BENJ.  HARRISON.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, December 17, 1890.

To the Senate and House of Representatives: 

I transmit herewith a letter from the Secretary of the Navy, accompanied by a letter from the secretary of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, who transmits a memorial, addressed to the Government of the United States, in relation to the late Captain John Ericsson.

The matter is presented for such action as the Congress may deem proper.

BENJ.  HARRISON.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, December 17, 1890.

To the Senate and House of Representatives: 

I transmit herewith a letter from the Secretary of War, accompanied by a copy of a preliminary report of the board on gun factories and steel forgings for high-power guns, appointed by me under the provisions of an act entitled “An act making appropriations for fortifications,” etc., approved August 18, 1890.

The report and accompanying papers are submitted for the information and early attention of Congress.

BENJ.  HARRISON.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, December 22, 1890.

To the Senate and House of Representatives: 

I transmit herewith a letter of the 18th instant from the Secretary of the Interior, in relation to the disposition of timber on certain Chippewa reservations in Wisconsin, together with copies of papers relating thereto.  The matter is presented for the action of Congress.

BENJ.  HARRISON.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, December 23, 1890.

To the Senate and House of Representatives: 

The Territorial legislature of Oklahoma, now in session, will adjourn by limitation of law on to-morrow, the 24th instant.  The act organizing the Territory provided (section II) that certain chapters of the revised statutes of Nebraska should be in force until after the adjournment of the first session of the Territorial legislature.

The question of the location of the Territorial capital has so occupied the time of the legislature and so distracted and divided its members that no criminal code has been provided.  It is urgently necessary that Congress should at once, by joint resolution or otherwise, continue the laws of Nebraska in force, and save pending criminal arrests and prosecutions at least.  The reconvening of the legislature does not under the existing circumstances promise any relief.

BENJ.  HARRISON.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, December 23, 1890.

To the Senate and House of Representatives: 

I transmit herewith a letter of the Secretary of the Navy, accompanied by the report of the commission appointed by me by virtue of a provision in the naval appropriation bill approved June 30, 1890, for the purpose of selecting a suitable site “for a dry dock at some point on the shores of the Pacific Ocean, or the waters connected therewith, north of the parallel of latitude marking the northern boundary of California, including the waters of Puget Sound and also Lakes Union and Washington, in the State of Washington.”