St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1886-05-12
VETOES BY PRESIDENTS.
Cleveland Said to be Leading His
Predecessors.
Special to the Globe.

Speclal TO the GlOpe.
WASHINGTON, May 11.-President
Cleveland is making record for himself as
the greatest veto president the country has
seen. He has made larger number of
vetOeS in the fourteen months that he has
been in office than any other president has
made in the first fourteen months of an adj
ministration. No other president has ever
made more than three vetoeS in the length
OF time covered by President Cleveland's
term in office. With the growth Of legisla-
ton, there has been tendency to an in
crease OF exercise of the veto power, but
President Cleveland seems likely to lead all
his predecessors in this particular. He has
no hesitancy, apparently in sitting squarely
down on any missive which does not meet
his approval or against which he thinks
there are constitutional reasons. The rumor
that he will veto the river and harbor bill
creates considerable sensation among the
supporters of that measure, and that should
he do so. there will be considerable effort to
pass it over his veto. ALI the presidents
from Washington down, excepting Jeffer-
son, the two Adams, Van Buren,, Harrison.
Taylor, and Fillmore, exercised the veto
power to a greater or less degree Washing
ton vetoed only two bills, one for an
apportionment of representatives.
WHICH HE CONSIDERED IMPRACTICABIE
the other for the reduction of the army,
which he thought injudicious and unjust in
its details. Lincoln made only one veto,
and that was of a joint resolution relative
to clerical errors in revenue act, and the
veto in this case was made merely in order
that all errors might be included in the re-
solution. johnson broke the record, max.
ing seventeen vetoes during the stormy
Nf
him no president had ever made more than
dozen. Jackson vetoed eleven measures,
two of them being river and harbor appro-
priations, and Pierce and Tyler vetoed
nine each. Grant, however, made the
largest record of vetoes of any president.
though, as his term extended through
double the space allotted to a single term.
the proportion of vetoeS were, perhaps. not
greater than many other presidents. Dur
ing his eight years he vetoed tWenty-eight
bills, most of them being private measures
Grant evidently depended largely upon his
cabinet officers in regard to matters of this
kind, for if you will run over the list of
vetoes which he sent in you will find
that many of them are accompanied by
STATEMENTS OF CABINET OFFICERS.
giving the reasons why the measures should
not become laws. River and harbor ap-
pIOplldIloHS SeeHl 10 nave Deen especially
the subject of presidential vetoes. AS
early as Madison's time, bill for internal
improvement was vetoed by that president
as unconstitutional. Jackson vetoed a river
and harbor appropriation bill in S32 on the
ground that it was an attempt by the gov
ernment to control internal improvements.
He also vetoed a bill for aid in making the
Wabash river navigable, another for the
Louisville and Portland canal, and another
for number of harbors. Tyler vetoed a
barber bill in 1874, and a river and harbor
appropriation bill in 1916. Polk, a year
later, vetoed another river and harbor APP
preparation bill, and Pierce, in 1854, took a
similar course with reference to a bill of
this character. In 1856 he also vetoed
bill for removing distractions IN the Mis-
sissippi river. couple of others for river
improvements in the Northwest. another
for the Patapsco river. From Buchanan
down to Arthur river and harbor bills seem
to have had pretty easy time of it. for
there is no record of any veto. until that
by President Arthur in 1882. Whether
President Cleveland will make one in 1856
is uncertain, though it is believed by many
that he will.