US Presidency
1886

To the House of Representatives: I return without my approval House bill No. 1471, entitled An act increasing the pension of Andrew J. Hill. This bill doubles the pension which the person named therein has been receiving for a number of years. It appears from the report of the committee to which the bill was referred that a claim made by him for increased pension has been lately rejected by the Pension Bureau on the ground that the claimant is now receiving a pension commensurate with the degree of disability found to exist. The policy of frequently reversing by special enactment the decisions of the Bureau invested by law with the examination of pension claims, fully equipped for such examination, and which ought not to be suspected of any lack of liberality to our veteran soldiers, is exceedingly questionable. It may well be doubted if a committee of Congress has a better opportunity than such an agency to judge of the merits of these claims.