Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1886-07-12
Some Specimen Veto Messages


The people who lavish indissriminate
praise upon the President for his vetoes o.
private pension bills can hardly have exam
ined the messages in which he communicated
his objections to Congress or they would
qualify their admiration. Some of these
messages are so coarse and unfeeling tina,
they reflect no credit upon the President OF
the United States. Wherever the President
saw reason to interpose his veto upon the
granting Of pensions to individuals who,
from his examination of the evidence. seemed
unworthy. he was clearly within his Consttu
tional rights and prerogatives; but even it,
in every case. he was in the right. and the
Congressional Committee in the wrong, as
regards their respective views of the evidence,
there would still be no excuse for the lumber
ing humor and covert sneers with which these
messages are filed.
In the case of James Z O'Shea, for exam
pie, the President says that, $50 far from
being disabled, it is reported as an incident
of his army life that in the year 1864 this
soldier was found guilty of desertion
and sentenced to forfeit all pay and
allowances for the time he was absent,
and he adds, II am convinced that there ex-
lists serious difficulty on the part of the claim
ant, instead of in the record Of the War
Department, and that the kind of irregularity
for which he was under discipline is calcu-
lated to produce a lack of confidence IN his
merits as pensioner" Now it happens that
the alleged fact upon which this innuendo is
baseci 10 no fact at all Assistant Adiutant
General Thomas Ward, under date March IL.
all fhrs. fl1s n thtsl afa nj
the Presidents message certifies that O'Shea
had been unjustly treated; that he was
charged with desertion and tried for that
offence. but found not guilty. and that the
charge had been removed. These facts were
accessible TO the President; why should he
brand the man as deserter?
The case of Alfred Denny is another in
point. Denny was post quartermaster. who
suffers from hernia. the result of being throw n
violently against the horn of his saddle by a
sudden movement of his horse while in the
line of duty in August, 1868. Being post quar-.
termaster he could not be treated by regi
mental surgeon, but was treated by private
physician, and not being a member of any
company or regiment he could not meet the
requirement of the Pension Bureau to furnish
'evdence of commissioned officer or mem
Der of the company" to which he belonged.
Dennv's declaration was accompanied by the
affidavit of the United States examining sur.
gp0n as to the date, character and conse-
quences of his disease; but the President is
satisfied there is not a particle of merit in
this claim" and disposes of it jeeringly with
the remark that THE number of instances
in which those of our soldiers who rode horses
during the war were injured by being thrown
forward upon their saddles indicate that these
saddles were verv dangerous contrivances. y
If it had ever been the Presidents lot to par
ticipate in a cavalry charge he would no,
view this class of disabilities so loosely.
One more case must suffice for the present
This il the case of Harriet Welch, whose
husband, SyreanDeous Welch, a veteran and
pensioner, was killed by falling from the
cars September 7, 1877. His leg was so
crippled that it frequently gave way under
him, and this is supposed to have been the
cause of his fall. No one having witnessed
the fall, it was, of course, impossible to prove
beyond any doubt that his wounds were the
cause of it, On this ground the President
vetoes the pension. but he goes entirely out
of his way to say This widow admits that
prior to her marriage with the deceased
soldier she had married another man, OF
whom she could only say that she believed
him dead No question had ever beer
raised as to the legality of her marriage
which occurred IN June, 1863 and resulted r
the birth of seven children. Was it NOT
enough for the President to deprive thi,
widow and her seven children of the pension
which Congress had voted without indulgng
in fling at her chastity and their Legitimacy
These are specimen gems from Mr.. Cleve
lands veto messages. DO they really meri
indiscriminate praise?- Boston Journal