With the Pension
Bureau, fully equipped and regulated by the most liberal rules, in
active operation, supplemented in its work by constant special
legislation, it certainly is not unreasonable to suppose that in all the
years that have elapsed since the close of the war a majority of the
meritorious claims for pensions have been presented and determined.
I have now more than 130 of these bills before me awaiting Executive
action. It will be impossible to bestow upon them the examination they
deserve, and many will probably become operative which should be
rejected.
In the meantime I venture to suggest the significance of the startling
increase in this kind of legislation and the consequences involved in
its continuance.
GROVER CLEVELAND.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, _June 21, 1886_.
_To the Senate_:
I hereby return without approval Senate bill No. 1584, entitled "An act
for the relief of Cornelia R. Schenck."
It is proposed by this bill to grant a pension to Mrs. Schenck as the
widow of Daniel P. Schenck, who entered the military service of the
United States in August, 1861, and was mustered out October 21, 1864.
The record of his service contains no mention of any disability. He died
in December, 1875, of a disease called gastroenteritis, which, being
interpreted, seems to denote "inflammation of the stomach and small
intestines." So far as the facts are made to appear, the soldier,
neither during the term of his service nor during the eleven years he
lived after his discharge, made any claim of any disability.
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