Except as otherwise provided the Presi dent is authorized, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to appoint all volunteer officers required, but the number and grade of such officers does not exceed the number and grade of like officers provided for a like force of the regular army. All appointments below the grade of brigadier-general in the line of the volunteer forces are by commission in an arm of the senice and not by commission in any particular regiment, and officers in each arm of the service are assigned to organizations of that arm and transferred from one organiza tion to another in that arm, as the interests of the service may require, by orders from the Secretary of War. To provide the staff officers necessary in the various staff corps and depart ments in time of war or white war is imminent, and that are not otherwise provided for, the President is authorized to appoint, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, such num ber of volunteer staff officers of grades au thorized by law for the regular army as he may find necessary for such corps and departments. The total number of such staff officers so ap pointed, including all such officers of the or ganized militia called into the military service of the United States, does not eicceed the ratio of one officer to 200 enlisted men for all militia and volunteer forces called into the military service of the United States. The number of volunteer staff officers appointed in any grade in the various staff corps and departments does not exceed in any staff corps or department the proportionate strength of regular officers of the corresponding grade as established by law for the corresponding staff corps or department of the regular army. The President may ap point, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, volunteer chaplains at the rate of one for each regiment of volunteer infantry, cavalry and field artillery, and one for every 12 companies of volunteer coast artillery raised, with rank corresponding to that established by law for chaplains in the regular army.
In appointing the volunteer officers the President may select them from the regular army, from those duly qualified and registered pursuant to section 23 of the Act of Congress, approved 21 Jan. 1903, from the country at large, from the organized land militia of the District of Columbia and, upon the recommen dation of the various governors, from the or ganized land militia of the several States and Territories in proportion, as far as practicable, to their respective populations, and, as far as compatible with the interests of the military service, from the localities from which the troops with which the officers appointed upon said recommendation are to serve have been recruited. In appointments from the country at large preference is given those who shall have had honorable service in the regular army, the national guard or the volunteer forces, or who have been graduated from educational in stitutions in which military instruction is com pulsory. At the same time, not to exceed one regular army officer may hold a volunteer com mission in any one battalion of volunteer en gineers or signal troops, or in any one bat talion of volunteer field artillery, and not to exceed. four regular -rmy officers may, at the same time, hold commissions in any one regi ment of volunteer cavalry, field artillery or infantry, or in any 12 companies of coast ar tillery, including their field. and staff. Regular
army officers appointed as officers of volunteers do not thereby vacate their regular army com missions nor are they prejudiced in their rela tive or lineal standing therein by reason of their service under their volunteer commissions. The ternporary vacancies created in any grade not above that of colonel among the commis sioned personnel of any artn, staff corps or department of the regular army, through ap pointments of officers thereof to higher volun teer rank, are filled by temporary promotions, according to seniority. in rank of officers holding commissions in the next lower grade in said arm, staff corps or department, and all tem porary vacancies created in any grade by tem porary promotions are in like manner. filled from, and thus create temporary vacancies in, the next lower grade, and the vacancies that remain thereafter in said arm, staff corps or department, that cannot be filled by temporary promotions, may be filled by the temporary appointment of officers of such number and grade or grades as maintain said arm, corps or deparunent at the full commissioned strength authorized by law. In the staff corps and de partments subject to the provisions of sections 26 and 27 of the Act of Congress, approved 2 Feb. 1901, and acts amendatory thereof, tem porary vacancies that cannot be filled by tem porary promotions are filled by temporary de tails made in the manner prescribed in said sections 26 and 27 and acts amendatory thereof, and the resulting temporary vacancies in the branches of the army from which the details are so made are filled as hereinbefore in this section prescribed. Officers temporarily pro moted or appointed under the terms of this section are so promoted or appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, Tor terms that do not extend beyond the termination of the war or, if war shall not occur, beyond the passing of the imminence thereof, as defined by the President's proclama tion, and upon the expiration -of said terms said officers are discharged from the positions held by them under their temporary promo tions or appointments. Officers temporarily promoted under the provisions of this section do not vacate their permanent commissions, nor are they prejudiced in their lineal or rela tive standing in the regular army under per manent commissions, by reason of their serv ices under temporary commissions.
All returns and muster-rolls of organiza tions of the volunteer forces and of militia organizations while in the service of the United States are rendered to the adjutant-general of the army, and upon the muster out of such organizations the records pertaining to them are transferred to and filed in the adjutant general's office. Out-regimental and out medical officers serving with volunteer troops or with militia organizations in the service of the United States, in the field or elsewhere, keep a daily record of all soldiers reported sick or wounded, as shown by the morning calls or reports, and deposit such reports, with other reports, in the adjutarrt-general's office.