compensation has come to us for the work of our minds and of our hands in every department of human industry. Now, therefore, I, Benjamin Harrison, President of the United States of America, do hereby appoint Thursday, the 27th day of the present month of November, to be observed as a day of prayer and thanksgiving; and I do invite the people upon that day to cease from their labors, to meet in their accustomed houses of worship, and to join in rendering gratitude and praise to our beneficent Creator for the rich blessings He has granted to us as a nation and in invoking the continuance of His protection and grace for the future. I commend to my fellow-citizens the privilege of remembering the poor, the homeless, and the sorrowful. Let us endeavor to merit the promised recompense of charity and the gracious acceptance of our praise. In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. [SEAL.] Done at the city of Washington, this 8th day of November, A. D. 1890, and of the Independence of the United States the one hundred and fifteenth. By the President: JAMES G. BLAINE, Secretary of State. BENJ. HARRISON. BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. A PROCLAMATION. Whereas an act of Congress in regard to collision at sea was approved September 4, 1890, the said act being in the following words: Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That in every case of collision between two vessels it shall be the duty of the master or person in charge of each vessel, if and so far as he can do so without serious danger to his own vessel, crew, and passengers (if any), to stay by the other vessel until he has ascertained that she has no need of further assistance, and to render to the other vessel, her master, crew, and passengers (if any), such assistance as may be practicable and as may be necessary in order to save them from any danger caused by the collision, and also to give to the master or person in charge of the other vessel the name of his own vessel and her port of registry, or the port or place to which she belongs, and also the name of the ports and places from which and to which she is bound. If he fails so to do, and no reasonable cause for such failure is shown, the collision shall, in the absence of proof to the contrary, be deemed to have been caused by his wrongful act, neglect, or default. SEC. 2. That every master or person in charge of a United States vessel who fails, without reasonable cause, to render such assistance or give such information as aforesaid shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall be liable to a penalty of $1,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years; and for the above sum the vessel shall be liable and may be seized and proceeded against by process in any district court of the United States by any person; one-half such sum to be payable to the informer and the other half to the United States. SEC. 3. That this act shall take effect at a time to be fixed by the President by proclamation issued for that purpose. And whereas it is provided by section 3 of the said act that it shall take effect at a time to be fixed by the President by proclamation issued for that purpose: Now, therefore, I, Benjamin Harrison, President of the United States of America, do hereby, in virtue of the authority vested in me by section 3 of the said act, proclaim the 15th day of December, 1890, as the day on which the said act shall take effect. In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States of America to be affixed. [SEAL.] Done at the city of Washington, this 18th day of November, A. D. 1890, and of the Independence of the United States the one hundred and fifteenth. By the President: JAMES G. BLAINE, Secretary of State. BENJ. HARRISON. EXECUTIVE ORDERS. AMENDMENT OF CIVIL-SERVICE RULES. Special Departmental Rule No. I is hereby amended so as to include among the exceptions from examination in the Department of Agriculture the following: Scientific or professional experts to be employed in investigations specially authorized by Congress, but not to include any persons regularly employed in that Department nor any persons whose duties are not scientific or professional, and who are not experts in the particular line of scientific or professional inquiry in which they are to be employed. Approved, January 29, 1890. BENJ. HARRISON. AMENDMENTS OF CIVIL-SERVICE RULES. Section I of Postal Rule II is hereby amended by adding to the subjects of the clerk examination the following: "Reading addresses and physical tests;" and to the subjects of carrier examination the following: "Reading addresses." Approved, January 29, 1890. BENJ. HARRISON. AMENDMENT OF CIVIL-SERVICE RULES. Special Customs Rule No. 1 is hereby amended by adding thereto the following: In the customs district of New York: Detectives employed exclusively as such. Approved, March 10, 1890. BENJ. HARRISON. M P-VOL VII-24 AMENDMENT OF CIVIL-SERVICE RULES. That part of Special Departmental Rule No. I relating to the Coast and Geodetic Survey, as printed on page 66 of the Fifth Annual Report of the Commission, is hereby amended by striking out in line 3, after the word "to," the words "general office assistant," and inserting in lieu thereof the words "assistant in charge of office and topography;" so that as amended the clause will read: "confidential clerk to assistant in charge of office and topography." Approved, March 10, 1890. BENJ. HARRISON. AMENDMENTS OF CIVIL-SERVICE RULES. MARCH 28, 1890. Departmental Rule VII is hereby amended by adding thereto the following section, to be numbered 7: 7. In case of temporary absence, from sickness or other unavoidable cause, of clerks, copyists, or employees of other grades for which examinations are held, there may be certified in the manner provided for in this rule, and employed under such regulations as the heads of the several Departments shall prescribe, substitutes for such clerks, copyists, or other employees so absent; and such substitutes so employed in any Department shall be appointed in the order of their employment as substitutes to the regular grades of that Department without further certification as vacancies to which they are eligible may occur therein while so employed as substitutes, every such appointment to be at once reported to the Commission: Provided, That no person while employed as a substitute in one Department shall be certified as a substitute to any other Department, and that no person employed as a substitute shall by reason of such employment be deprived of any right of certification for a regular place to which he may be entitled under the rules: And provided further, That service rendered as a substitute shall not be ground for reinstatement under Departmental Rule X. The time during which any substitute who shall be appointed to a regular place is actually employed as such shall be counted as a part of his period of probation. No substitute shall be employed in any Department otherwise than as herein provided. Special Departmental Rule No. 2 is hereby revoked. BENJ. HARRISON. [From McPherson's Hand Book of Politics for 1890.] To the Attorney-General: EXECUTIVE MANSION, April 24, 1890. I have had frequent occasion during the last six months to confer with you in reference to the obstructions offered in the counties of Leon, Gadsden, Madison, and Jefferson, in the State of Florida, to the execution of the process of the courts of the United States. It is not necessary to say more of the situation than that the officers of the United States are not suffered freely to exercise their lawful functions. This condition of things can not be longer tolerated. You will therefore instruct United States Marshal Weeks as soon as he has qualified to proceed at once to execute such writs of arrest as may be placed in his hands. If he apprehends resistance, he will employ such civil posse as may seem adequate to discourage resistance or to overcome it. He should proceed with calmness and moderation, which should always attend a public officer in the execution of his duty, and at the same time with a firmness and courage that will impress the lawless with a wholesome sense of the dangers and futility of resistance. You will assure the officers of the law and those who have foolishly and wickedly thought to set the law at defiance that every resource lodged with the Executive by the Constitution and the laws will as the necessity arises be employed to make it safe and feasible to hold a Federal commission and to execute the duties it imposes. Very respectfully, BENJ. HARRISON. BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. EXECUTIVE ORDER. EXECUTIVE MANSION, May 27, 1890. It is hereby ordered, That the several Executive Departments and the Government Printing Office be closed on Friday, the 30th instant, to enable the employees to participate in the decoration of the graves of the soldiers and sailors who fell in defense of the Union during the War of the Rebellion. BENJ. HARRISON. AMENDMENT OF CIVIL-SERVICE RULES. The PRESIDENT. UNITED STATES CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION, SIR: This Commission has the honor to recommend that Special Departmental Rule No. 1 be amended by adding to the exceptions from examination therein declared the following: "In the Department of the Treasury, in the life-saving service: Topographer and hydrographer." EXECUTIVE MANSION, Washington, July 14, 1890.* The death of John C. Frémont, a major-general on the retired list of the Army of the United States, is an event calling for some appropriate expression of the national sorrow and of a grateful appreciation of his public services. His career was full of adventurous and useful discovery and of devoted and conspicuous service both in civil and military affairs. He opened the passes of the Rocky Mountains and gave value to his discoveries by aiding to create an American State on the Pacific Coast. It is therefore ordered, That the national flag be displayed at half-mast upon all the buildings of the Executive Departments in this city until after the funeral shall have taken place. By direction of the President: E. W. HALFORD, AMENDMENTS OF CIVIL-SERVICE RULES. Departmental Rule VIII, section 1, clause (6), is hereby amended by inserting after the word "transacted" the following: "and from the office of the Solicitor of the Treasury;" and after the word "Department" where it last occurs the following: "or to said office;" so that as amended the clause will read: (6) From a bureau of the Treasury Department in which business relating to the customs is transacted and from the office of the Solicitor of the Treasury to a classified customs district, and from such a district to such a bureau of the Treasury Department or to said office, upon requisition by the Secretary of the Treasury. Approved, July 23, 1890. BENJ. HARRISON. AMENDMENT OF CIVIL-SERVICE RULES. JULY 30, 1890. Special Departmental Rule No. 1 is hereby amended by adding to the places excepted from examination in the Department of Agriculture the following: Wood engravers. BENJ. HARRISON. AMENDMENT OF CIVIL-SERVICE RULES. SEPTEMBER 2, 1890. Special Departmental Rule No. 1 is hereby amended by adding to the places excepted from examination therein the following: In the Post-Office Department, office of the Postmaster-General: Stenographer as confidential clerk to the chief post-office inspector. BENJ. HARRISON. *Addressed to the heads of the Executive Departments, etc. |