Springfield globe-republic. (Springfield, Ohio) 1884-1887, 1886-10-27
AN OHIO SOLDER.
ward the Aged Widow Whose Husband
and Sons Fell for Their COUNTRY.

.President Clevoland's Heartlessns.s To.
ward the Aged Widow Whose Hu,bsns
and Sons Fell for Their Country.
Cleveland heartless vetoes Of pension bills
for crippled soldiers and their families, have
Justly aroused tie Indignation Of all loyA
men. Senator RSrrison calls attention 10
one Of these vetoes in the followirg'
Mr.. Cleveland has won great eminence-l
will not say fame-by his extraordinary ex-
erclse of the veto power He has vetoed more
bills than any Of his predecessors, from
Washington down. ] must d~fer 20 another
time a discussion Of this feature of his ad-
ministration But as We have been challenged
to examine his vetoes Of private pension bills,
] will refer TO one.
"Sallie Ann Bradley was the widow of
Thomas J. Bradley. who served as a private
in Company d, Twenty-fourth regiment
Ohio volunteers, from June l3, 1861, to Octo-
Der l9, 1865. He was pensioned on account
Of she'll wound in the back, received at
Murfreesboro, Tenn, January 2, 1862, and
died October 81, 1869. The commissioner of
pensions decided that his death was not en-
tlrely attributable to his military service and
that his widow could not secure a pension
under existing law. She was seventy years
Of age, as helpless as an infant, without
means Of support or friends able to assist
her. Four Of ber sons followed their father
10 the war Two OF them were killed upon
the battlefield, and the other two returned
one with the loss Of an eye, the othor of an arm.
The bill gave her a widows pension, sl2 a
month. In his veto OF this bill Mr. Cleve-
land said: No cause is given of the soldiers
death, but it is not claimed that it resulted
from his military service, her pension being
asked for entirely because Of her needs and
the faithful service Of her husband and her
sons. This presents the question whether a
gift, in such cases, is a proper disposition Of
money appropriated for the purpose of pay
ing pensions. The passage OF this law would,
in my opinion, establish a precedent SO far
reaching, and open the door to such a vast
multitude of claims not on principle within
our present pension laws, that l am con-
strained to disapprove the bill under consid-
eratiOn'
"Does this case need any COMMENT Would
the question have been raised in any other
mind whether what the president was pleased
TO call gift was proper in such a casel A
gift of Sl2 per month, and in exchange for
whati What gift had she made to her coun-
tryt Two sons that she had nurSed at her
breast lying in unknown graves upon distant
battlefielis HO more, her only sons, came
back from IL var MANNED in limb and Grip
pied in their ability to maintain the mother
that bore them. A husband upon whom she
had leaned for support returned to hsr no
longer the stalwart helper and defender he
had been, and is called before her to the
grave. She is alone. Cannot great, rich
government like ours take care of this pstri-
otic woman! Must she go to the poorhouss
or die Of wanti May not nation do out Of
its great resources what an Individual, not
lost TO sense of justice, would do under like
CircumstanCesfn