2206, entitled "An act
granting a pension to David H. Lutman."
The beneficiary named in this bill was pensioned in 1885 on account of
spinal irritation, the result of measles.
In 1886 he filed a claim for increase of pension, alleging rheumatism,
and the board of examining surgeons at Cumberland, Md., upon an
examination, found no evidence of spinal irritation or rheumatism, and
he was dropped from the pension rolls on the ground that the disability
for which he was pensioned had ceased to exist.
He afterwards filed medical and lay testimony tending to show that he
suffered from disease of the back, legs, and arms, and he was thereupon,
and on the 8th day of October, 1886, again examined by the board of
examining surgeons at Hagerstown, Md., who reported as follows:
We have stripped him, and find a splendid specimen, square built from
the ground up, muscles well developed, his appearance indicative of
perfect health. No curvature of spine, disease or irritation of spinal
cord; no atrophy of any muscles or evidence of weakness. No impairment
of motion anywhere.
If there is any value to be placed upon the reports of these examining
boards, the refusal of the Pension Bureau to restore this beneficiary
to the rolls was fully justified; and this is not a proper case, in my
opinion, for interference with that determination.
GROVER CLEVELAND.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, _August 22, 1888_.
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