tion of the existing law as will permit the
first or sole assistant, or, in the case of the Treasury Department,
where the assistants are not graded, that one who may be designated by
the President, to discharge the duties of the head of the Department
until a successor is appointed and qualified.

BENJ. HARRISON.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 10, 1891_.

_To the Senate_:

I transmit herewith the correspondence called for by the resolution of
the Senate of the 6th instant, relating to the conduct of Commander
Reiter in connection with the arrest and killing of General Barrundia.

BENJ. HARRISON.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 13, 1891_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

The Admiral of the Navy, David Dixon Porter, died at his residence
in the city of Washington this morning at 8.15 o'clock, in the
seventy-eighth year of his age. He entered the naval service as a
midshipman February 2, 1829, and had been since continuously in service,
having been made Admiral August 15, 1870. He was the son of Commodore
David Porter, one of the greatest of our naval commanders. His service
during the Civil War was conspicuously brilliant and successful, and
his death ends a very high and honorable career. His countrymen will
sincerely mourn his loss while they cherish with grateful pride the
memory of his deeds. To officers of the Navy his life will continue
to yield inspiration and encouragement.

BENJ. HARRISON.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, D.C., February 14, 1891_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith the sixth annual report of the Commissioner of
Labor. This report relates to the cost of producing iron and steel and
the materials of which iron is made in the United States and in Europe,
and the earnings, the efficiency, and the cost of living of the men
employed in such production.

BENJ. HARRISON.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 14, 1891_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

The death of William Tecumseh Sherman, which took place to-day at his
residence in the city of New York, at 1 o'clock and 50 minutes p.m., is
an event that will bring sorrow to the heart of every patriotic citizen.
No living American was so loved and venerated as he. To look upon his
face, to hear his name, was to have one's love of country intensified.
He served his country, not for fame, not out of a sense of professional
duty, but for love of the flag and of the ben