EXECUTIVE ORDER.
Whereas the Government of His Majesty the King of Italy has extended to the Government of the United States an invitation to participate in a sanitary conference to be held at Rome on the 15th day of May, 1885, for the purpose of devising efficient measures to prevent the invasion of cholera and to mitigate its disastrous consequences; and
Whereas, by a provision of the act of Congress entitled "An act making appropriations for sundry civil expenses of the Government for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1886, and for other purposes," approved March 3, 1885, for the suppression of epidemic diseases, the President of the United States is authorized, in case of threatened or actual epidemic of cholera or yellow fever, to use certain appropriated sums, made immediately available, "in aid of State and local boards or otherwise, in his discretion, in preventing and suppressing the spread of the same and for maintaining quarantine and maritime inspections at points of danger;" and
Whereas there is imminent danger of a recurrence of a cholera epidemic in Europe, which may be brought to our shores unless adequate measures of international or local quarantine and maritime inspection are taken in season, which measures of preventive inspection are proper to be considered by the aforesaid conference, to the end that their efficiency in divers countries may be secured:
Now, therefore, in virtue of the discretionary authority conferred upon me by the aforesaid act of Congress, I hereby designate and appoint Major George M. Sternberg, surgeon in the United States Army, to attend said conference at Rome as the delegate thereto on the part of the Government of the United States, under the directions and instructions of the Secretary of State; and I hereby direct the Secretary of War to detail the said George M. Sternberg to perform the special service to which he is thus assigned, with full pay and allowances as on active service; and I further direct that the reasonable and necessary expenses of travel and sojourn of the said George M. Sternberg in proceeding from Washington to Rome, and during his attendance there upon the sessions of the said conference, and in returning, upon the conclusion thereof, from Rome to Washington, be adjusted and paid from the appropriation available under the aforesaid act of March 3, 1885, upon his statement of account approved by the Secretary of State.
Done at the city of Washington, this 25th day of April, A.D. 1885, and of the Independence of the United States the one hundred and ninth.
GROVER CLEVELAND.
By the President:
T.F. BAYARD,
Secretary of State.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, Washington, May 12, 1885.
Under a provision of an act of Congress entitled "An act making appropriations for fortifications and other works of defense, and for the armament thereof, for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1886, and for other purposes," approved March 3, 1885, a board, to consist of the officers and civilians hereinafter named, is appointed to "examine and report at what ports fortifications or other defenses are most urgently required, the character and kind of defenses best adapted for each, with reference to armament," and "the utilization of torpedoes, mines, or other defensive appliances:" Hon. William C. Endicott, Secretary of War, president of the board; Brigadier-General Stephen V. Benét, Chief of Ordnance; Brigadier-General John Newton, Chief of Engineers; Lieutenant-Colonel Henry L. Abbot, Corps of Engineers; Captain Charles S. Smith, Ordnance Department; Commander W.T. Sampson, United States Navy; Commander Caspar F. Goodrich, United States Navy; Mr. Joseph Morgan, jr., of Pennsylvania; Mr. Erastus Corning, of New York.
GROVER CLEVELAND.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, May 26, 1885.
Under the provisions of section 4 of the act approved March 3, 1883, it is hereby ordered that the several Executive Departments, the Department of Agriculture, and the Government Printing Office be closed on Saturday, the 30th instant, to enable the employees to participate in the decoration of the graves of the soldiers who fell during the rebellion.
GROVER CLEVELAND.
In the exercise of the power vested in the President by the Constitution, and by virtue of the seventeen hundred and fifty-third section of the Revised Statutes and of the civil-service act approved January 16, 1883, the following rule for the regulation and improvement of the executive civil service is hereby amended and promulgated, as follows:
RULE XI.
1. Every application, in order to entitle the applicant to appear for examination or to be examined, must state under oath the facts on the following subjects: (1) Full name, residence, and post-office address; (2) citizenship; (3) age; (4) place of birth; (5) health and physical capacity for the public service; (6) right of preference by reason of military or naval service; (7) previous employment in the public service; (8) business or employment and residence for the previous five years; (9) education. Such other information shall be furnished as the Commission may reasonably require touching the applicant's fitness for the public service. The applicant must also state the number of members of his family in the public service and where employed, and must also assert that he is not disqualified under section 8 of the civil-service act, which is as follows:
"That no person habitually using intoxicating beverages to excess shall be appointed to or retained in any office, appointment, or employment to which the provisions of this act are applicable."
No person dismissed from the public service for misconduct and no person who has not been absolutely appointed or employed after probation shall be admitted to examination within two years thereafter.
2. No person under enlistment in the Army or Navy of the United States shall be examined under these rules, except for some place in the Department under which he is enlisted requiring special qualifications, and with the consent in writing of the head of such Department.
3. The Commission may by regulations, subject to change at any time by the President, declare the kind and measure of ill health, physical incapacity, misrepresentation, and bad faith which may properly exclude any person from the right of examination, grading, or certification under these rules. It may also provide for medical certificates of physical capacity in the proper cases, and for the appropriate certification of persons so defective in sight, speech, hearing, or otherwise as to be apparently disqualified for some of the duties of the part of the service which they seek to enter.
Approved, June 2, 1885.
GROVER CLEVELAND.
In the exercise of the power vested in the President by the Constitution, and by virtue of the seventeen hundred and fifty-third section of the Revised Statutes and of the civil-service act approved January 16, 1883, the eighth clause of Rule XIX for the regulation and improvement of the executive civil service is hereby amended so as to read as follows:
8. Chief clerks, deputy collectors, deputy naval officers, deputy surveyors of customs, and superintendents or chiefs of divisions or bureaus.
And the same is hereby promulgated.
Approved, June 15, 1885.
GROVER CLEVELAND.
In the exercise of the power vested in the President by the Constitution, and by virtue of the seventeen hundred and fifty-third section of the Revised Statutes and of the civil-service act approved January 16, 1883, the following special rule for the regulation and improvement of the executive civil service is hereby promulgated:
SPECIAL RULE NO. 4.
Appointments to the 150 places in the Pension Office provided to be filled by the act of March 3, 1885, except so far as they may be filled by promotions or transfers, must be separately apportioned by the appointing power in as near conformity to the second section of the act of January 16, 1883, as the need of filling them promptly and the residence and qualifications of the applicants will permit.
Approved, July 16, 1885.
GROVER CLEVELAND.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, July 23, 1885.
Heads of all Government Departments:
Ex-President Ulysses S. Grant died this morning at 8 o'clock.
In respect to his memory it is ordered that all of the offices of the Executive Departments in the city of Washington be closed to-day at 1 o'clock.
GROVER CLEVELAND.
GENERAL ORDERS, No. 81.
HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMY,
ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE,
Washington, July 23, 1885.
I. The following proclamation has been received from the President:
[For proclamation see p. 308.]
II. In compliance with the instructions of the President, on the day of the funeral, at each military post, the troops and cadets will be paraded and this order read to them, after which all labors for the day will cease.
The national flag will be displayed at half-staff.
At dawn of day thirteen guns will be fired, and afterwards at intervals of thirty minutes between the rising and setting of the sun a single gun, and at the close of the day a national salute of thirty-eight guns.
The officers of the Army will wear crape on the left arm and on their swords, and the colors of the Battalion of Engineers, of the several regiments, and of the United States Corps of Cadets will be put in mourning for the period of six months.
The date and hour of the funeral will be communicated to department commanders by telegraph, and by them to their subordinate commanders.
By command of Lieutenant-General Sheridan:
R.C. DRUM, Adjutant-General.
SPECIAL ORDER.
NAVY DEPARTMENT, Washington, July 23, 1885.
The President of the United States announces the death of ex-President Ulysses S. Grant in the following proclamation:
[For proclamation see p. 308.]
In pursuance of the President's instructions, it is hereby directed that the ensign at each naval station and of each vessel of the United States Navy in commission be hoisted at half-mast, and that a gun be fired at intervals of every half hour from sunrise to sunset at each naval station and on board of flagships and of vessels acting singly on the day of the funeral, where this order may be received in time, otherwise on the day after its receipt.
The officers of the Navy and Marine Corps will wear the usual badge of mourning attached to the sword hilt and on the left arm for a period of thirty days.
WILLIAM C. WHITNEY,
Secretary of the Navy.
In the exercise of the power vested in the President by the Constitution, and by virtue of the seventeen hundred and fifty-third section of the Revised Statutes and of the civil-service act approved January 16, 1883, the seventh clause of Rule XIX for the regulation and improvement of the executive civil service is hereby amended so as to read as follows:
7. Persons whose employment is exclusively professional; but medical examiners are not included among such persons.
And the same is hereby promulgated.
Approved, August 5, 1885.
GROVER CLEVELAND.