the employees to participate in the commemorative
ceremonies of the day.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

W.K. ROGERS, _Private Secretary_.

[Footnote 37: Addressed to the heads of the Executive Departments,
etc.]

TREASURY DEPARTMENT,
OFFICE OF THE SURGEON GENERAL,
UNITED STATES MARINE-HOSPITAL SERVICE,

_Washington, D.C., May 31, 1879_.

_To Medical Officers of the Marine-Hospital Service and others whom it
may concern:_

Official information having been received to the effect that the
"plague" which existed in southern Russia is now almost extinct, the
regulations issued March 3, 1879,[38] imposing certain restrictions
upon the importation of rags, etc., into the United States, are hereby
revoked.

By order of the Secretary of the Treasury:

J.B. HAMILTON,
_Surgeon-General United States Marine-Hospital Service_.

Approved: R.B. HAYES.

[Footnote 38: See pp. 549-550.]

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, November 1, 1879_.

The sad intelligence of the death of Zachariah Chandler, late
Secretary of the Interior, and during so many years a Senator from the
State of Michigan, has been communicated to the Government and to the
country, and in proper respect to his memory I hereby order that the
several Executive Departments be closed to public business and their
flags and those of their dependencies throughout the country be
displayed at half-mast on the day of his funeral.

R.B. HAYES.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _Washington, November 17, 1879_.

DEAR SIR:[39] I am directed by the President to say that the several
Departments of the Government will be closed on Wednesday, the 19th
instant, to enable the employees to participate in the ceremonies
attending the unveiling of the statue of the late General George H.
Thomas.

Very truly, yours,

W.K. ROGERS, _Private Secretary_.

[Footnote 39: Addressed to the heads of the Executive Departments, etc.]

THIRD ANNUAL MESSAGE.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _December 1, 1879_.

_Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives:_

The members of the Forty-sixth Congress have assembled in their first
regular session under circumstances calling for mutual congratulation
and grateful acknowledgment to the Giver of All Good for the large and
unusual measure of national prosperity which we now enjoy.

The most interesting events which have occurred in our public affairs
since my last annual message to Congress are connected