Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 2.djvu/171



effective able-bodied citizen of the United States, who shall be duly enlisted by him for the term of five years, and mustered, of at least five feet six inches high, and between the ages of eighteen and thirty-five years, the sum of two dollars: Provided nevertheless, that this regulation, so far as respects the height and age of the recruit, shall not extend to musicians or to those soldiers who may re-enlist into the service: And provided also, that no person under the age of twenty-one years shall be enlisted by any officer, or held in the service of the United States, without the consent of his parent, guardian or master first had and obtained, if any he have; and if any officer shall enlist any person contrary to the true intent and meaning of this act,—for every such offence, he shall forfeit and pay the amount of the bounty and clothing which the person so recruited may have received from the public, to be deducted out of the pay and emoluments of such officer.

. And be it further enacted, That there shall be allowed and paid to each effective able-bodied citizen, recruited as aforesaid, to serve them for the term of five years, a bounty of twelve dollars; but the payment of six dollars of the said bounty shall be deferred until he shall be mustered and have joined the corps in which he is to serve.

. And be it further enacted, That the said corps shall be paid in such manner, that the arrears shall, at no time, exceed two months, unless the circumstances of the case shall render it unavoidable.

. And be it further enacted, That if any officer, non-commissioned officer, musician or private, in the corps composing the peace establishment shall be disabled by wounds or otherwise, while in the line of his duty in public service, he shall be placed on the list of invalids of the United States, at such rate of pay, and under such regulations, as may be directed by the President of the United States for the time being: Provided always, that the compensation to be allowed for such wounds or disabilities, to a commissioned officer, shall not exceed for the highest rate of disability half the monthly pay of such officer, at the time of his being disabled or wounded; and that no officer shall receive more than the half pay of a lieutenant-colonel; and that the rate of compensation to non-commissioned officers, musicians and privates, shall not exceed five dollars per month: And provided also, that all inferior disabilities shall entitle the person so disabled to receive an allowance proportionate to the highest disability.

. And be it further enacted, That if any commissioned officer in the military peace establishment of the United States, shall, while in the service of the United States, die, by reason of any wound received in actual service of the United States, and leave a widow, or if no widow, a child or children under sixteen years of age, such widow, or if no widow, such child or children shall be entitled to and receive half the monthly pay, to which the deceased was entitled at the time of his death, for and during the term of five years. But in case of the death or intermarriage of such widow, before the expiration of the said term of five years, the half pay, for the remainder of the time, shall go to the child or children of such deceased officer: Provided always, that such half pay shall cease on the decease of such child or children.

. And be it further enacted, That the paymaster shall perform the duties of his office, agreeably to the direction of the President of the United States, for the time being; and before he enters on the duties of the same, shall give bonds, with good and sufficient sureties, in such sums as the President shall direct, for the faithful discharge of his said office; and shall take an oath to execute the duties thereof with fidelity: and it shall, moreover, be his duty to appoint from the line, with the approbation of the President of the United States, the several paymasters to districts and assistants prescribed by this act; and he is hereby authorized to require the said paymaster to districts, and assistants, to enter