proved by the Commission before going into effect.

Rule XI, section 3: The word "examiners" in line 7 is changed to
"promotion," making the section read:

3. The Commission shall, upon the nomination of the head of each
Department, bureau, or office, designate and select a suitable number
of persons, not less than three, in said Department, bureau, or office
to be members of a board of promotion. In the Departments, bureaus, or
offices in Washington and in all other offices the members of any board
of promotion shall not all be adherents of one political party when
persons of other political parties are available and competent to serve
upon said board.

Approved, November 2, 1896.

GROVER CLEVELAND.

CIVIL SERVICE--EXECUTIVE ORDER.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _November 2, 1896_.

The regulations of the Navy Department governing the employment of labor
at navy-yards having been adopted by the Civil Service Commission as
a regulation of the Commission July 29, 1896, under the authority
conferred by clause 1, Rule 1, of the revised civil-service rules of
May 6, 1896, it is hereby ordered that no modification of the existing
regulations shall be made without the approval of the Civil Service
Commission.

GROVER CLEVELAND.

FOURTH ANNUAL MESSAGE.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _December 7, 1896_.

_To the Congress of the United States_:

As representatives of the people in the legislative branch of
their Government, you have assembled at a time when the strength and
excellence of our free institutions and the fitness of our citizens to
enjoy popular rule have been again made manifest. A political contest
involving momentous consequences, fraught with feverish apprehension,
and creating aggressiveness so intense as to approach bitterness and
passion has been waged throughout our land and determined by the decree
of free and independent suffrage without disturbance of our tranquillity
or the least sign of weakness in our national structure.

When we consider these incidents and contemplate the peaceful obedience
and manly submission which have succeeded a heated clash of political
opinions, we discover abundant evidence of a determination on the part
of our countrymen to abide by every verdict of the popular will and
to be controlled at all times by an abiding faith in the agencies
established for the direction of the affairs of their Government.

Thus our people exhibit a patriotic disposition