the city, if the proposition shall receive the assent of a majority of the legal voters at an election to be called for that purpose.

It is attempted to distinguish this case from the ordinary case of a municipal grant to a railway company by the fact that this railway company had located its line through the lands afterwards settled upon under the town-site law before such settlement, and that the route thus located cuts the plat of the city diagonally and in a way to be very injurious to property interests.

Upon an examination of the facts it appears to me to be clear that no legal location was made by the railway company prior to the acquisition of the lands by the occupying settlers. Some preliminary surveys had been made, but no map of location had been filed with the Secretary of the Interior. If the rights of this company at this point of its road as to right of way are derived from the general statute of the United States upon that subject (U. S. Revised Statutes, Supplement, p. 87), then section 4 distinctly saves the right of any settler who had located prior to the filing of a profile of the road and the approval by the Secretary of the Interior thereof. And if, on the other hand, the rights of the company at the point indicated are derived from the act of Congress of February 18, 1888, "to authorize the Choctaw Coal and Railway Company to construct and operate a railway through the Indian Territory, and for other purposes," section 6 of that act also plainly protects the right of any occupying claimant. The latter statute, it seems to me, was intended to grant a right of way only through Indian lands, and if these lands were not such the general statute to which I have referred would apply; but in either event the conclusion is the same.

It appears from the report of the committee that its favorable action, and, I must assume, the favorable action of Congress, proceeded upon the theory that there was a real controversy, doubtful as to its issue, as to the right of the railroad company to hold the line of its survey through the city.

Stripped, then, of this claim the proposition is nakedly one to authorize Oklahoma City to donate $40,000 to the Choctaw Coal and Railway Company. The general statute of the United States prohibits such grants, and this must stand until repealed as a continuing expression of legislative opinion. If a departure from this rule is to be allowed at all, certainly it should only be where the circumstances are exceptional. Such circumstances, in my opinion, do not exist in this case. Already I have received from other cities in the Territory protests against special legislation of this sort, accompanied by the suggestion that if this policy is admitted other cities shall also be allowed to encourage the building of roads by donation.

Oklahoma City, according to the report of the Census Office, has a population of about 4, 100, and this donation would be equivalent to nearly $10 per capita. Very little real estate, whether town-site or country

property, in this Territory is yet subject to assessment for taxation. The people have not yet had time to accumulate, and Congress has received appeals for aid to relieve a prevailing distress which the Territorial authorities have found themselves unable to deal with. It does not seem to me, in view of all these facts, that the wholesome rule prescribed by the general statute should be departed from. BENJ. HARRISON.

To the Senate:

EXECUTIVE MANSION, February 26, 1891.

I return to the Senate without my approval the bill (S. 4620) "to establish the Record and Pension Office of the War Department, and for other purposes."

This bill proposes to change the designation of one of the divisions of the War Department. It is now the "Record and Pension Division," and it is proposed that it shall hereafter be the "Record and Pension Office" of the War Department. The scope of the work assigned to this division or office is not changed, but the organization now existing under a classification made by the Secretary of War is by the bill made permanent and put beyond the control of the Secretary. The change of designation seems to have been intended to add dignity to the position, and the effect of the bill is probably to require that the chief of this office shall hereafter be appointed only by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, though it is not clear that any provision is made for a chief after the particular person designated in the bill has been separated from the place or in case he is not appointed.

The real object of the bill is disclosed in the following clause:

The President is hereby authorized to nominate and, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to appoint the officer now in charge of said Record and Pension Division to be a colonel in the Army and chief of said office.

It is fairly to be implied from the bill that in the opinion of Congress the public interests would be promoted by making the contemplated change in the grade of this office and by giving the rank and pay of a colonel in the Army to the chief. A new and rather anomalous office is therefore created-that of "colonel in the Army and chief of the Record and Pension Office of the War Department"-but upon the condition that the President shall nominate a particular person to fill it. I do not think it is competent for Congress to designate the person who shall fill an office created by law, and practically nothing remains of the bill under consideration if this person is not to be appointed. The office is an important one, connected with the active civil administration of the War Department. I can not agree that the selection of the officer shall be taken out of the discretion of the Executive, where the responsibility for good administration necessarily rests. It is probably true that the officer intended to be benefited is peculiarly deserving and has had remarkable

success in une discharge of the duties of the office; but these are considerations for the appointing power, and might safely have been left there.

If this particular appointment was backed by reasons so obvious as to secure the support of both Houses of Congress, it should have been assumed that these reasons could have been made obvious to the Executive by the ordinary methods. In connection with the Army and Navy retired lists, legislation akin to this has become quite frequent, too frequent in my opinion; but these laws have been regarded as grants of pensions rather than of offices.

If it is to be allowed that active places connected with the Executive Departments can be created upon condition that particular persons are or are not to be designated to fill them, the power of appointment might be wholly diverted from the Executive to the Congress.

To the Senate:

BENJ. HARRISON.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, March 2, 1891.

I return herewith without my approval the bill (S. 3270) "for the relief of the administratrix of the estate of George W. Lawrence."

If I rightly construe this bill, it authorizes the Court of Claims to give judgment in favor of the contractor with the United States for the construction of the vessels named (Agawam and Pontoosuc) for the difference between the contract price and the actual cost to the contractor of building the vessels, subject only to the condition that nothing shall be allowed for any advance in the price of labor or material unless such advance occurred during the prolonged term for completing the work rendered necessary by delay resulting from the action of the Government. The bill is somewhat obscure, but I have, I think, correctly stated the legal effect of it.

Undoubtedly in contracts made for army and navy supplies and construction during the early days of the war there was not infrequently loss to the contractor by reason of the advance in the cost of labor resulting from the withdrawal of so large a body of men for service in the field and the indirect result of this upon the cost of material; but I can not believe that it is the purpose of Congress to reopen such contracts at this late day and to pay to the contractors the cost of the work or material which they stipulated to do or deliver at fixed prices. In the matter of another vessel constructed by this same claimant and in the case of one other similar claim I approved bills at the last session, but they carefully limited any finding by the Court of Claims to such losses as necessarily resulted from the interference by the Government with the progress of the work, thus creating delays and enhanced cost.

In those cases the Government only undertook to make good losses resulting directly and unavoidably from its own acts. If the principle which seems to me to be embodied in the bill under consideration is

adopted, I do not see how the Congress can refuse in all cases of all sorts of contracts to make good the losses resulting from appreciation in the cost of labor and material. The expenditure that such a policy would entail is incalculable, and the policy itself is, in my judgment, indefensible. The bill at the last session for the relief of this claimant in the case of another vessel constructed by him was, as I have said, carefully put upon the lines I have indicated, and if this claim could have been maintained upon those lines I assume that the bill would have been similar in its provisions.

BENJ. HARRISON.

PROCLAMATIONS.

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas satisfactory proof has been presented to me that provision has been made for adequate grounds and buildings for the uses of the World's Columbian Exposition, and that a sum not less than $10,000,ooo, to be used and expended for the purposes of said exposition, has been provided in accordance with the conditions and requirements of section Io of an act entitled "An act to provide for celebrating the four hundredth anniversary of the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus by holding an international exhibition of arts, industries, manufactures, and the products of the soil, mine, and sea, in the city of Chicago, in the State of Illinois," approved April 25, 1890:

Now, therefore, I, Benjamin Harrison, President of the United States, by virtue of the authority vested in me by said act, do hereby declare and proclaim that such international exhibition will be opened on the 1st day of May, in the year 1893, in the city of Chicago, in the State of Illinois, and will not be closed before the last Thursday in October of the same year. And in the name of the Government and of the people of the United States I do hereby invite all the nations of the earth to take part in the commemoration of an event that is preeminent in human history and of lasting interest to mankind by appointing representatives thereto and sending such exhibits to the World's Columbian Exposition as will most fitly and fully illustrate their resources, their industries, and their progress in civilization.

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 24th day of December, 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, pursuant to section 3 of the act of Congress approved October 1, 1890, entitled "An act to reduce the revenue and equalize duties on imports, and for other purposes," the Secretary of State of the United States of America communicated to the Government of the United States of Brazil the action of the Congress of the United States of America, with a view to secure reciprocal trade, in declaring the articles enumerated in said section 3, to wit, sugars, molasses, coffee, and hides, to be exempt from duty upon their importation into the United States of America; and

Whereas the envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of Bra zil at Washington has communicated to the Secretary of State the fact that, in due reciprocity for and in `consideration of the admission into the United States of America free of all duty of the articles enumerated in section 3 of said act, the Government of Brazil has by legal enactment authorized the admission, from and after April 1, 1891, into all the established ports of entry of Brazil, free of all duty, whether national, state, or municipal, of the articles or merchandise named in the following schedule, provided that the same be the product and manufacture of the United States of America:

1. SCHEDULE OF ARTICLES TO BE ADMITTED FREE INTO BRAZIL.

Wheat.

Wheat flour.

Corn or maize and the manufactures thereof, including corn meal and starch.

Rye, rye flour, buckwheat, buckwheat flour, and barley.

Potatoes, beans, and pease.

Hay and oats.

Pork, salted, including pickled pork and bacon, except hams.

Fish, salted, dried, or pickled.

Cotton-seed oil.

Coal, anthracite and bituminous.

Rosin, tar, pitch, and turpentine.

Agricultural tools, implements, and machinery.

Mining and mechanical tools, implements, and machinery, including stationary and portable engines and all machinery for manufacturing and industrial purposes, except sewing machines.

Instruments and books for the arts and sciences.

Railway construction material and equipment.

And that the Government of Brazil has by legal enactment further authorized the admission into all the established ports of entry of Brazil, with a reduction of 25 per cent of the duty designated on the respective article in the tariff now in force or which may hereafter be adopted in the United States of Brazil, whether national, state, or municipal, of the articles or merchandise named in the following schedule, provided