A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents. Volume 7, part 1: Ulysses S. Grant

by Unknown

EXECUTIVE ORDER.

WASHINGTON, January 23, 1874.

Whereas it has been brought to the notice of the President of the United States that in the International Exhibition of Arts, Manufactures, and Products of the Soil and Mine to be held in the city of Philadelphia in the year 1876 for the purpose of celebrating the one hundredth anniversary of the independence of the United States it is desirable that from the Executive Departments of the Government of the United States in which there may be articles suitable for the purpose intended there should appear such articles and materials as will, when presented in a collective exhibition, illustrate the functions and administrative faculties of the Government in time of peace and its resources as a war power, and thereby serve to demonstrate the nature of our institutions and their adaptations to the wants of the people:

Now, for the purpose of securing a complete and harmonious arrangement of the articles and materials designed to be exhibited from the Executive Departments of the Government, it is ordered that a board to be composed of one person to be named by the head of each of the Executive Departments which may have articles and materials to be exhibited, and also of one person to be named in behalf of the Smithsonian Institution and one to be named in behalf of the Department of Agriculture, be charged with the preparation, arrangement, and safe-keeping of such articles and materials as the heads of the several Departments and the Commissioner of Agriculture and the Director of the Smithsonian Institution may respectively decide shall be embraced in the collection; that one of the persons thus named, to be designated by the President, shall be chairman of such board, and that the board appoint from their own number such other officers as they may think necessary; and that the said board when organized be authorized, under the direction of the President, to confer with the executive officers of the Centennial Exhibition in relation to such matters connected with the subject as may pertain to the respective Departments having articles and materials on exhibition; and that the names of the persons thus selected by the heads of the several Departments, the Commissioner of Agriculture, and the Director of the Smithsonian Institution shall be submitted to the President for designation.

By order of the President:
HAMILTON FISH,
Secretary of State.

GENERAL ORDERS, No. 22.

WAR DEPARTMENT,
ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE,
Washington, March 9, 1874.

I. The following order has been received from the President of the United States:

EXECUTIVE MANSION, Washington, March 9, 1874.

It is with deep regret that the President announces to the people of the United States the death of Millard Fillmore, one of his honored predecessors, who died at Buffalo, N.Y., last evening.

The long-continued and useful public service and eminent purity of character of the deceased ex-President will be remembered beyond the days of mourning in which a nation will be thrown by the event which is thus announced.

As a mark of respect to his memory, it is ordered that the Executive Mansion and the several Departments at Washington be draped in mourning until the close of the day on which the funeral shall take place, and that all business be suspended on the day of the funeral.

It is further ordered that the War and Navy Departments cause suitable military and naval honors to be paid on the occasion to the memory of the eminent citizen whose life is now closed.

U.S. GRANT.

By the President:
HAMILTON FISH,
Secretary of State.

II. In compliance with the President's instructions, the troops will be paraded at 10 o'clock a.m. on the day after the receipt of this order at each military post, when the order will be read to them, and the labors of that day will thereafter 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 sun a single gun, and at the close of the day a national salute of thirty-seven guns.

The officers of the Army will wear crape on the left arm and on their swords and the colors of the several regiments will be put in mourning for the period of thirty days.

By order of the Secretary of War:
E.D. TOWNSEND,
Adjutant-General.

SPECIAL ORDER.

NAVY DEPARTMENT, Washington, March 9, 1874.

The President of the United States announces the death of ex-President Millard Fillmore in the following order:

[For order see preceding page.]

In pursuance of the foregoing order, 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 from sunrise to sunset, 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 Thursday, the 12th instant, 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 the period of thirty days.

GEO. M. ROBESON,
Secretary of the Navy.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, Washington, D.C., May 27, 1874.

SIR:[82] The President directs me to say that the several Departments of the Government will be closed on the 30th instant, in order to enable the employees to participate in the decoration of the graves of the soldiers who fell during the rebellion.

I am, sir, your obedient servant,

O.E. BABCOCK,
Secretary.

WASHINGTON, May 29, 1874.

The Civil Service Commission, at its sessions at Washington, having recommended certain rules[83] to be prescribed by the President for the government of the Light-House Service of the United States, these rules as herewith published are approved, and their provisions will be enforced by the proper officers.

U.S. GRANT.

AUGUST 31, 1874.

It appearing to me from their trial at Washington and at the city of New York that the further extension of the civil-service rules will promote the efficiency of the public service, it is ordered that such rules be, and they are hereby, extended to the several Federal offices at the city and in the customs district of Boston, and that the proper measures be taken for carrying this order into effect.

U.S. GRANT.