WASHINGTON, _February 17, 1825_.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:
I invite the attention of Congress to the peculiar situation of this
District in regard to the exposure of its inhabitants to contagious
diseases from abroad, against which it is thought that adequate
provision should now be made. The exposure being common to the whole
District, the regulation should apply to the whole, to make which
Congress alone possesses the adequate power. That the regulation should
be made by Congress is the more necessary from the consideration that
this being the seat of the Government, its protection against such
diseases must form one of its principal objects.