ldings and improvements thereon as
could not be economically removed to the new site, and to cause the said
reservation, for the purposes of said sale, to be platted in blocks,
streets, and alleys, if in his judgment it would inure to the benefit of
the Government in making a sale of such site.

The new site provided for by this act has been purchased, a large sum of
money has been spent by the Government in preparing it for use, and I
understand it will soon be ready for occupancy. The authority to sell
the old site has not been exercised. This may be accounted for by the
fact that the Government has not thus far been able to dispense with its
use or because the depression in land values at Omaha has rendered it
unadvisable.

The authority to sell and to remove any of the buildings from the old
reservation to the new site still remains, however, unimpaired. In this
condition of affairs it is now proposed to lease this land and these
buildings to the State of Nebraska at a nominal rent, allowing the
Government to repossess it only "when the interests of the United States
shall require such action."

Of course it would be claimed that this language, in view of the
statute of 1888, should not be construed as permitting the Government to
retake the property for the purpose of selling it, because that is not
stipulated in the bill. For that reason it would be plausibly urged that
the lease was paramount to the power of sale contained in the law of
1888 and that the omission of any provision that possession might be
resumed for the purpose of sale plainly indicated that "the interests of
the United States" which allow such resumption contemplate some other
and different emergency.

As a practical question, we all know that transactions of this character
relating to Government property amount to a permanent alienation, or
certainly pave the way for an absolute grant.

I do not think there should be anything done with this valuable property
which will in the least embarrass the Government in its sale, and to
that extent reimbursing itself for the cost of the new military post,
which was plainly contemplated in the law of 1888.

GROVER CLEVELAND.

PROCLAMATIONS.

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas the Congress of the United States passed an act, which was
approved on the 16th day of July, 1894, entitled "An act to enable the
people of Utah to form a constitution and