The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1886-07-17
The Pension Vetoes.

in having them referred to the com.
mittee on pensions. Representative
McComas made a strong speech
against the veto of the bill to pension
Joseph Romiser, of Cumberland, ard
when he finished, he had secured a
promise from the chairman of the
committee. if he allowed the bill to
go to the committee, that it would he
reported and acted upon this session.
Mr.. McCOmas made quite dramatic
effect by showing the photographs of
Romiser's wounds in the House.
Mr.. McCOmas who originally in
troduced the bill, made IAN explana.
ton of it and analysed the veto mes,
sage of the President. The bill, he
said. had passed both houses with
unanimity. The President declared
that though the committee on Inva-
lid Pensions had reported that Rom
User had filed a claim for pension
which had been rejected by the Pen
sion Office, there was no such case in
| the office. The President said that
Romlser had never filed claim. Ii
this were true, the com mttee was in
deed conyicted of gross carelessness,
and doubtless the President made the
statement to illustrate the loose meth
DDS of the committee and his own ac-
curacy in examining these private
pension bills. If this charge were
unfounded, then the President was
convicted of still grosser carelessness.
because the report of the committee
had warned him that there was case
in the office, He (Mr. McComas)held
in his hand the very bundle of pen
sion papers in the case of Joseph
Romiser. The packet recorded all
the proceedings from the time of the
fling of the claim, in 1879, until its
rejection. The record showed that
the Pension Office founu that though
Romi ser was severely wounded by a
mimic ball passing through his head
and face, because he was not muster
ed in, the Office was constrained"
to reject the Claim. When the Pres.
| ident's veto came to the House declar-
| ing that there was no such papers, he
had telephoned to the Pension Office
and had had no trouble in getting
them. Why had not the President
done likewise? Why had he reprov-
ed the committee for what now prov
ed to be his own carelessness Z? The
committee had been diligent the
President had been negligent. Con-
gress had been just !; the President
had denied justice to a citizen whose
case he had never considered. Mr..
! McComas continued: "What is the
case in which the President does
this? Joseph ROmiser's case is a
matter of history. l have here from
the Congressional library Colonel
Lowdermilk' admirable history of
Cumberland, Md, which has been in
print eight years. Two pages Ofthat
book tell the history of Joseph Rom
iser's patriotic spirit and his misfor-
tune, how, in the ranks of Captain
Frank Mason's company of volunteer
sOldiery, in the defence of his coun-
try. he was shot accidently when the
company were uncapping their guns
by musket in the hands of a com
rade, AIpheas Beall, the bullet going
into the neck, back of the ear, going
through the inner ear and destroying
his hearing. coming out under the
eye and binding that eye the emf
inent surgeon who attended him,
atterward surgeon in our army, de-
claring that, from the sympathetic
opthalmia, he may go blind in the
other eye. The heavy mimic ball
broke the jaw at its rames. and made
an exit through the molar bone be-
low the eye. There was exfOlation
of the bone, terribly deformily of the
face, followed ny months of lingering
suffering and twenty-five years 81
neuralgia, and legacy of pain for
life. In requital, he receives no pay,
no bounty, no pension but, instead,
the Presidents Veto"
Romiser, he said. was justly enti
tied to pension, because he had
been inspired by the spirit of the
min ute men of Concord and Licking.
ton. There are many presidents for
the bill pensioning the minute men
of Concord and Lexington and George
Washington. unlike President Ceve.
land. had approved it. Thomas JEFF
ferson, the rather of the Democratic
party. had signed bill granting q
! pension to men who had never been
mustered into the army; and An.
drew Jackson had signed similar
bill. Abraham Lincoln, in a like
case, had said that he would not
inquire whether a man had been
mustered in, but only whether
he had done his duty. Applause. |