SIXTY·FOURTH CONGRESS. Sess. I. Ch. 418. 1916. 623 land as may be necessary for aviation urposes, and there is hereby appropriated, out of any money in the 'llreasury not otherwise approprrated, the sum of $300,000, or so much thereof as may be necessary, or said purpose. The Secretary of War is hereby authorized to accept for the United s,,‘{§},‘,Q§"“*’°“· °’°·· States from any person such tract or tracts of land suitable and desir- A¢¤¤r>¥¤¤<=¤ of land able in his judglpnent for permanent mobilization, training, and supply H"' stations; and e is directed to investigate and report to Congress as ,_,,§,‘;g’§,’§, ,,2;* °’°°‘“ soon as practicable what additional tracts are necessary for said pur- ' poses for use by the National Guard and by the Regular Army and l theéuobable cost of the same. . Asnmorou-Ar.AsKA Mrrrranr CABLE AND 'I`nL1renA1>11 SYs·rr;M: ,,,§Y§’L’§§”*A’°“*° For defraying the cost of such extensions, betterments, and mainte- E¤¤i=¤¤i6¤·¤¢¢- nance of the Washington-Alaska Military Cable and Telegraph S s- tem as may be approved by the Secretary of War, to be available imtil the close of the fiscal year nineteen hundred and eighteen, from the receipts of the Washington-Alaska Military Cable and Tel aph System which have been covered into the Treasury of the States, the extent of such extensions and betterments and the cost thereof to be reported to Congress by the Secretary of War, $50,000. Commrrcmr, TELEPHONE smzvrcm All COAs*r ABTILLERY rosrs: For ‘°* providing commercial telephone service for official purposes at Coast Artillery posts, $8,500. · ‘ PAY or ormcrms or mm LINE. hy- For pay of officers of the line, $10,000,000: Provided, That in ?.w°‘***°**”°· , applying section twenty-Eve of the national defense Act a proved Asjmginm to no- June third, nineteen hundred and sixteen, the President shall assign wii°m,p.iii£°i”' Li"' to officers of the Army such constructive dates of ori§nal commission, from which lengths of commissioned service shall e com uted, as Dewrmimwon or will preserve their rights to promotion in accordance with tsieir rela- °° ° tive order on the lineal lists of their arms and continue in effect losses ' of files occasioned by sentences of courts-martial or failures to pass required examinations for promotion, said constructive dates of original commission to be sub] act to change whenever a change thereof may be necessary in order to carry into effect losses of files hereafter incurred by any officer through a sentence of court-martial or a failure to ass a required examination for promotion: Provided further, That SF£Hf,‘§,§$”°g:,,"‘i{, 0, in determining the arm from which a detail is to be made to a vacancy ¤¤¤· in the detached ofIicers' list, as provided in the third proviso of section twenty-tive of the national defense Act approved June third, nineteen hundred and sixteen, the officer of any grade who is the senior in that grade according to the constructive dates of original commission provided for in the preceding proviso shall be considered the senior in length of commissioned service of all officers of that grade: Provided Sum { md M further, That in determining the rights of officers m the last proviso ,m,,,,,mY,,,.'§ ° of section twenty-four of said national defense Act, officers retired ·*"‘*»P·18**· before the separation of the Field Artillery from the _Coast Artillery shall be regarded as having belonged to the Field Artillery: Provided M moi further, That when by reason of increase in the arm, corps, or branch mesbymcmamum, of the service in which an officer is commissioned his loss of files in °*°· lineal rank due to suspension from promotion on account of failure to pass the required examination therefor exceeds the loss he would have sustained if no such increase had occurred, he shall, if promoted upon reexamination, be advanced to the (position he would have occupied in the grade to which promoted ha no increase occurred: And Status 0, wml, 0, pro·mZded further, That the general officers of the line who were 21:u;i;:(?£¤v§¤¤¤¢d f¤r appointed as such ursuant to the Act of March fourth, nineteen hun- ver sap. usr. ` dred and fifteen (Tliirty-eighth Statutes at Large, page eleven hundred
