SEC. 264. That the Secretary of War shall from time to time report to Congress whether or not a proper course of instruction in military tactics is maintained at the several colleges endowed with the proceeds of the sale of public lands, as stipulated in the act of July second, eighteen hundred and sixty-two.

SEC. 265. That officers on duty at the several colleges and universities may during the stated vacations have leave of absence without deduction from their pay or allowances.

TRAVELING ON DUTY.

SEC. 266. That whenever an officer is ordered from one station to another, or for the performance of any duty, not being with troops, he shall proceed by the most direct route practicable without unnecessary delay; and, except in case of sudden illness, he must not apply for leave of absence or permission to delay from the time he receives the order until he has arrived at his destination.

SEC. 267. That whenever an officer under orders shall appear to have made unusual or unnecessary delay on the route, immediately on his arrival at the post the commanding officer will call upon him to report the cause of his delay, and should such report be unsatisfactory, the officer will be placed in arrest, and the necessary charges will be preferred. If the delinquent be the senior officer at the post, the required report will be made by him to the Department Commander.

SEC. 268. That whenever an officer is detached from his company, regiment, or post, for the performance of a specified duty, he will, on completion of that duty, return to his previons station, unless otherwise ordered.

LEAVES OF ABSENCE AND FURLOUGHS.

SEC. 269. That in no case shall leave of absence be granted so that a company be left without a commissioned officer, or that a garrisoned post be left without two commissioned officers and competent medical attendance; nor shall leave of absence be granted to an officer during the season of active operations, except on urgent necessity.

SEC. 270. That leave of absence shall commence on the day the officer is relieved from duty at his proper station. He shall report monthly his address for the next thirty days to the commanding officer of his post and of his regiment or corps, and to the Adjutant-General of the Army, together with any change of address, and in his first report will state when his leave of absence commenced; and the date of his departure and return must be noted on the post return.

SEC. 271. That in time of peace commanding officers may grant leaves of absence as follows:

First. The commander of a post, not to exceed seven days at one time or in the same month.

Second. The commander of a geographical department, for a period not exceeding

one month.

Third. The commander of a geographical division, for a period not exceeding two months, or he may extend a leave granted by the Department Commander to that period.

Fourth. The Commanding General of the Army, for a period not exceeding four months, or he may extend a leave granted by subordinate authority to that period. A leave of absence for more than four months can be granted only by the President or Secretary of War.

Fifth. It is not competent for division or department commanders to sanction or grant delays to officers returning to their stations after expiration of leave granted by higher authority. In giving permission to apply for the extension of a leave of absence, the term of the extension shall be stated.

SEC. 272. That applications for leave of absence from officers of the several staff departments and bureaux must be referred through the Adjutant-General of the Army to the chiefs of the departments or bureaux concerned, in order that their recommendations may be submitted to the authority competent to grant the leave.

SEC. 273. That the commander of a post may take leave of absence not to exceed seven days at one time or in the same month, reporting the fact to his next superior. SEC. 274. That three months' leave of absence will, under ordinary circumstances, be allowed to graduates, on quitting the Military Academy as cadets; but with this exception no leave of absence exceeding seven days at any one time shall, unless in extraordinary circumstances, be granted to any officer till he has served with his regiment or corps at least two years.

SEC. 275. That an application for leave of absence on account of sickness shall be accompanied by a certificate from the senior medical officer present on duty, in the form that may be prescribed by the Secretary of War.

SEC. 276. That on the expiration of a leave of absence on account of sickness, if the officer be able to travel (without endangering his ultimate cure), he shall forthwith

proceed to his post, although his disability may not have been removed. Exceptions to this general rule must be made in each case by the War Department on full and explicit medical certificates, setting forth the reasons for delay and the length of time delay is considered necessary.

SEC. 277. That when an officer is prevented by sickness from joining his station, he shall transmit the prescribed medical certificates monthly to the commanding officer of his post and of his regiment or corps through department headquarters and to the Adjutant-General of the Army direct; and when he cannot procure the certificates of a medical officer of the Army he shall substitute his own certificate, on honor, of his condition, and a full statement of his case, and this, if satisfactory, will be sufficient authority for his absence until he is able to travel to his post. If the officer's certificate is not satisfactory, he shall be so informed. Whenever an officer has been absent on account of sickness for one year, he shall be brought before a medical board for examination, and a special report shall be made to the President of his case; and in all reports of absence, or application for leave of absence, on account of sickness, the officer shall state how long he has been already absent on that account, and by whose permission.

SEC. 278. That no officer or soldier shall leave the United States, to go beyond sea, without permission from the War Department.

SEC. 279. That every officer commanding a regiment or an independent troop, battery, or company, not in the field, may, when actually quartered with such command, grant furloughs to the enlisted men, in such numbers and for such time as he shall deem consistent with the good of the service. Every officer commanding a regiment, or an independent troop, battery, or company, in the field, may grant furloughs not exceeding thirty days at one time, to five per centum of the enlisted men, for good conduct in the line of duty, but subject to the approval of the commander of the forces of which said enlisted men form a part. Every company officer of a regiment, commanding any troop, battery, or company not in the field, or commanding in any garrison, fort, post, or barrack, may, in the absence of his field officer, grant furloughs to the enlisted men, for a time not exceeding twenty days in six months, and not to more than two persons to be absent at the same time: Provided, That all furloughs may be prohibited by the commanding officer.

SEC. 280. That furloughs shall not be granted by any commanding officer to go beyond the limits of the command of the next higher authority; and to warrant a soldier in going beyond such limits, the sanction of the higher authority must have been indorsed on his furlough. The prescribed limits will be stated in the furlough, and the man departing therefrom shall be liable to arrest and revocation of his furlough. SEC. 281. That furloughed soldiers reporting themselves at military posts and depots as destitute of the means of returning to their proper stations shall be detained by the commanding officer, who will also submit the facts of the case for action of the department commander. As a general rule, these absentees will be sent to a post or depot from which there is a probability that they can soon be sent with some detachment to their proper station or its vicinity. In urgent cases, where the applicant can show sufficient cause for his inability to pay his own expenses, the Department Commander may order transportation tickets to be purchased for him by the Quartermaster's Department; and where this is done, a special report of the amount paid for such transportation shall be made by letter to the company commander, who will charge the same against the soldier's pay on the next muster-roll. The same amount, together with the date when the soldier reported himself, will be noted on his furlough.

EXCHANGES AND TRANSFERS.

SEC. 282. That the transfer of officers from one regiment or corps to another shall be made only by the War Department, and exchanges shall be made only between officers of equal grade; that, except when rendered necessary by a reorganization of the Army, no transfer shall be made to the prejudice of the rank of any other officer of the corps or regiment concerned, or from one corps or arm of service to another, without the advice and consent of the Senate.

SEC. 283. That the transfer or exchange of company officers in a regiment shall not be made without a previous reference through the department commander to the Commanding General of the Army; and when such transfer has been sanctioned, a copy of the order announcing it shall be at once forwarded to the Adjutant-General of the Army; but this section shall not prohibit the temporary assignment of officers to do duty with other companies than their own, at the discretion of the commanding officer. SEC. 284. That transfers of enlisted men from one arm of the service to another, from one regiment to another, and between companies of the same regiment when serving in different military divisions, will be made only by the Commanding General of the Army. They may be transferred,

First. From one company to another of the same regiment, both serving in the same division or department, by the division or department commander, as the case may be.

Second. By the colonel, upon the application of the captains concerned, from one company to another at the same post.

SEC. 255. That the transfer of enlisted men shall take effect from the first of a month, and a complete descriptive roll will accompany the soldier transferred, which roll will embrace an account of his pay, clothing, and other allowances; also all stoppages to be made on account of the government, and debts due the laundress, as well as such other facts as may be necessary to show character and military history; and a copy of the order of transfer shall be forwarded direct to the Paymaster-General.

RESIGNATION OF OFFICERS.

SEC. 286. That the President alone shall have power to accept the resignation of an officer of the Army; and that resignations shall be forwarded by the commanding officer to the Adjutant-General of the Army, and with them, where leave is given, the officer's address. Before approving the tenders of resignation of disbursing officers, commanding officers shall cause all public money and property in their hands to be turned over to some proper officer designated to receive the same; and the fact that such action has been had shall be indorsed on the resignation, and also reported to the head of the proper Staff Department at Washington.

SEC. 27. That before presenting the resignation of any officer, the Adjutant-General shall ascertain and report to the Secretary of War the state of such officer's accounts of money, as well as of public property, for which he may have been responsible. SEC. 28. That resignations tendered under charges, when forwarded by any commander, shall always be accompanied by a copy of the charges, or, in the absence of written charges, by a report of the case, for the information of the Secretary of War. SEC. 29. That any officer of the Army on the active list who shall accept or exercise the functions of any civil office, and any officer of the Army on the Retired or Reserved List who shall accept or hold any appointment in the diplomatic or consular service of the government, shall thereupon cease to be an officer of the Army; and no officer of the Army on the active list shall be employed on any works of individual or State internal improvements, or by incorporated companies.

DISCHARGES AND DISMISSALS.

SEC. 290. That no officer of the Army shall be discharged or dismissed from the service except by order of the President, or by, or in mitigation of, the sentence of a general court-martial; and in time of peace no officer shall be discharged or dismissed except by, or in mitigation of, the sentence of a general court-martial approved by the President, or as may be otherwise specially provided by law.

SEC. 291. That when any officer, dismissed without trial, by order of the President, makes in writing an application for trial, setting forth, under oath, that he has been wrongfully dismissed, the President shall, as soon as the necessities of the service may permit, convene a court-martial to try such officer on the charges on which he shall have been dismissed. And if a court-martial is not so convened within six months from the presentation of such application for trial, or if such court, being convened, does not award dismissal or death as the punishment of such officer, the order of dismissal by the President shall be void.

SEC. 292. That in order to give effect to the provisions of the next preceding section, the commanders forwarding recommendations for summary dismissal shall transmit therewith charges and specifications appropriate to the offense imputed, properly drawn, and supported by affidavits or official reports, with the names of the witnesses by whom all material allegations can be substantiated; that application for trial shall be made as soon as practicable after the receipt of the notice of dismissal; and that, should the President revoke the order of dismissal before arraignment of the accused, he may also be tried upon such additional charges as may be properly preferred, and may be punished according to the nature of his offense.

SEC. 293. That after a soldier shall have been duly enlisted and sworn, he shall not be dismissed the service without a discharge in writing, according to the form prescribed by the Secretary of War; and no discharge granted to him shall be sufficient which is not signed by a field officer of the regiment to which he belongs, or commanding officer, where no field officer of the regiment is present; and no discharge shall be given to a non-commissioned officer or soldier, before his term of service has expired, except,

First. By direction of the President or Secretary of War;

Second. By, or in mitigation of, the sentence of a general court-martial;

Third. On certificate of disability by the commander of a geographical department or of an army in the field;

Fourth. By order of a court of the United States, or a judge thereof, on writ of habeas corpus.

SEC. 294. That when a soldier is to be discharged, his company commander shall

furnish him a certificate of his account, or "Final Statement "; and to insure his getting that certificate, no leave of absence terminating with his service will be given to him; that at remote interior stations, however, where the only means of communication with the settlements is by the occasional government trains, soldiers may be given their discharge one, two, or even three months before their term is out, that they may avail themselves of such opportunities whenever there is a reasonable certainty that they would otherwise be necessarily detained at the post for a very much longer period after the expiration of their terms of service; but that in all such cases permission must be obtained beforehand from the commanding officer of the department, except only in an unforeseen and extraordinary emergency, when the discharge may be granted by the commanding officer of a post, who shall immediately report the circumstances to the department commander.

SEC. 295. That whenever a soldier shall be unfit for the military service in consequence of wounds, disease, or infirmity, his captain shall forward to the commander of the department or of the army in the field, through the commander of the regiment or post, a statement of his case, with a certificate of his disability signed by the senior surgeon of the hospital, regiment, or post, according to the form prescribed in the Regulations; and that if the discharge of the invalid be approved, the authority therefor shall be indorsed on the "certificate of disability," which will be sent back to be completed and signed by the commanding officer, who will then send the same direct to the Adjutant-General's Office at Washington.

SEC. 296. That the cause of a soldier's discharge, and his age at the date of discharge, shall be stated in the body of the discharge certificate. The certificate of character must carefully accord with the facts, or the space left for that purpose shall, when the man is unfit for re-enlistment by reason of bad conduct, be cut off. Re-enlistments shall be noted by the recruiting officer, giving date and place, upon the discharge certificate of prior enlistments, and former company commanders shall be so notified, that the facts may be recorded on their descriptive books; and cases of deception shall be reported to the Adjutant-General of the Army.

SEC. 297. That in all cases where it is necessary for any officer or soldier to file his evidence of honorable discharge, from the military service of the United States, to secure the settlement of his accounts, the accounting officer with whom it has been filed shall, upon application by said officer or soldier, deliver to him such evidence of honorable discharge: Provided, That his accounts shall have been duly settled: And provided, That the fact, date, and amount of such settlement shall first be clearly written across the face of such evidence of honorable discharge, and attested by the signature of the accounting officer.

SEC. 298. That whenever satisfactory proof shall be furnished to the War Department that any officer or soldier has lost his certificate of discharge, or the same has been destroyed without his privity or procurement, the Secretary of War shall furnish, on request, to such officer or soldier a duplicate of such certificate of discharge, to be indelibly marked, so that it may be known as a duplicate; but such certificate shall not be accepted as a voucher for the payment of any claim against the United States for pay, bounty, or other allowance, or as evidence in any other case.

SEC. 299. That all deserters from the Army who deserted therefrom prior to July first, eighteen hundred and seventy-eight, shall be, and the same are hereby, dishonorably discharged from the service of the United States; but nothing in this section shall exempt them from arrest and punishment by military authority for any criminal offense other than desertion that they may have committed in the service; or to entitle them to any pay or allowances whatever.

RETIRED OFFICERS.

SEC. 300. That officers of the Regular Army shall be transferred from the Active List to the Retired List, on account of age, as follows, namely: first, general officers, upon attaining the age of sixty-five years, unless the President shall otherwise specially direct; second, all officers other than those herein before mentioned, upon reaching sixty-two years of age: Provided, That nothing in this or in following sections shall be construed in derogation of the provisions of section forty of this act.

SEC. 301. That any officer of the Regular Army who shall have served forty years either as an officer or soldier in the Regular or Volunteer service, shall, upon his own application, be transferred to the Retired List; and upon such application he may be thus transferred at the discretion of the President, at any time after twenty-five years such service.

SEC. 302. That when any officer of the Regular Army shall have become incapable of performing the duties of his office, he shall be either transferred to the Retired List, or be discharged from the service, as hereinafter provided.

SEC. 303. The chiefs of the several departments and bureaux of the staff, and the commanders of the geographical divisions and departments, of the Corps of Engineers, and of the several regiments, shall from time to time, and at least once in each year,

report to the Commanding General of the Army, for the information of the Secretary of War and of the President, all officers belonging to their several departments, bureaux, or commands who are deemed incapable for the performance of the duties of their several offices; and the officers thus reported shall, as soon as practicable, be summoned before a Retiring Board for examination.

SEC. 304. That under the direction of the President, the Secretary of War shall from time to time assemble Army Retiring Boards to examine the cases of officers reported upon, as indicated in next preceding section, or who may for other reasons be deemed incapable for the performance of their proper duties.

SEC. 305. That a Retiring Board shall consist of not more than nine nor less than five officers, two-fifths of whom shall be selected from the surgeons of the Army, and as far as may be, the members, other than the medical officers, shall be senior in rank to the officer to be examined.

SEC. 306. That a Retiring Board shall inquire into and determine the facts touching the nature and occasion of the disability of any officer who appears to be incapable of performing the duties of his office; it shall have such of the powers of a general courtmartial as may be necessary for that purpose; and the members shall be sworn in every case to discharge their duties honestly and impartially; and no officer shall be transferred to the Retired List, or be discharged, upon the recommendation of the Board, without a full and fair hearing before it, if upon due summons he shall demand such hearing.

SEC. 307. That when a Retiring Board finds that an officer is incapacitated for active service, it shall also find and report the cause of such incapacity, and whether or not it has resulted from an incident of the service. And the Board shall recommend, upon dne consideration of the officer's age and the other circumstances of the case, whether his disability shall be rated as total, three-fourths, or one-half.

SEC. 308. That the proceedings and findings of a Retiring Board shall be transmitted to the Secretary of War, and shall by him be laid before the President for his action; and no decision of the Board shall be carried into effect until the proceedings shall have been personally examined by the President, and such decision personally approved by him.

SEC. 309. That when a Retiring Board finds that an officer is incapacitated for active service, and that the incapacity is the result of an incident of service, the officer shall be transferred to the Retired List. If it be found that the incapacity results neither from an incident of the service nor from any vicious habit of the officer, he shall be transferred to the Retired List or be discharged, as the President, upon the recommendation of the Board, may direct. But if it be found that the officer's incapacity is the result of intemperance, idleness, or other vicious habit, he shall be discharged. SEC. 310. That all officers now on, or hereafter to be transferred to, the Retired List, shall be borne on that list with the corps rank actually held by them at the date of their retirement; or, if retired by reason of wounds received in action, upon the highest corps rank actually held by them, in the Regular or Volunteer service, at the time the disability was incurred.

SEC. 311. That officers transferred to the Retired List on account of age or length of service shall thereafter be entitled to receive two per centum of the current yearly pay of the rank upon which they are retired, for each and every year's service rendered, either as an officer or as a soldier in the Regular or Volunteer service: Provided, That the retired pay of an officer under this section shall in no case exceed eighty per centum of the pay of the rank upon which he is retired.

SEC. 312. That an officer transferred to the Retired List on account of incapacity resulting from an incident of the service shall thereafter be entitled to receive the full pay of the rank upon which he is retired if the disability be total, seventy per centum of that pay if the disability be three-fourths, and fifty per centum if the disability be one-half or less. If the incapacity for which the officer is thus retired be not the result of an incident of the service, he shall be entitled to receive seventy per centum of the pay of the rank upon which he is retired if the disability be total, fifty per centum if the disability is three-fourths, and twenty-five per centum if it be only one-half or less. But in no case shall the pay of an officer retired for incapacity be less than that which he would have received if retired on account of age or for length of service.

SEC. 313. That the officers now on the Retired List shall, as soon as practicable, be rated for pay in accordance with the provisions of this act; and for the purpose of determining the pay of those transferred to that list on account of incapacity, the President is authorized and requested to appoint a Special Retiring Board, consisting of one general officer, five colonels (namely, one of artillery, one of cavalry, one of infantry, and two from the staff departments), and three surgeons. Upon an examination of the records in each case, and after taking such additional testimony as may appear necessary, this Board shall recommend whether, in view of the present circumstances of each case, the officer's disability should be rated as total, three-fourths, or one-half; but the pay of an officer shall not be reduced under the operation of this section without his having had a full and fair hearing before the Board, if upon due notice of such con