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Naval History and Heritage Command

Naval History and Heritage Command

Presidentof the United States William McKinley to Secretary of the Treasury Lyman J. Gage

     Executive Mansion,

March 24, 1898.

Sir:

     Referring to the provisions of Section 2757 of the revised Statutes,1 it is directed that the Revenue Cutters “Gresham,” “Manning,” “Windom,” “Woodbury,” “Hamilton,” “Morrill,” “Hudson,” “Guthrie” and “Calumet,” with their officers and crews, be placed under the direction of the Secretary of the Navy, and cooperate with the Navy, until further orders, and that the two Revenue Cutters now under construction at Cleveland, Ohio, be likewise temporarily transferred to the Navy as soon as the work thereupon shall be sufficiently advanced to warrant such transfer.

                                      William McKinley  

Source Note: TLS, DNA, RG 26. Addressed below close: “The Honorable,/The Secretary of the Treasury” The document came with an attached letter stating that Johnathan Addison Porter requested the letter.

Footnote 1: Section 2757 of the Revised Statutes states that: “The revenue cutters shall, whenever the president so directs, cooperate with the Navy, during which time they shall be under the direction of the Secretary of the Navy, and the expenses thereof shall be defrayed by the Navy Department.” Decisions of the Comptroller of the Treasury, vol. 5, July 1, 1898 to June 30, 1899 (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1899), 672.