The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1888-10-10
The Greatest Lying Statesman.

AS an off-hand liar Mr.. JAMES G. BLAINE
is equalled by few and excelled by none.
In his speech at Detroit he ends most
villainous string of falsehoods about the
exercise of the veto power with the follow
ing statement as to Mr.. CLEVELAND: "He
is the first president of the United States
who ever vetoed bill for the relief of
soldier who had exposed his body on the
field of battle to the bullets and shells of
the enemy in defense of his country"
We do not care to take time to 90 over the
whole question of previous vetoes, but
will compare President CLEVELAND with
Gen. GRANT, who, we will state for the in
formation of Mr.. BLAINE, was at
one time president of the Unit
ed States. OF the bills vetoed by
President CLEVELAND four bills were We
toed on the ground of desertion and dis
honorable discharge; on the same grounds
Gen. Grant Uetoed nine special acts, all Of this
nature that came before him, Seventeen
special acts were vetoed because the ap-
plicants were not in the military service
at the time of the incurrence of the dis
ability for which relief was asked. On
the same grounds President Grant vetoed
ttCo priUdte acts, all that came before him of
this character. Ten were vetoed because
the claimant is now receiving pension
commensurate with the degree OF disabil-
ity found to exist on examination by
competent board of surgeons President
Grrnt retOed three PIRATE acts for the same
ca {, all that came before him of this nature.
In this connection it is worthy of men
ton that the republican senate, in prep
aration for just such shameless attacks as
Mr.. BLAINE is making, rushed through
every pension dill it could. Men
whose cases have been before the pension
Office for years, and whose applications
have been continuously refused by
republican administrations, suddenly
found themselves pensioned by action of
congress This was done to throw the
responsibility of Directing to an improper
pension on the president, and he has had
the honesty and nerve to refuse to put
undeserving men on footing with the
faithful veterans of the war. So indecent
two occasions bills for the same pension
have been passed twice and sent in for
signature. The senate has also passed
bills, in its reckless haste, that would have
caused loss to the beneficiary" if the
watchfulness of the president had not
saved them. He has vetoed seven bills
passed by congress where the pensioner
was already receiving larger pension
granted By the pension bureau than the ba
passed By congress called for. He has We
toed bills that were passed for the relief
of soldiers, because on examination of
the evidence on file in the department he
was convinced that the soldier would re-
ceive justice through the department and
be entitled TO drredrdges lUlich he 1ColtId lose
by special act. The veto of sem
ate bill 1910 saued to the beneficiary
s., 760 The veto of senate bill l,067
saUed TO the beneficiary Sl.074. These
amounts were paid TO them shortly after
the veto through the pension Office. An
other of the same kind has been adjudi-
Gated by the department, and the soldier
is now receiving $50 per month. A short
time ago the president vetoed a pri-
vate act because the applicant had de-
serted the Union forces on capture by the
Confederates, and served nine months IN the
Confederate army before recapture. This
bill was presented by republican friend
OF the soldier, and is the first attempt to
pension those who served in the Confed-
crate army. Yet the republican party calls
President CLEVELAND an enemy OF the
Union soldiers for his vetoes; but Presi-
dent GRANT, though guilty of the same
acts, and for the same cause, was patriot
and a friend of the soldier.
Under these circumstances, and in view
OF the fact that Mr.. BLAINE knows all these
things to be true, we move that his title
be changed from the Greatest Living
Statesman to the Greatest Lying States
man of the Age.