Chapter 166. Amending the Act entitled “An Act to authorize the President to increase temporarily the Military Establishment of the United States,” approved May eighteenth, nineteen hundred and seventeen
1,755 words·~8 min read·
/statutes-at-large/vol-40/chapter-166-3989831·A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.
CHAP. 166.— An Act Amending the Act entitled “An Act to authorize the President to increase temporarily the Military Establishment of the United States,” approved May eighteenth, nineteen hundred and seventeen. August 31, 1918.[[H. R. 12731](/us/bill/65/s/12731).][[Public, No. 210](/us/pl/65/210).] *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled*, That the second sentence of Army emergency increase.*Ante*, p. 77, amended.*Ante*, p. 557.section two of the Act entitled.
“An Act to authorize the President to increase temporarily the Military Establishment of the United States,” approved May eighteenth, nineteen hundred and seventeen, as amended, be, and is hereby, amended to read as follows: " Such draft as herein provided shall be based upon liability to military Selective draft.Male persons between is and 45 liable.service of all male citizens and male persons residing in the United States, not alien enemies, who have declared their intention to become citizens, between the ages of eighteen and forty-five, both inclusive, and shall take place and be maintained under such regulations as the President may prescribe not inconsistent with the terms of this Act: *Provided*, That the President may draft such persons *Provisos*.Sequence of ages permitted.Neutral aliens may withdraw declaration of intention and be relieved of military liability.*Ante*, p. 885.liable to military service in such sequence of ages and at such time or times as he may prescribe: *Provided further*, That a citizen or subject of a country neutral in the present war who has declared his intention to become a citizen of the United States shall be relieved from liability to military service upon his making a declaration, in accordance with such regulations as the President may prescribe, withdrawing his intention to become a citizen of the United States, which shall operate and be held to cancel his declaration of intention to become an American citizen, and he shall forever be debarred Citizenship forever barred thereby.from becoming a citizen of the United States.
" Sec. 2. That the provision wherever occurring in section four of Exemptions from draft.*Ante*, p. 79, amended.said Act, “persons engaged in industries, including agriculture, found to be necessary to the maintenance of the Military Establishment or the effective operation of the military forces or the maintenance of national interest during the emergency,” be, and is hereby, amended to read as follows: " Persons engaged in industries, occupations, or employments, Persons in industries, occupations, etc., necessary to present national interest, etc.including agriculture, found to be necessary to the maintenance of the Military Establishment or the effective operation of the military forces or the maintenance of national interest during the emergency.
" Sec. 3. That section five of said Act be, and is hereby, amended Registration.*Ante*, p. 80, amended.Ages liable.Presentation for, on notice given by proclamation.*Post*, pp. 1840, 1851, 1856, 1860.to read as follows: " That all male persons between the ages of eighteen and forty-five, both inclusive, shall be subject to registration in accordance with regulations to be prescribed by the President, and, upon proclamation by the President or other public notice given by him or by his direction stating the time or times and place or places of any such registration, it shall be the duty of all persons of the designated ages, except officers and enlisted men of the Regular Army; officers and Exceptions.Persons in armed service.enlisted men of the National Guard while in the service of the United States; officers of the Officers’ Reserve Corps and enlisted men in the Enlisted Reserve Corps while in the sendee of the United States; officers and enlisted men of the Navy and Marine Corps; officers and enlisted and enrolled men of the Naval Reserve Force and Marine Corps Reserve while in the service of the United States; officers commissioned in the Army of the United States under the provisions of this Act; persons who, prior to any day set for registration by the Previously registered.*Ante*, p. 557.President hereunder, have registered under the terms of this Act or under the terms of the resolution entitled “ Joint resolution providing for the registration for military service of all male persons citizens of the United States and all male persons residing in the United States who have, since the fifth day of June, nineteen hundred and seventeen, and on or before the day set for the registration by proclamation by the President, attained the age of twenty-one years, in accordance with such rules and regulations as the President may 956prescribe under the terms of the Act approved May eighteenth, nineteen hundred and seventeen, entitled ‘An Act to authorize the President to increase temporarily the Military Establishment of the United States,’ ” approved May twentieth, nineteen hundred and Diplomatie and consular officers of foreign countries.eighteen, whether called for service or not, and diplomatic representatives, technical attachés of foreign embassies and legations, consuls general, consuls, vice consuls, and consular agents of foreign countries, residing in the United States, who are not citizens of the Personal notice inferred.United States to present themselves for and submit to registration under the provisions of this Act; and every such person shall be deemed to have notice of the requirements of this Act upon the Punishment for not registering.publication of any such proclamation or any such other public notice as aforesaid given by the President or by his direction; and any person who shall willfully fail or refuse to present himself for registration or to submit thereto as herein provided shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall, upon conviction in a district court of the United States having jurisdiction thereof, be punished by imprisonment for not more than one year and shall thereupon be duly *Provisos*.Precedence for trials.registered: *Provided*, That in the call of the docket precedence shall be given, in courts trying the same, to the trial of criminal proceedings Age extent defined.under this Act: *Provided further*, That persons shall be subject to registration as herein provided who shall have attained their eighteenth birthday and who shall not have attained their forty-sixth birthday on or before the day set for the registration in any such proclamation by the President or any such other public notice given by him or by his direction, and all persons so registered shall be and remain subject to draft into the forces hereby authorized unless exempted Subsequent registration on attaining age of 18.or excused therefrom as in this Act provided: *Provided further*, That the President may at such intervals as he may desire from time to time require all male persons who have attained the age of eighteen years since the last preceding date of registration and on or before the next date sot for registration by proclamation by the President, except such persons as are exempt from registration hereunder, to register in the same manner and subject to the same requirements and liabilities as those previously registered under the Registration by mail.terms hereof: *And provided further*, That in the case of temporary absence from actual place of legal residence of any person liable to registration as provided herein, such registration may be made by mail under regulations to be prescribed by the President: *And provided further*, Registrants formerly in the Navy may reenlist.That men registered under the provisions of this Act who have served in the Navy of the United States shall, upon their own application, be permitted to reenlist in the naval or marine service of the United States with and by the approval of the Secretary of the Navy.
" Sec.. 4. Registrants liable to serve in Army, Navy, or Marine Corps. That all men rendered available for induction into the military service of the United States through registration or draft heretofore or hereafter made pursuant to law, shall be liable to service in the Army or the Navy or the Marine Corps, and shall be allotted to the Army, the Navy, and the Marine Corps under regulations *Proviso*.Application of Navy and Marine Corps regulations.to be prescribed by the President: *Provided*, That all persons drafted and allotted to the Navy or the Marine Corps in pursuance hereof shall, from the date of allotment, be subject to the laws and regulations governing the Navy and the Marine Corps, respectively.
Sec. 5. Wife of soldier or sailor.Eligible for Government position. That the wife of a soldier or sailor serving in the present war shall not be disqualified for any position or appointment under the Government because she is a married woman. Sec. 6. Soldiers.Eligible to Army commissions, etc., regardless of age, etc. That soldiers, during the present emergency, regardless of age and existing law and regulations, shall be eligible to receive commissions in the Army of the United States.
They shall likewise be eligible to admission to officers’ schools under such rules and regula957tions as may be adopted for entrance to such schools, but shall not be barred therefrom or discriminated against on account of age. Sec. 7. That the Secretary of War is authorized to assign to educational Drafted men.Assignment for special training to schools at public expense.*Post*, p. 1029.institutions, for special and technical training, soldiers who enter the military service under the provisions of tins Act in such numbers and under such regulations as he may prescribe; and is authorized to contract with such educational institutions for the subsistence, quarters, and military and academic instruction of such soldiers.
Sec. 8. That any person, under the age of twenty-one, who has Public lands.Persons under 21 in Army may make entries, etc.*Post*, p. 960.served or shall hereafter serve in the Army of the United States during the present emergency, shall be entitled to the same rights under the homestead and other land and mineral entry laws, general or special, as those over twenty-one years of age now possess under said laws: *Provided*, That any requirements as to establishment of *Provisos*.Residence required.residence within a limited time shall be suspended as to entry by such person until six months after his discharge from military service: *Provided farther*, That applications for entry may be verified before Verification of applications.any officer in the United States, or any foreign country, authorized to administer oaths by the laws of the State or Territory in which the land may be situated.
Sec. 9. That hereafter, uniforms, accouterments, and equipment Uniforms, etc.Officers and cadets may obtain, from the Government at cost.shall, upon the request of any officer of the Army or cadet at the Military Academy, be furnished by the Government at cost, subject to such restrictions and regulations as the Secretary of War may prescribe. Approved, August 31, 1918.