No. 15.

ADJUTANT GENERAL'S OFFICE,

Washington, March 16, 1897.

The following acts of Congress are published for the information and government of all concerned:

I..An Act To prohibit the sale of intoxicating drinks to Indians, providing penalties therefor, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That any person who shall sell, give away, dispose of, exchange, or barter any malt, spirituous, or vinous liquor, including beer, ale, and wine, or any ardent or other intoxicating liquor of any kind whatsoever, or any essence, extract, bitters, preparation, compound, composition, or any article whatsoever, under any name, label, or brand, which produces intoxication, to any Indian to whom allotment of land has been made while the title to the same shall be held in trust by the Government, or to any Indian a ward of the Government under charge of any Indian superintendent or agent, or any Indian, including mixed bloods, over whom the Government, through its departments, exercises guardianship, and any person who shall introduce or attempt to introduce any malt, spirituous, or vinous liquor, including beer, ale, and wine, or any ardent or intoxicating liquor of any kind whatsoever into the Indian country, which term shall include any Indian allotment while the title to the same shall be held in trust by the Government, or while the same shall remain inalienable by the allottee without the consent of the United States, shall be punished by imprisonment for not less than sixty days, and by a fine of not less than one hundred dollars for the first offense and not less than two hundred dollars for each offense thereafter: Provided, however, That the person convicted shall be committed until fine and costs are paid. But it shall be a sufficient defense to any charge of introducing or attempting to introduce ardent spirits, ale, beer, wine, or intoxicating liquors into the Indian country that the acts charged were done under authority, in writing from the War Department or any officer duly authorized there unto by the War Department.

SEC. 2. That so much of the Act of the twenty-third day of July, eighteen hundred and ninety-two, as is inconsistent with the provisions of this Act is hereby repealed.

Approved, January 30, 1897.

[The act referred to in section 2, was published in General Orders, No. 56, Headquarters of the Army, Adjutant General's Office, August 13, 1892.]

II--An Act To provide for appointment by brevet of active or retired officers of the United States Army.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That all officers of the Regular Army of the United States, active or retired, who served in the volunteer forces during the late war, may, at the discretion of the President, receive a brevet in the Regular Army equal to the highest rank held or the highest brevet received in the said volunteer forces and be commissioned accordingly as of the date of such brevet: Provided, That they have not already received a brevet of equal or higher grade in the Regular Army.

Received by the President, February 4, 1897.

[NOTE BY THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE.-The foregoing act having been presented to the President of the United States for his approval, and not having been returned by him to the house of Congress in which it originated within the time prescribed by the Constitution of the United States, has become a law without his approval.]

III--An Act Authorizing the Secretary of War to issue Springfield rifles to each State and Territory for the National Guards thereof, in exchange for other rifles now held.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Secretary of War is hereby authorized to issue to the governors of the several States and Territories such number of Springfield breech-loading rifles, caliber forty-five one-hundredths of an inch, as are now required for arming all of the regularly organized armed and equipped militia (generally known as the National Guard) of each State and Territory that are not already supplied with this arm: Provided, That each State or Territory be required on receipt of the new arms to turn into

the Ordnance Department, United States Army (without receiving any money credit therefor), an equal number of the arms now in its possession, except its Springfield rifles, caliber forty-five one-hundredths of an inch.

SEC. 2. That each State and Territory shall hereafter make an annual return to the Secretary of War of all the arms issued to them under this or any former Act of Congress as provided for in the Act of February, eighteen hundred and eighty-seven, making a permanent annual appropriation for arming and equipping the militia.

SEC. 3. That any State or Territory may, in addition to the stores and supplies issued under the provisions of this Act and the Act of February, eighteen hundred and eighty-seven, purchase for the use of its national guard or reserve militia, at regulation prices for cash at place of sale, such stores and supplies from any department of the Army as, in the opinion of the Secretary of War, can be spared.

Approved, February 24, 1897.

IV. Joint Resolution To enable the Secretary of War to detail an officer of the United States Army to accept a position under the Government of the Greater Republic of Central America.

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Secretary of War is hereby authorized to detail an officer of the United States Army, not above the rank of captain, who shall be permitted to accept from the Government of the Greater Republic of Central America the position of instructor in a military school in said Republic and the emoluments pertaining thereto.

Approved, March 3, 1897.

V..An Act To prevent trespassing upon and providing for the protection of national military parks.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That every person who willfully destroys, mutilates, defaces, injures, or removes any monument, statue, marker, guidepost, or other structure, or who willfully destroys, cuts, breaks, injures, or removes any tree, shrub, or plant within the lim

its of any national parks shall be deemed guilty of misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of not less than ten dollars nor more than one thousand dollars for each monument, statue, marker, guidepost, or other structure, tree, shrub, or plant destroyed, defaced, injured, cut, or removed, or by imprisonment for not less than fifteen days and not more than one year, or by both fine and imprisonment.

SEC. 2. That every person who shall trespass upon any national parks for the purpose of hunting or shooting, or who shall hunt any kind of game thereon with gun or dog, or shall set trap or net or other device whatsoever thereon for the purpose of hunting or catching game of any kind, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of not more than one thousand dollars or by imprisonment for not less than five days or more than thirty days, or by both fine and imprisonment.

SEC. 3. That the superintendent or any guardian of such park is authorized to arrest forthwith any person engaged or who may have been engaged in committing any misdemeanor named in this Act, and shall bring such person before any United States commissioner or judge of any district or circuit court of the United States within either of the districts within which the park is situated, and in the district within which the misdemeanor has been committed, for the purpose of holding him to answer for such misdemeanor, and then and there shall make complaint in due form.

SEC. 4. That any person to whom land lying within any national parks may have been leased, who refuses to give up possession of the same to the United States after the termination of said lease, and after possession has been demanded for the United States by any park commissioner or the park superintendent, or any person retaining possession of land lying within the boundary of said park which he or she may have sold to the United States for park purposes and have received payment therefor, after possession of the same has been demanded for the United States by any park commissioner or the park superintendent, shall be deemed guilty of trespass, and the United States may maintain an action for the recovery of the possession of the premises so withheld in the courts of the United States, according to the statutes or code of practice of the State in which the park may be situated.

SEC. 5. This Act shall apply only to the military parks of the United States.

Approved, March 3, 1897.

VI--An Act To amend section forty-eight hundred and seventy-eight of the Revised Statutes relating to burials in national cemeteries.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section forty-eight hundred and seventy-eight of the Revised Statutes be amended so as to read as follows:

"SEC. 4878. All soldiers, sailors, or marines dying in the service of the United States, or dying in a destitute condition after having been honorably discharged from the service, or who served during the late war, either in the regular or volunteer forces, may be buried in any national cemetery free of cost. The production of the honorable discharge of a deceased man shall be sufficient authority for the superintendent of any cemetery to permit the interment. Army nurses honorably discharged from their service as such may be buried in any national cemetery; and if in a destitute condition, free of cost. The Secretary of War is authorized to issue certificates to those army nurses entitled to such burial."

Approved, March 3, 1897.

VII--An Act To grant a right of way through the Fort Spokane Military Reservation, in the State of Washington, to the Saint Paul, Minneapolis and Manitoba Railway Company.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That there is hereby granted to the Saint Paul, Minneapolis and Manitoba Railway Company a right of way, one hundred feet wide, on such route as the Secretary of War may designate, through the Fort Spokane Military Reservation, in the State of Washington. If said railroad shall not be built across said reservation within three years next after the passage of this Act this grant shall absolutely cease and determine.

Approved, March 2, 1897.

BY COMMAND OF MAJOR GENERAL MILES:

GEO. D. RUGGLES,

Adjutant General.