Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1886-07-16
THE PENSION VETOES
Mnntrnnlis TribnRs.

Minneapolis Tribune.
Inasmuch as the President has been made
the subject of q great deal OF harsh critic
ism because OF having vetoed so many
private pensions, it is but fair to him that
the public should know the grounds upon
which these bills were vetoed. \ careful
examination of the reasons assigned by
the President in every veto message show
that in no single case WAS he prompted by
u desire to deprive any honOrably dis
charged soldier, or the widow OF q soldier,
Of a dollar they were entitled To under the
pensiou laws, but in each and every case
he shows cOnclusiycly that the applicant
was not entitled to 4 pension, and that IN
many cases that Congress WAS guilty OF a
carelessneSs in passing such bills that
actually amounted to criminal neg
~lirence. As an illustration OF
the general tenor of triylalty
in the whole batch of them We cite the
following, which are taken ut random
from the pile of veto messages now before
us: In House bill 56O3 granting pension to
Mrs. Mccarthy, the application Tor pension
wa based on the allegation that her nus
hand had died while in service from an
| overdose of cOlchicum. The evidence
showed that q cOmradc had taken some
| medicine from the surgeons stores n
asked Mccarthy to taste IT. lie drank IL
and shortly afterwards became very sick
and died the next morning. The PreSl-
/ dent saws it is not fair to ask the govern
ment to grant a pension for the freak OF
gross reckleSSnesS of this soldier. Bill
1923 grants q pension to William Nevlll,
when the records show that the name fthe
claimant is now on the pension rolls, and
has been for twenty years, and he has
ever since been drawing his pension reSu-
larly. This is 4 clear case of an attempt to
double up on the pension business. House
bill 1906 granted a pension to William
Dermody, who is proven by the army rec
ords To have been a deserter, and the only
wound he ever received Wa when he was
shot by the guard in attempting to escape
after his arrest. House bill 66lSE Tor the
relief of Edward NJ. Harrington. The evil
deuce is that while in service he had q tsti-
cuff with one Patrick Barnes, in which ne
had some bones broken and received some
internal injuries. The President says;
The government ought not to be called
upon to insure against the quarrelsome
propensities OF its individual soldiers, MOI
tn compensate one who Is wOrsted IN Q
ight or an u~nproyoked attack, where the
cause of injury Is in no way connected
with, or related TO, any requirement or IN,
cident of military service" House Dill
7OlS is another doubling-up case, where
the applicant had i0r a long time been Oh
the pension roll. House bill 53O6 is acas'
where the pension was allowed on the
ground that the applicant had liver com
plaint, when the testimony OF the phSSl
clans was that the mans liver was diseased
before he enlisted in the army. House Dli
1857 was a case where the applicant haC
never enlisted i'm the army, but was n mem
I her of "A home guard organization in Mary.
land and was wounded by the accidental
discharge of n muskct in the hands of an
other member of his company. House bal
3OI3 granted a pension to Louis Scaniano
ON the ground that the claimant had con
tracted chronic diarrhoea in the Black
Hawk war iifty-twO yearsago. Reviewing
the case the President says:
The records show that he served iron
April Is, 1882. to May %, in the same
wear. He was examined by n board OF sur,
gsons in 1891, when he was said to be a
wears old. In his examination he did mo-
claim TO have diarrh@a for a good many
wears. On the contrary he claimed TO b'
affected with constipation, n said he haC
never had diarrhpa of late years, except a
times when he had taken medicine lo'
consultation. / am inclined to think 1
would have been a fortunate thing II IL
tbis ease il could have been demonstrates
that a man could thrive so we'll with IN
chronic diarrh9a for iiity-two years, as III
existence in the case of this good Old gen
tleman would prove. We should then
pcrhaps, have less oft in claims Tor pen
Sions. The fact is in this case there Is N
disability which can be traced to the tort.
days military service OF hity-iour year.
AGO. and l think little ifany more lnhrmi
tv than is usually in men OF the age oil th'
claimant. Entertaining this belief, | an
constrained to withhold my signature from
the bill.
House bill 1896 was = case where tn,
widow claimed a pension on the groun'
that her husband, while in battle with IN
Indians Mt Spanish Fort in 1868, lncurre'
a hernia. 1t appears from the evldene
that twenty wears afterwards he died iron
cerebral apoplexy. In vetOing the bill
the President says: 1T seems to me ina
efforts to attribute his death by apopleX,
TO the existence of hernia ought not to b
successful" House bill 1912 granted
pepsion to a man who was never IN the ser
vice, nor was there any evidence that N
was eredibly employed in a service tina
would benefit the government IL wa
shown that he belonged to a BAND OF me-
in North Carolina who were congregate'
together and engaged in plundering tn
neighborhOOd, and that on account Q
their depredations they were hunted dow
by the Union home guards, and the claim
ant was shot at the time stated in his up
plication.
These are fair samples of the batch Q
~priyate pension bills passed by Congress
and vetoed BY the President. Not
them has m more merit than the one
above referred to. And in nearly ever
case application had previously been mad
to the pension bureau and had been N
iected. For years Congress has been pas
ing these bills, and simply because tn