers who 

 desire to remain in the military service, either in 

 the regular army or the temporary force author- 

 ized by this act, may, if found qualified therefor, 

 be transferred to and enlisted in such batteries, 

 troops, or companies as may be below the maxi- 

 mum authorized strength, and when so trans- 

 ferred and enlisted shall be credited on their new 

 enlistment with the periods of service rendered 

 by them, respectively, as volunteers: And pro- 

 vided further, That the President is authorized 

 to enlist temporarily in service for absolutely 

 necessary purposes in the Philippine Islands vol- 

 unteers, officers and men, individually or by or- 

 ganization, now in those islands and about to 

 be discharged, provided their retention shall not 

 extend beyond the time necessary to replace them 

 by troops authorized to be maintained under the 

 provisions of this act and not beyond a period 

 of six months: Provided, also, That each and 

 every provision of this act shall continue in force 

 until July 1, 1901; and on and after that date all 

 the general, staff, and line officers appointed to the 

 army under this act shall be discharged and the 

 numbers restored in each grade to those existing 

 at the passage of this act, and the enlisted force 

 of the line of the army shall be reduced to the 

 number as provided for by a law prior to April 1, 

 1898, exclusive of such additions as have been, or 

 may be, made under this act to the artillery, and 

 except the cadets provided for by this act, who 

 may be appointed prior to July 1, 1901 : And pro- 

 vided further, That no officer who has been, or 

 may be, promoted under existing law, or under 

 the rules of seniority, shall be disturbed in his 

 rank. 



" SEC. 16. That the Secretary of War be, and he 

 is hereby, authorized to permit enlisted men of 

 the United States army to make allotments of 

 their pay, under such regulations as he may pre- 

 scribe, for the support of their families or rela- 

 tives, for their own savings, or for other pur- 

 poses, during such time as they may be absent on 

 distant duty, or under other circumstances war- 

 ranting such action. 



" SEC. 17. That no officer or private soldier shall 

 be detailed to sell intoxicating drinks, as a bar- 

 tender or otherwise, in any post exchange or can- 

 teen, nor shall any other person be required or 

 allowed to sell such liquors in any encampment 

 or fort or on any premises used for military pur- 

 poses by the United States; and the Secretary of 

 War is hereby directed to issue such general order 

 as many be necessary to carry the provisions of 

 this section into full force and effect. 



" SEC. 18. That all laws or parts of laws which 

 conflict with the provisions of this act are hereby 

 repealed." 



Navy Personnel. A measure to reorganize 

 and increase the efficiency of the personnel of the 

 navy and the Marine Corps of the United States 

 was passed, after some disagreement between the 

 two house of Congress on points of detail. It 

 embodied the deliberate opinion of naval authori- 

 ties and the policy of the department, and the 

 VOL. xxxix. 14 A 



President approved the act, March 3, 1899. The 

 following is the text of the act: 



" Be it enacted, etc., That the officers consti- 

 tuting the Engineer Corps of the navy be and 

 are hereby transferred to the line of the navy, 

 and shall be commissioned accordingly. 



" SEC. 2. That engineer officers holding the rela- 

 tive rank of captain, commander, and lieutenant 

 commander shall take rank in the line of the 

 navy according to the dates at which they at- 

 tained such relative rank. Engineer officers gradu- 

 ated from the Naval Academy from 1868 to 1876, 

 both years inclusive, shall take rank in the line 

 next after officers in the line who graduated from 

 the Naval Academy in the same year with them: 

 Provided, That when the date of a line officer's 

 commission as captain, commander, or lieutenant 

 commander and the date when the engineer officer 

 attained the same relative rank of captain, com- 

 mander, or lieutenant commander are the same, 

 the engineer officer shall take rank after such 

 line officer. 



" SEC. 3. That engineer officers who completed 

 their Naval Academy course of four years from 

 1878 to 1880, both inclusive, shall take rank in the 

 line as determined by the Academic Board under 

 the department's instructions of Dec. 1, 1897; and 

 engineer officers who completed their Naval Acad- 

 emy course of four years in 1881 and 1882 shall 

 take rank in the line as determined by the merit 

 roll of graduating classes at the conclusion of the 

 six years' course, June, 1883 and 1884: Provided, 

 That those engineer officers who were appointed 

 from civil life, and whose status is not fixed by 

 section 2 of this act, shall take rank with other 

 line officers according to the dates of their first 

 commissions, respectively: And provided further, 

 That the engineer officers who completed their 

 Naval Academy course of four years in 1881 and 

 1882 shall retain among themselves the same rela- 

 tive standing as shown on the Navy Register at 

 the date of the passage of this act. 



" SEC. 4. That engineer officers transferred t& 

 the line who are below the rank of commander, 

 and extending down to, but not including, the 

 first engineer who entered the Naval Academy 

 as cadet midshipman, shall perform sea or shore 

 duty, and such duty shall be such as is performed 

 by engineers in the navy: Provided, That any 

 officer described in this section may, upon his 

 own application, made within six months after 

 the passage of this act, be assigned to the gen- 

 eral duties of the line, if he pass the examination 

 now -provided by law as preliminary to promo- 

 tion to the grade he then holds, failure to pass- 

 not to displace such officer from the list of officers 

 for sea or shore duty such as is performed by en- 

 gineers in the navy. 



" SEC. 5. That engineer officers transferred to 

 the line to perform engineer duty only who rank 

 as, or above, commander, or who subsequently 

 attain such rank, shall perform shore duty only. 



" SEC. 6. That all engineer officers not provided 

 for in sections 4 and 5 transferred to the line shall 

 perform the duties now performed by line officers 

 of the same grade: Provided, That after a period 

 of two years subsequent to the passage of this 

 act they shall be required to pass the examina- 

 tions now provided by law as preliminary to pro- 

 motion to the grade they then hold, and subject 

 to existing law governing examinations for pro- 

 motion. 



" SEC. 7. That the active list of the line of the 

 navy, as constituted by section 1 of this act, shall 

 be composed of 18 rear admirals, 70 captains, 112 

 commanders, 170 lieutenant commanders, 300 

 lieutenants, and not more than a total of 350 



