E.D. TOWNSEND,
Adjutant-General.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, August 15, 1876.
To the House of Representatives:
I herewith return House bill No. 4085 without my approval. The repeal of the clause in the original bill for paving Pennsylvania avenue fixing the time for the completion of the work by December 1, 1876, is objectionable in this, that it fixes no date when the work is to be completed.
Experience shows that where contractors have unlimited time to complete any given work they consult their own convenience, and not the public good. Should Congress deem it proper to amend the present bill in such manner as to fix the date for the completion of the work to be done by any date between December 1 and the close of my official term, it will receive my approval.
U.S. GRANT.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, August 15, 1876.
To the Senate of the United States:
For the reasons stated in the accompanying communication, submitted to me by the Acting Secretary of the Interior, I have the honor to return herewith without my approval Senate bill No. 779, entitled "An act to provide for the sale of a portion of the reservation of the confederated Otoe and Missouria and the Sacs and Foxes of the Missouri tribes of Indians, in the States of Kansas and Nebraska."
U.S. GRANT.