Page images
PDF
EPUB

He himself never applied for a pension until after the passage of the law of 1890, providing for a pension for those who had served in the Army and are unable to maintain themselves by manual labor on account of disability not chargeable to army service. The committee of the House of Representatives in reporting this bill declare: "The testimony does not show the disease of the soldier to be of service origin."

The beneficiary is now receiving the largest pension permitted under the law of 1890.

His condition may well excite our sympathy, but to grant him a pension of $50 a month without the least suggestion that his pitiable disability is related to his army service, and in view of the fact that he is now receiving the highest pension allowed by a general law enacted to expressly meet such cases, it seems to me would result in an unfair discrimination as against many thousand worthy soldiers similarly situated, and would invite applications which, while difficult to refuse in the face of such a precedent, must certainly lead to the breaking down of all the limitations and restrictions provided by our laws regulating pensions. The value of pension legislation depends as much upon fairness and justice in its administration as it does upon its liberality and generosity. GROVER CLEVELAND.

To the House of Representatives:

EXECUTIVE MANSION, May 19, 1896.

I return herewith without approval House bill No. 1139, entitled "An act granting a pension to Caroline D. Mowatt."

The beneficiary mentioned in this bill was married in 1858 to Alfred B. Soule, who served as major of a Maine regiment of volunteers in the War of the Rebellion from September 10, 1862, to July 15, 1863, when he was mustered out of the service. He died in February, 1864, and in 1866 a pension was granted to the beneficiary as his widow at the rate of $25 a month, dating from the time of her husband's death, two years before.

The widow continued to receive the pension allowed her until June 17, 1869, when she was married to Henry T. Mowatt, which under the law terminated her pensionable right. It appears, however, that a small pension was allowed two minor children of the soldier at the time of their mother's remarriage, which continued until 1876, more than seven years after such remarriage, when the youngest of said children became 16 years of age.

In 1878, nine years after he became the second husband of the beneficiary, Henry T. Mowatt died.

Though twenty-seven years have passed since the beneficiary ceased to be the widow of the deceased soldier, and though she has been the widow of Henry T. Mowatt for eighteen years, it is proposed by the bill under consideration to again place her name upon the pension roll

To the Senate:

EXECUTIVE MANSION,

Washington, March 9, 1896.

I transmit herewith, in answer to the resolution of the Senate of the 24th ultimo, a report from the Secretary of State, in relation to the claim of the legal representatives of Lieutenant George C. Foulke against the Government of the United States. GROVER CLEVELAND.

To the Senate:

EXECUTIVE MANSION, March 9, 1896.

I transmit herewith, in response to the Senate's resolution of February 6, 1896, addressed to the Secretary of State, copies, in translation, of the decrees or orders of the Governments of Germany, France, Belgium, and Denmark placing restrictions upon the importation of certain American products.

GROVER CLEVELAND.

EXECUTIVE MANSION,

Washington, March 13, 1896.

To the Senate:

I transmit herewith, in response to a resolution of the Senate of March 2, a report from the Secretary of State, accompanied by copies of correspondence touching the arrest in Havana of Marcus E. Rodriguez, Luis Someillau y Azpeitia, and Luis Someillau y Vidal, citizens of the United States. GROVER CLEVELAND.

EXECUTIVE MANSION,

Washington, March 13, 1896.

To the House of Representatives:

In response to the resolution of the House of Representatives of Feb ruary 13, 1896, I transmit a report from the Secretary of State and accompanying papers, relating to the claim of Bernard Campbell agains the Government of Hayti.

GROVER CLEVELAND.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, April 14, 1896

To the Senate of the United States:

In compliance with a resolution of the Senate, the House of Repre sentatives concurring, I return herewith the enrolled joint resolution (S. R. 116) authorizing the Public Printer to print the Annual Report of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey in quarto form and to bind it in one volume.

GROVER CLEVELAND.

To the Senate of the United States:

EXECUTIVE MANSION,

Washington, April 15, 1896.

In response to the resolution of March 24, 1896, requesting that the Senate be furnished with the correspondence of the Department of State between November 5, 1875, and the date of the pacification of Cuba in 1878 relating to the subject of mediation or intervention by the United States in the affairs of that island, I transmit a report from the Secretary of State, forwarding such papers as seem to be called for by the resolution in question.

GROVER CLEVELAND.

EXECUTIVE MANSION,

Washington, April 30, 1896.

To the House of Representatives:

I transmit herewith, in response to the resolution of the House of Representatives of the 9th instant, addressed to the Secretary of State, a report of that officer, accompanied by copies of the correspondence in regard to the imprisonment of Mrs. Florence E. Maybrick.

To the Senate:

GROVER CLEVELAND.

EXECUTIVE MANSION,

Washington, May 16, 1896.

I transmit herewith, in response to the resolution of the Senate dated the 9th instant and addressed to the Secretary of State, a report of that officer, accompanied by copies of printed documents containing the information desired respecting the historical archives deposited in the Department of State.

GROVER CLEVELAND.

EXECUTIVE MANSION,

Washington, May 23, 1896.

To the Senate of the United States:

I transmit herewith, in response to a resolution of the Senate of the 16th instant, a report of the Secretary of State, to which are attached copies in English and Spanish of the original text of a protocol executed January 12, 1877, between the minister plenipotentiary of the United States of America to the Court of Spain and the minister of state of His Majesty the King of Spain.

It being, in my judgment, incompatible with the public service, I am constrained to refrain from communicating to the Senate at this time copies of the correspondence described in the third paragraph of said resolution.

GROVER CLEVELAND.

To the House of Representatives:

EXECUTIVE MANSION, May 28, 1896.

in compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the 27th instant, the Senate concurring, I return herewith the bill H. R. 5731) entitled "An act to regulate the practice of medicine and surgery, to license physicians and surgeons, and to punish persons violating the provisions thereof in the District of Columbia."

To the House of Representatives:

GROVER CLEVELAND.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, June 3, 1896.

In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the 2d instant, the Senate concurring, I return herewith the bill (H. R. 3279) entitled "An act to authorize the reassessment of water-main taxes or assessments in the District of Columbia, and for other purposes."

To the Senate:

GROVER CLEVELAND.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, June 8, 1896.

I transmit herewith a report of the Secretary of State, in answer to the resolution of the Senate of May 9, 1896, directing that "the Secretary of State, the Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary of War, the Secretary of the Navy, the Secretary of the Interior, the Secretary of Agriculture, the Postmaster-General, and the Attorney-General cause a careful and thorough inquiry to be made regarding the number of aliens employed in their respective Departments, and to communicate the result of said inquiry to the Senate at the earliest practicable day."

GROVER CLEVELAND.

VETO MESSAGES.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, February 28, 1896.

To the House of Representatives:

I herewith return without my approval House bill No. 2769, entitled "An act to authorize the leasing of lands for educational purposes in Arizona."

This bill provides for the leasing of all the public lands reserved to the Territory of Arizona for the benefit of its universities and schools, "under such laws and regulations as may be hereafter prescribed by the legislature of said Territory.”

If the proposed legislation granted no further authority than this, it would, in terms at least, recognize the safety and propriety of leaving the desirability of leasing these lands and the limitations and safeguards

egulating such leasing to be determined by the local legislature chosen by the people to make their laws and protect their interests.

Instead of stopping here, however, the bill further provides that until such legislative action the governor, the secretary of the Territory, and the superintendent of public instruction shall constitute a board for the leasing of said lands under the rules and regulations heretofore prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior. It is specifically declared that it shall not be necessary to submit said leases to the Secretary of the Interior for approval, and that no leases shall be made for a longer term than five years nor for a term extending beyond the date of the admission of the Territory to statehood.

Under these provisions the lands reserved for university and school purposes, whose value largely depends upon their standing timber, and in which every citizen of the Territory has a deep interest, may be leased and denuded of their timber by officers none of whom have been chosen by the people, and without the sanction of any law or regulation made by their representatives in the local legislature. Even the measure of protection which would be afforded the citizens of the Territory by a submission to the Secretary of the Interior of the leases proposed, and thus giving him an opportunity to ascertain whether or not they comply with his regulations, is especially withheld.

It was hardly necessary to provide in this bill that these lands might be leased "under such laws and regulations as may be hereafter prescribed by the legislature of said Territory" if the action of the legislature was to be forestalled and rendered nugatory by the immediate and unrestrained action of the officers constituted "a board for the leasing of said lands" pending such legislative consideration. These are inconsistencies which are not satisfactorily accounted for by the suggestion that the time that would elapse before the legislature could consider the subject would be important.

The protests I have received from numerous and influential citizens of the Territory indicate considerable opposition to this bill among those interested in the preservation and proper management of these school lands. GROVER CLEVELAND.

To the Senate:

EXECUTIVE MANSION, April 21, 1896.

I herewith return without my approval Senate bill No. 894, entitled "An act granting a pension to Nancy G. Allabach."

This bill provides for the payment of a pension of $30 a month to the beneficiary named as the widow of Peter H. Allabach.

This soldier served for nine months in the Army during the War of the Rebellion, having also served in the war with Mexico.

He was mustered out of his last service on the 23d day of May, 1863, and died on the 11th of February, 1892.

M P-VOL VIII-46

« PreviousContinue »