major, one band, and twelve troops organized into three squadrons of four troops each. . . . Each cavalry band shall be organized as now provided by law. Each troop of cavalry shall consist of one captain, one first lieutenant, one second lieutenant, one first sergeant, one quartermaster sergeant, six sergeants, six corporals, two cooks, two farriers and blacksmiths, one saddler, one wagoner, two trumpeters, and forty-three privates, the commissioned officers to be assigned from among those herein before authorized: Provided that the President in his discretion may increase the number of corporals in any troop of cavalry to eight and the number of privates to seventy-six, but the total number of enlisted men authorized for the whole Army shall not at any time be exceeded.

[Here follow detailed provisions organizing the other branches of the Army of the United States.]

127. The Declaration of War

The power to declare war is vested by the Constitution in Congress, and the following act illustrates the manner in which this power is exercised:

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 21st day of April, A.D. 1898, 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.

128. The Call for Volunteers

Before the formal declaration of war on Spain, President McKinlev, acting under a joint resolution and an act of Congress, issued this proclamation calling for volunteers:

instructs

Whereas a joint resolution of Congress was approved on the Congress 20th day of April, 1898, entitled "Joint resolution for the recog- the President nition of the independence of the people of Cuba, demanding that to act. the Government of Spain relinquish its authority and government in the island of Cuba and 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:

for 125,000 volunteers.

Now, therefore, I, William McKinley, President of the United The call 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 do hereby 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 Depart

ment.

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 23d day of April, A.D. 1898, and of the Independence of the United States the one hundred and twenty-second.

(Seal.)

By the President:

JOHN SHERMAN,

WILLIAM MCKINLEY.

Secretary of State.

Authority for the action.

The limits of the blockade.

129. The Establishment of a Blockade

One of the most effective instruments of war is the closure of the enemy's ports by blockade, and the power to establish a blockade is incidental to the general war powers. It is not specifically mentioned in the Constitution and presumably may be exercised by Congress or the President or by both in conjunction. On April 22, 1898, President McKinley issued the following proclamation:

Whereas by a joint resolution passed by the Congress and approved April 20, 1898, and communicated to the Government of Spain, it was demanded that said Government at once relinquish its authority and government in the island of Cuba and withdraw its land and naval forces from Cuba and Cuban waters, and the President of the United States was 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 might be necessary to carry said resolution into effect; and

Whereas in carrying into effect said resolution the President of the United States deems it necessary to set on foot and maintain a blockade of the north coast of Cuba, including all ports on said coast between Cardenas and Bahia Honda, and the port of Cienfuegos, on the south coast of Cuba:

Now, therefore, I, William McKinley, President of the United States, in order to enforce the said resolution, do hereby declare and proclaim that the United States of America have instituted and will maintain a blockade of the north coast of Cuba, including ports on said coast between Cardenas and Bahia Honda, and the port of Cienfuegos, on the south coast of Cuba, aforesaid, in pursuance of the laws of the United States and the law of nations applicable to such cases. An efficient force will be posted so as to prevent the entrance and exit of vessels from the ports aforesaid. Any neutral vessel approaching any of the said ports or attempting to leave the same without notice or knowledge of the establishment of such blockade will be duly warned by the commander of the blockading forces, who will indorse on her register the fact and the

date of such warning, where such indorsement was made; and if the same vessel shall again attempt to enter any blockaded port she will be captured and sent to the nearest convenient port for such proceedings against her and her cargo as prize as may be deemed advisable.

Neutral vessels lying in any of said ports at the time of the establishment of such blockade will be allowed thirty days to issue therefrom.

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 22d day of April, A.D., 1898, and of the Independence of the United States the one hundred and twenty-second.

(Seal.)

By the President:

JOHN SHERMAN,

Secretary of State.

WILLIAM MCKINLEY.

130. The Direction of the War*

The following extracts from an article in the World's Work describe the wonderful fashion in which war may be directed in all parts of the world from a single room at the White House:

equipment

The Cuban War developed in the White House the novel in- The stitution known as the Telegraph and Cipher Bureau. President of the Mc Kinley conceived the idea of this telegraph and telephone office War Room. for his personal use at the outbreak of the war. It is called the "War Room" because it formed the common channel through which was received and dispatched all the most important information about the opposing armies. The Bureau is an apartment the size of an ordinary drawing-room, containing the most improved modern apparatus for communicating quickly by telephone, telegraph or ocean cable with every accessible portion of the globe. The President, although Commander-in-Chief of the Army and of the Navy, was formerly unable to know exactly the progress of events at the seat of war. Battles were fought, campaigns planned

How the President kept

informed.

Communi

cations with the front.

and carried into execution, and even surrenders were arranged without direct communication with the Chief Executive at every move; but President McKinley was enabled to direct from his office in the White House the operations of the army and navy in Cuba and Porto Rico.

The "War Room" brought valuable and prompt information of the great strategic game played upon the waters of the Atlantic. While the press and the public were kept for weeks in suspense about the movements of Admiral Cervera's fleet and the intentions of its commander, the President, through secret agents in Europe, was possessed of accurate information disclosing the plans of the Spanish Government before its war vessels left the home port. The movements of the hostile squadron were marked day by day upon a great map on the wall, and in the secrecy of the "War Room" the President knew that the fleet was in the harbor of Santiago before the public was informed.

As the invading army advanced into Cuba, telegraph lines were constructed and the President was kept in touch with his commanders in the field. So perfect were the arrangements that he was able to communicate from Washington in less than twenty minutes with the officers on the firing line at Santiago. There were days when the President, the Secretary of War and the Secretary of the Navy sat for hours at the elbows of the telegraphers, directing in person the military operations thousands of miles distant. On the day which brought the occupation of Santiago the President stood before great maps on which were marked in contrasting colors the exact position of every detachment of the American and Spanish forces. When a flag of truce appeared at any of the enemy's outposts the anxious commander-in-chief was apprised of the fact within a few minutes. Had the slender metallic strand between the President and the powder-begrimed fighters in the trenches been a telephone instead of a telegraph line, he might almost have heard the thunder of the guns and listened to the cheers of the American soldiers as the red and yellow flags dropped from the ramparts.