FIFTY-SEVENTH CONGRESS. Sess. II. Ch. 195,196. 1903. 775 prescribed thereunder by the Secretary of the Interior, shall pay a fine of not more than five hundred dollars, or be imprisoned not more than twelve months, or both, in the discretion of the court trying the same.” Approved, January 21, 1903. CHAP. 196.—An Act To promote the efficiency of the militia, and for other ·I““u*“'Y 2r 1903- PUYPOSOS. [Public, N0. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the militia shall consist ggggggdon 0, of every able-bodied malecitizen of the respective States, Territories, ' and the District of Columbia, and every able—bodied male of foreign birth who has declared his intention to become a citizen, who is more than eighteen and less than forty-tive years of age, and shall be divided into two classes-the organized militia, to be known as the National N¤¤<>¤¤1G¤¤¤i— Guard of the State, Territory, or District of Columbia, or by such other designations as may be given them by the laws of the respective Sdtzxtes or erritories, and the remainder to be known as the Reserve Re¤¤rvcMi11¤a. i itia. Sec. 2. That the Vice-President of the United States, the officers, P°”°“’°‘°'“P*· judicial and executive, of the Government of the United States, the members and officers of each House of Congress, persons in the military or naval service of the United States, all custom—house officers with their clerks, postmasters and persons employed by the United States in the transmission of the mail, ferrymen emplo ed at any ferry on a post road, artificers and workmen employed in the armories and arsenals of the United States, pilots, mariners actually employed in the sea service of any citizen or merchant within the United States, and all persons who are exempted by the laws of the respective States · or Territories shall be exempted from militia duty, without regard to age: Provided, That nothing in this Act shall be construed to require gggfgmn Mmm or compel any member of any well-recognized religious sect or organ- or mea. ` ization at present organized and existing whose creed forbids its members to participate in war in any form, and whose religious convictions are against war or participation therein, in accordance with the creed of said reli ious or nization, to serve in the militia or any other armed or voglunteer fdrce under the jurisdiction and•authority of the United States. Sec. 3. That the regularly enlisted, organized, and uniformed active orz¤¤i=v<1mi11¤»¤. militia in the several States and Territories and the District of Columbia who have heretofore participated or shall hereafter participate in the apportionment of the annua a propriation provided by section sixteen a.s.¤e¤.1ccr, p.290. hundred and sixty-one of the Revised Statutes of the United States, as lgglj §‘{· {Q; §§j amended, whether known and designated as National Guard, militia, or l otherwise, shall constitute the organized militia. The organization, To conform to genarmament, and discipline of the organized militia in the several States ${Q,",§S_ Army R°¥‘““‘ and Territories and in the District of Columbia shall be the same as that which is now or may hereafter be prescribed for the Regular and Volunteer Armies of the United States., within five years from the date of the approval of this Act: Provided, That the President of the United Humber States, in time of peace, may by order fix the minimum number of or enlisted men. enlisted men in each company, troop, battery, signal corps, engineer corps, and hospital corps: And p1·0mIdedfw·the1·, That any corps of _ artillery, cavalry and infantry existing in any of the States at the €x€;,§;°§0“jp‘§°°'“m passage of the Act of May eig th, seventeen hundred and ninety-two, V¤1.1,p. 271. which, by the laws, customs or usages of the said States have been in ’ continuous existence since the passage of said Act under its provisions and under the provisions of Section two hundred and thirty-two and
