188 



CONGEESS. (PENSIONS.) 



were allowed to be added to all claims filed prior to 

 July 1, 1880. For the year from July 1, 1879, to 

 July 1, 1S80, there were filed 110,673 claims, though, 

 in the year immediately previous there were but 36,- 

 832 filed, and in the year following but 18,455. 



While cost should not be set against a patriotic 

 duty or the recognition of a right, still, when a meas- 

 ure proposed is based upon generosity or motives of 

 charity, it is not amiss to meditate somewhat upon 

 the expense which it involves. Experience has dem- 

 onstrated, 1 believe, that all estimates concerning the 

 probable future cost of a pension-list are uncertain 

 and unreliable, and always fall far below actual reali- 

 zation. 



The chairman of the House Committee on Pensions 

 calculates that the number of pensioners under this 

 bill would be 33,105, and the increased cost $4,767,- 

 120 ; this is upon the theory that only those who are 

 entirely unable to work would be its beneficiaries. 

 Such was the principle of the Revolutionary pension 

 law of 1818, much more clearly stated, it seems to 

 me, than in this bill. When the law of 1818 was 

 upon its passage in Congress the number of pension - 

 crs to be benefited thereby was thought to be 374 ; 

 but the number of applicants under the act was 22,- 

 297, and the number of pensions actually allowed 

 20,485, costing, it is reported, for the first year, $1,- 

 847,900, instead of $40,000, the estimated expense for 

 that period. 



A law was passed in 1853 for the benefit of the sur- 

 viving widows of Revolutionary soldiers who were 

 married after Jan. 1, 1800. It was estimated that 

 they numbered 300 at the time of the passage of the 

 act ; but the number of pensions allowed was 3,74'2, 

 and the amount paid for such pensions during the 

 first year of the operation of the act was $180,000, in- 

 stead of $24,000 as had been estimated. 



I have made no search for other illustrations, and 

 the above being at hand, are given as tending to show 

 that estimates can not be relied upon in such cases. 



If none should be pensioned under this bill except 

 those utterly unable to work, I am satisfied that the 

 cost stated in the estimate referred to would be many 

 times multiplied, and with a constant increase from 

 year to year ; and if those partially unable to earn 

 their support should be admitted to the privileges of 

 this bill, the probable increase of expense would be 

 almost appalling. 



I think it may be said that at the close of the War 

 qf the Rebellion every Northern State and a great ma- 

 jority of Northern counties and cities, were burdened 

 with taxation on account of the large bounties paid 

 our soldiers ; and the bonded debt thereby created 

 still constitutes a large item in the account of the tax- 

 gatherer against the people. Federal taxation, no 

 less borne by the people than that directly levied 

 upon their property, is still maintained at the rate 

 made necessary by the exigencies of war. If this 

 bill should become a law, with its tremendous addi- 

 tion to our pension obligation, I am thoroughly con- 

 vinced that further efforts to reduce the Federal reve- 

 nue and restore some part of it to our people, will and 

 perhaps should be seriously questioned. 



It has constantly been a cause of pride and con- 

 gratulation to the American citizen that his country 

 is not put to the charge of maintaining a large stand- 

 ing army in time of peace. Yet we are now living 

 tinder a war-tax which has been tolerated in peaceful 

 times to meet the obligations incurred in war. But 

 for years past, in all parts of the country, the demand 

 for the reduction of the burdens of taxation upon our 

 labor and production has increased in volume and 

 urgency. 



I am not willing to approve a measure presenting 

 the objections to which this bill is subject, and which, 

 moreover, will have the effect of disappointing the 

 expectation of the people and their desire and hope 

 for relief from war-taxation in time of peace. 



In my last annual message the following language 

 was used : 



" Every patriotic heart responds to a tender consid- 

 eration for those who, having served their country 

 long and well, are reduced to destitution and depend- 

 ence, not as an incident of their service, but with ad- 

 vancing age or through sickness or misfortune. We 

 are all tempted by the contemplation of such a con- 

 dition to supply relief, and are often impatient of the 

 limitations of public duty. Yielding to no one in 

 the desire to indulge this feeling of consideration, I 

 can not rid myself of the conviction that if these ex- 

 soldiers are to be relieved, they and their cause are 

 entitled to the benefit of an enactment under which 

 relief may be claimed as a right, and that such relief 

 should be granted under the sanction of law, not in 

 evasion of it ; nor should such worthy objects of care, 

 all equally entitled, be remitted to the unequal opera- 

 tion of sympathy, or the tender mercies of social and 

 political influence with their unjust discriminations." 



I do not think that the objects, the conditions, and 

 the limitations thus suggested, are contained in the 

 bill under consideration. 



I adhere to the sentiments thus heretofore ex- 

 pressed. But the evil threatened by this bill is, in 

 my opinion, such that, charged with a great responsi- 

 bility in behalf of the people, I can not do otherwise 

 than to bring to the consideration ot this measure my 

 best efforts of thought and judgment, and perform my 

 constitutional duty in relation thereto, regardless of 

 all consequences, except such as appear to me to be 

 related to the best and highest interests of the coun- 

 try. G ROVER CLEVELAND. 



EXECUTIVE MANSION, 



Washinyton, Feb. 11, 1887. 



February 24, the motion to reconsider and 

 pass the bill caine up for discussion in the 

 House, and, after a long and heated debate, 

 it failed, by the following vote lacking the 

 constitutional majority of two thirds requisite 

 for overriding a veto : 



YEAS G. E. Adams, C. H. Allen, J. A. Anderson, 

 Atkinson, Baker, Bayne, Bingham. Bliss, Bound. Bou- 

 telle, Brady, T. M. Browne, C. E. Brown, W. W. 

 Brown, Brumm, Buck, Bunncll, Burleigh, Burrows, 

 Butterworth, Bynum, J. M. Campbell, J. E. Campbell, 

 Cannon, Carleton, Caswell, Conger, Cooper, Cutcneon, 

 Davenport, Davis, Dingley, Dorsey, Dunham, El- 

 dredge, Ely, Evans, Eveniart, Farqunar, Felton, Flce- 

 ger, Ford, Frederick, Fuller, Funston, Gallinger, Ged- 

 des, Gilfillan, Goff, Grosvenor, Grout, Guenther, Hale, 

 Hanback, Harmer, Hayden, Haynes, D. B. Hender- 

 son, T. J. Henderson, Hepburn, Hermann, Hiestand, 

 Hires, Hiscock, Hitt, Ilolman, Holmes, Hopkins, 

 Houk. Howard, Jackson, James, F. A. Johnson, J. 

 T. Johnston, Kelley, Ketcham, Kleiner, La Follette, 

 Laird, Landes, Lawler, Le Fevre, Lehlbach, Libbey, 

 Lindsley Little, Long, Lore, Louttit, Levering, Ly- 

 man, Mahoney, Markham, Matson, Mayburyj Mc- 

 Comas, McKenna. McKinley, Merriman, Millard, 

 Milliken. Moffatt. Morrill, Morrow, Murphy, Neece, 

 Negley, Nelson, O'Donnell, O'Hara, Charles O'Neill, 

 J. J. O'Neill, Osborne, Owen, Parker, Payne. Pay- 

 son, Perkins, Peters, Pettibone, Phelps, Pindar, 

 Pince, Plumb, Randall, Ranney, Rice, Riggs, Rock- 

 well, Romeis, Rowell, Ryan, Sawyer, Scranton, Se- 

 ney, Sessions, Smalls, Spooner, Spriggs, Steele, Ste- 

 phenson, J. W. Stewart, E. F. Stone, Strait, Struble, 

 Swinburne, Swope, Symes, Tarsney, Taulbee, E. B. 

 Taylor, I. H. Taylor, Zachary Taylor, J. R. Thomas, 

 O. B. Thomas, Thompson, Towns'hend, Van Schakk, 

 Wade, Wadsworth, Wait, Wakefield, J. H. Ward, 

 William Warner, A. J. Weaver, J. B. Weaver, We- 

 ber, West, A. C. White, Milo White, Whiting, Wil- 

 kins, Wolford, Woodburn, Worthingtou 175. 



NATS J. J. Adams. J. M. Allen, Bacon, Ballen- 

 tine, Barbour, Barksdale, Barnes, Barry, Belmont, 

 Bennett, Blanchard, Bland. Blount, Boyle, Bragg, 

 C. R. Breckinridge, W. C. P. Breckinridge, Burnes, 

 Cabell, Caldwell, Felix Campbell, T. J. Campbell, 



