US Presidency
1887

Upon a careful consideration of the language of the section of this bill above given it seems to me to be so uncertain and liable to such conflicting constructions and to be subject to such unjust and mischievous application as to alone furnish sufficient ground for disapproving the proposed legislation. Persons seeking to obtain the pension provided by this section must be now or hereafter 1. Suffering from mental or physical disability. 2. Such disability must not be the result of their own vicious habits or gross carelessness. 3. Such disability must be such as incapacitates them for the performance of labor in such a degree as to render them unable to earn a support. 4. They must be dependent upon their daily labor for support. 5. Upon proof of these conditions they shall be placed on the lists of invalid pensioners of the United States, and be entitled to receive for such total inability to procure their subsistence by daily labor $ 12 per month.