Thus it quite plainly appears that this claimant spent the most of his
term of enlistment in desertion or in imprisonment as a punishment of
that offense; and thus is exhibited the "long and faithful service and
the high character of the claimant" mentioned as entitling him to
consideration by the committee who reported favorably upon this bill.
I withhold my assent from this bill because, if the facts before me,
derived from the army records and the statements of the claimant are
true, the allowance of this claim would, in my opinion, be a travesty
upon our whole scheme of pensions and an insult to every decent veteran
soldier.
GROVER CLEVELAND.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 4, 1887_.
_To the House of Representatives_:
I return herewith without approval House bill No. 8150, entitled "An act
granting a pension to Jesse Campbell."
The claim for a pension made by the beneficiary named in this bill to
the Pension Bureau, and rejected in 1881, was reopened upon further
proof in January, 1887, and the claimant was ordered before a board of
examining surgeons, upon which a report has not yet been made.
Inasmuch as the only ground for the rejection of his claim was the
nonexistence of pensionable disability from the cause he alleged, and in
view of the fact that he now alleges a different disability, which the
new evidence seems to support, there is no doubt that justice will be
done the claimant under the general law.
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