coming from any foreign port or
country where any contagious or infectious disease exists, nor any
vessel conveying infected merchandise, shall enter any port of the
United States or pass the boundary line between the United States and
any foreign country except in such manner as may be prescribed under
said act.

Attention has been called to the prevalence of a dangerous epidemic
disease in southern Russia known as the "plague," and its extremely
virulent and contagious character, as manifested in the late outbreak,
leaves no doubt that it is similar to, if not identical with, the
"plague" which devastated the Old World in past centuries. Because,
therefore, of the danger which attaches to rags, furs, etc., as
carriers of infection, the following regulations are framed, under
the direction of the Secretary of the Treasury, and subject to the
approval of the President, for the protection of the health of the
people of the United States against the danger referred to:

Until further orders no vessel from any port of the Black Sea or the
Sea of Azof, conveying any rags, furs, skins, hair, feathers, boxed
or baled clothing or bedding, or any similar articles liable to convey
infection, nor any vessel from any port of the Mediterranean or Red
seas having on board such articles coming from southern Russia, shall
enter any port of the United States until such articles shall have
been removed from the vessel to open lighters or to some isolated
locality and the vessel disinfected and thoroughly ventilated; and the
suspected articles shall be disinfected, either by chemical agents and
exposure to free currents of air or by burning, as shall be determined
in each case by the Surgeon-General of the Marine-Hospital Service.

The certificate of the State or municipal quarantine officer of health
may be accepted as satisfactory evidence of compliance with these
regulations on the part of the vessel.

JNO. M. WOODWORTH,
_Surgeon-General United States Marine-Hospital Service._

Approved:

R.B. HAYES.

CUSTOM-HOUSE, NEW YORK CITY,
_Collector's Office, February 26, 1879._

Hon. JOHN SHERMAN,
_Secretary of the Treasury._

SIR: The President, by letter of 4th instant, having requested
that appointments and promotions in this office should be made in
accordance with the civil-service rules of 1872, and having also made
a similar request of the naval officer, it has been deemed best to
make, if practicable, the same