Canada," approved June 19, 1878, be, and the same is hereby, amended so that the same will read as follows:

"That Canadian vessels and wrecking appurtenance may render aid and assistance to Canadian or other vessels and property wrecked, disabled, or in distress in the waters of the United States contiguous to the Dominion of Canada: Provided, That this act shall not take effect until proclamation by the President of the United States that the privilege of aiding American or other vessels and property wrecked, disabled, of in distress in Canadian waters contiguous to the United States has been extended by the government of the Dominion of Canada to American vessels and wrecking appliances of all descriptions. This act shall be construed to apply to the Welland Canal, the canal and improvement of the waters between Lake Erie and Lake Huron, and to the waters of the St. Marys River and Canal: And provided further, That this act shall cease to be in force from and after the date of the proclamation of the Presi dent of the United States to the effect that said reciprocal privilege has been withdrawn, revoked, or rendered inoperative by the said government of the Dominion of Canada."

And whereas an act of Congress making appropriation for the legislative, executive, and judicial expenses of the Government for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1894, and for other purposes, approved March 3, 1893, further amended the act of May 24, 1890, as follows:

That an act approved May 24, 1890, entitled "An act to amend an act entitled 'An act to aid vessels wrecked or disabled in the waters conterminous to the United States and the Dominion of Canada,' approved June 19, 1878," be, and is hereby, amended by striking out the words "the Welland Canal."

And whereas by an order in council dated May 17, 1893, the government of the Dominion of Canada has proclaimed an act entitled "An act respecting aid by United States wreckers in Canadian waters" to take effect June 1, 1893, said act reading as follows:

Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the senate and house of commons of Canada, enacts as follows:

1. United States vessels and wrecking appliances may salve any property wrecked and may render aid and assistance to any vessels wrecked, disabled, or in distress in the waters of Canada contiguous to the United States.

2. Aid and assistance include all necessary towing incident thereto.

3. Nothing in the customs or coasting laws of Canada shall restrict the salving operations of such vessels or wrecking appliances.

4. This act shall come into force from and after a date to be named in a proclamation by the Governor-General, which proclamation may be issued when the Governor in council is advised that the privilege of salving any property wrecked or of aiding any vessels wrecked, disabled, or in distress in United States waters contiguous to Canada will be extended to Canadian vessels and wrecking appliances to the extent to which such privilege is granted by this act to United States vessels and wrecking appliances.

5. This act shall cease to be in force from and after a date to be named in a proclamation to be issued by the Governor-General to the effect that the said reciprocal privilege has been withdrawn, revoked, or rendered inoperative with respect to Canadian vessels or wrecking appliances in United States waters contiguous to Canada.

And whereas said proclamation of the Governor-General of Canada was communicated to this Government by Her Britannic Majesty's ambassador on the 2d day of June last:

Now, therefore, being thus satisfied that the privilege of aiding American or other vessels and property wrecked, disabled, or in distress in

F

Canadian waters contiguous to the United States has been extended by the government of the Dominion of Canada to American vessels and wrecking appliances of all descriptions, I, Grover Cleveland, President of the United States of America, in virtue of the authority conferred upon me by the aforesaid act of Congress approved May 24, 1890, do proclaim that the condition specified in the legislation of Congress aforesaid now exists and is fulfilled, and that the provisions of said act of May 24, 1890, whereby Canadian vessels and wrecking appliances may render aid and assistance to Canadian and other vessels and property wrecked, disa bled, or in distress in the waters of the United States contiguous to the Dominion of Canada, including the canal and improvement of the waters between Lake Erie and Lake Huron and the waters of the St. Marys River and Canal, are now in full force and effect.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States of America to be hereunto affixed.

[SEAL.]

Done at the city of Washington, this 17th day of July, A. D. 1893, and of the Independence of the United States the one hundred and eighteenth.

By the President:

GROVER CLEVELAND.

W. Q. GRESHAM, Secretary of State.

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas it is provided by section 13 of the act of Congress of March 3, 1891, entitled "An act to amend Title LX, chapter 3, of the Revised Statutes of the United States, relating to copyrights," that said act "shall only apply to a citizen or subject of a foreign state or nation when such foreign state or nation permits to citizens of the United States of America the benefit of copyright on substantially the same basis as its own citizens, or when such foreign state or nation is a party to an international agreement which provides for reciprocity in the granting of copyright, by the terms of which agreement the United States of America may at its pleasure become a party to such agreement;" and

Whereas it is also provided by said section that "the existence of either of the conditions aforesaid shall be determined by the President of the United States by proclamation made from time to time as the purposes of this act may require;" and

Whereas satisfactory official assurances have been given that in Portugal the law permits to citizens of the United States the benefit of copyright on substantially the same basis as to the subjects of Portugal:

Now, therefore, I, Grover Cleveland, President of the United States of America, do declare and proclaim that the first of the conditions specified in section 13 of the act of March 3, 1891, now exists and is fulfilled in respect to the subjects of Portugal.

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 20th day of July, A. D. 1893, and of the Independence of the United States the one hundred and eighteenth.

By the President:

GROVER CLEVELAND.

W. Q. GRESHAM, Secretary of State.

EXECUTIVE ORDERS.

AMENDMENT OF CIVIL-SERVICE RULES.

Departmental Rule VII is hereby amended by adding thereto the following section:

8. The First Comptroller of the Treasury having advised the Secretary of the Treasury that under the operation of section 5 of the legislative, executive, and judicial appropriation act making appropriations for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1894, the employment of substitutes in the departmental service must cease from and after July 1, 1893, it is hereby ordered, in view of the fact that the substitutes now employed were appointed by regular certification under section 7 of this rule, that such of said substitutes as shall not be appointed to regular places before the employ. ment of substitutes shall cease shall be eligible for appointment to regular places by reinstatement under the provisions of Departmental Rule X, in the order of their employment as substitutes as provided in said section 7, notwithstanding the prohibition contained in the second proviso of said section; and said substitutes shall have preference for appointment in the manner herein provided over all other eligibles.

This section shall become inoperative and cease to be a part of the civil-service rules when all of the substitutes now employed in the several Departments shall have been appointed as herein provided or shall have ceased to be eligible for appointment by reason of the expiration of the time within which a reinstatement can be made under Rule X.

Approved, April 12, 1893.

GROVER CLEVELAND.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, May 8, 1893.

It has become apparent after two months' experience that the rules heretofore promulgated regulating interviews with the President have wholly failed in their operation. The time which under these rules was set apart for the reception of Senators and Representatives has been almost entirely spent in listening to applications for office, which have been bewildering in volume, perplexing and exhausting in their iteration, and impossible of remembrance.

A due regard for public duty, which must be neglected if present conditions continue, and an observance of the limitations placed upon human endurance oblige me to decline from and after this date all personal interviews with those seeking appointments to office, except as I on my own

motion may especially invite them. The same considerations make it impossible for me to receive those who merely desire to pay their respects except on the days and during the hours especially designated for that purpose.

I earnestly request Senators and Representatives to aid me in securing for them uninterrupted interviews by declining to introduce their constituents and friends when visiting the Executive Mansion during the hours designated for their reception. Applicants for office will only prejudice their prospects by repeated importunity and by remaining in Washington to await results. GROVER CLEVELAND.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, May 26, 1893.

It is hereby ordered, That the several Executive Departments and the Government Printing Office be closed on Tuesday, the 30th instant, to enable the employees to participate in the decoration of the graves of the soldiers and sailors who fell in the defense of the Union during the War of the Rebellion. GROVER CLEVELAND.

AMENDMENTS OF CIVIL-SERVICE RULES.

Special Departmental Rule No. 1 is hereby amended as follows: Include among the places excepted from examination therein the following: 6. In the Department of Agriculture:

In the office of the Secretary: The assistant chiefs of the following divisions: Of economic ornithology and mammalogy, of pomology, of microscopy, of vegetable pathology, of records and editing, and one property clerk.

In the Weather Bureau: The assistant chief of the Bureau, the three professors of meteorology of highest grade, executive officer, superintendent of telegraph lines, and one property clerk.

In the United States Commission of Fish and Fisheries the following: Scientific or professional experts to be temporarily employed in investigations authorized by Congress, but not to include any persons regularly employed in that Commission nor any person whose duties are not scientific or professional and who are not experts in the particular line of scientific inquiry in which they are to be employed.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, June 6, 1893.

The foregoing amendments are hereby approved.

GROVER CLEVELAND.

AMENDMENTS OF CIVIL-SERVICE RULES.

Postal Rule No. 2 is hereby amended as follows:

Strike out all of section 1 except the last paragraph, relating to noncompetitive examinations, and insert in lieu thereof the following:

I. To test the fitness for admission to the classified postal service one or more examinations shall be provided, as the Commission may determine, which shall not

include more than the following subjects: Orthography, copying, penmanship, arithmetic (fundamental rules, fractions, and percentage), elements of the geography of the United States, local delivery, reading addresses, physical tests: Provided, That when special examinations are needed to test fitness for any place requiring special or technical knowledge or skill the examination shall include, in addition to the special subjects required, such of the subjects of the regular examination as the Commission may determine.

Strike out section 2 and insert in lieu thereof the following:

No person shall be examined for the position of letter carrier if under 21 or over 40 years of age, and no person shall be examined for any other position in the classified postal service if under 18 years of age.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, June 6, 1893.

The foregoing amendments are hereby approved.

GROVER CLEVELAND.

EXECUTIVE MANSION,

Washington, June 16, 1893.

In accordance with section 16 of the act of Congress approved April 25, 1890, and 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 product of the soil, mine, and sea in the city of Chicago, in the State of Illinois," the designations of the following-named persons as members of the board of control and management of the Government exhibit at the World's Columbian Exhibition are hereby approved:

W. W. Rockhill, chief clerk of the Department of State, to represent that Department, vice William E. Curtis.

Lieutenant-Commander E. D. Taussig, United States Navy, to represent the Navy Department, vice Captain R. W. Meade, United States Navy.

Frank W. Clark, chemist, United States Geological Survey, to represent the Department of the Interior, vice Horace A. Taylor.

GROVER CLEVELAND.

SPECIAL SESSION MESSAGE.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, August 8, 1893.

To the Congress of the United States:

The existence of an alarming and extraordinary business situation, involving the welfare and prosperity of all our people, has constrained me to call together in extra session the people's representatives in Con gress, to the end that through a wise and patriotic exercise of the legislative duty, with which they solely are charged, present evils may be mitigated and dangers threatening the future may be averted.