Rutherford B. Hayes: “The custom-house should be a business office.”

Continued opposition to the full and free enjoyment of the rights of citizenship conferred upon the colored people by the recent amendments to the Constitution still prevails in several of the late slaveholding States.

I transmit, for the consideration of the Senate with a view to ratification, a convention between the United States of America and the Empire of Japan, providing for the reimbursement of certain specified expenses which may be incurred by…

The imperative necessity for prompt action and the pressure of public duties in this closing week of my term of office compel me to refrain from any attempt to make a full and satisfactory presentation of the objections to the bill.

A method which has so approved itself by experimental tests at points where such tests may be fairly considered conclusive should be extended to all subordinate positions under the Government.