Grover Cleveland: “His claim to a pension lacks merit.”

Rule VI of the civil-service rules is hereby amended by adding to the exceptions from examination in the departmental service a new clause, to read as follows:(d) Assistant Secretary Smithsonian Institution, in charge of United States…

I transmit a report from the Secretary of State, submitting a list of the claims filed in the Department of State by citizens of the United States against Spain.

A departure from this rule, even in aid of cases of hardship, can not fail to establish precedents inviting the abandonment of reasonable and justifiable pension theories.

I transmit herewith a communication from the Secretary of State, covering the report of the joint commission on behalf of the United States and Great Britain, dated December 31, 1896, relative to the preservation of the fisheries in waters…