"
It provides further that such persons shall, upon making proof of the
fact, "be placed on the list of invalid pensioners of the United States,
and be entitled to receive for such total inability to procure their
subsistence by daily labor $12 per month; and such pension shall
commence from the date of the filing of the application in the Pension
Office, upon proof that the disability then existed, and continue during
the existence of the same in the degree herein provided: _Provided_,
That persons who are now receiving pensions under existing laws, or
whose claims are pending in the Pension Office, may, by application to
the Commissioner of Pensions, in such form as he may prescribe, receive
the benefit of this act."
It is manifestly of the utmost importance that statutes which, like
pension laws, should be liberally administered as measures of
benevolence in behalf of worthy beneficiaries should admit of no
uncertainty as to their general objects and consequences.
Upon a careful consideration of the language of the section of this bill
above given it seems to me to be so uncertain and liable to such
conflicting constructions and to be subject to such unjust and
mischievous application as to alone furnish sufficient ground for
disapproving the proposed legislation.
Persons seeking to obtain the pension provided by this section must be
now or hereafter--
1. "Suffering from mental or physical disability.
Pages:
435
436
437
438
439
440
441
442
443
444
445
446
447
448
449
450
451
452
453
454
455
456
457
458
459