It seems that this claim was not definitely passed upon,
but it is stated that the records failed to show that McKay was in the
service of the United States at the time he alleged the contraction of
disease of the urinary organs and was wounded in the thigh.
The beneficiary named in this bill never made application for pension
to the Pension Bureau, but it appears that she bases her claims to
consideration by Congress upon the allegation that in 1862, while her
husband was acting as pilot of the ram or gunboat _Switzerland_, he
contracted chronic diarrhea, from which he never recovered, and that he
died from the effects of said disease in May, 1874.
It will be observed that among the various causes which the soldier or
sailor himself alleged as the grounds of his application for pension
chronic diarrhea is not mentioned.
There does not appear to be any medical testimony to support the claim
thus made by the widow, and the cause of death is not definitely stated.
Taking all together, it has the appearance of a case, by no means rare,
where chronic diarrhea or rheumatism are appealed to as a basis for a
pension claim in the absence of something more substantial and definite.
The fact that the claim of the beneficiary has never been presented to
the Pension Bureau influences in some degree my action in withholding my
approval of this bill.
GROVER CLEVELAND.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, _July 5, 1886_.
Pages:
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302