The proposed
legislation, judging from the report of the House Committee on Claims,
seems rather to proceed upon the theory that no sum is due the
Government in the premises.
I think it will hardly be claimed that the patient investigation of the
accounting officers should be lightly discredited in this case; and it
seems to me that justness to the Government and fairness to the sureties
seeking relief will presumably be secured by the further prosecution of
the suit already instituted, in which the truth of all matters involved
can be thoroughly tested.
GROVER CLEVELAND.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 25, 1887_.
_To the Senate_:
I herewith return without approval Senate bill No. 1162, entitled "An
act for the erection of a post-office building at Lynn, Mass."
The title of this bill sufficiently indicates its purpose.
Congressional action in its favor appears to be based, as usual in such
cases, upon representations concerning the population of the town in
which it is proposed to erect the building, and the increase in such
population, the number of railroad trains arriving and departing daily,
and various other items calculated to demonstrate the importance of the
city selected for Federal decoration.
These statements are supplemented by a report from the postmaster,
setting forth that his postal receipts are increasing, giving the number
of square feet now occupied by his office, the amount of rent paid, and
the number of his employees.
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