ecember 28, 1874, on file in this office, occurs the
following language:

"I was transferred to the Twenty-eighth Michigan Volunteers, and
performed duty with that regiment from the 28th June, 1865, until the
16th day of April, 1866, when, being in a reduced and weak condition
from continued chills and fever, and being in great fear of smallpox,
which had become very prevalent at Wilmington, N.C., where my company
was then stationed, I left my command without leave and returned to
Michigan." * * *

This man is consequently a deserter in fact, and should this bill,
restoring to an honorable status an admitted deserter, become a law,
it will defeat every end of military discipline and justice, besides
working a great injustice to every soldier who served faithfully and
honorably.

It is therefore strongly recommended that it be not approved.

E.D. TOWNSEND, _Adjutant-General_.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 14, 1877_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return the House bill No. 3155, entitled "An act to perfect the
revision of the statutes of the United States," without my approval.
My objection is to the single provision which amends section 3823 of
the Revised Statutes.

That section is as follows:

SEC. 3823. The Clerk of the House of Representatives shall select in
Virginia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama,
Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, and Arkansas one or more newspapers, not
exceeding the number allowed by law, in which such treaties and laws of
the United States as may be ordered for publication in newspapers
according to law shall be published, and in some one or more of which
so selected all such advertisements as may be ordered for publication
in said districts by any United States court or judge thereof, or by
any officer of such courts, or by any executive officer of the United
States, shall be published, the compensation for which and other terms
of publication shall be fixed by said Clerk at a rate not exceeding
$2 per page for the publication of treaties and laws, and not exceeding
$1 per square of eight lines of space for the publication of
advertisements, the accounts for which shall be adjusted by the proper
accounting officers and paid in the manner now authorized by law in the
like cases.

The bill proposes to amend this section as follows:

By striking out all after the word "in" in the first line to the word
"one" in t