GROVER CLEVELAND.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, May 30, 1896.

To the House of Representatives: 

I return without approval House bill No. 6037, entitled “An act granting a pension to Mrs. Amanda Woodcock.”

The bill provides for the granting of a pension to the beneficiary therein named, describing her as the “widow of Robert Woodcock, deceased, late a private in the Fourth United States Volunteer Infantry in the Mexican War.”

My action in this case is based upon the following statement concerning the bill from the Pension Bureau: 

The bill, if approved, would be inoperative, inasmuch as there was no such organization in the Mexican War as named in the bill (Fourth United States Volunteer Infantry), and the service alleged by the soldier having been in the Fourth Kentucky Volunteer Infantry.

GROVER CLEVELAND.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, May 30, 1896.

To the House of Representatives: 

I herewith return without approval House bill No. 4526, entitled “An act granting a pension to Jonathan Scott.”

This bill directs that the Secretary of the Interior place upon the pension roll, at the rate of $72 per month, subject to the provisions and limitations of the pension laws, the name of Jonathan Scott, late of Company M, Sixth Regiment Iowa Volunteer Cavalry.

The beneficiary was dropped from the pension roll in October, 1895, after a very thorough examination, for fraud, it appearing to the satisfaction of the Pension Bureau that the disability for which he was pensioned was not due to his army service.  There certainly ought to be a strong presumption that the case was fairly and justly determined by the Bureau, and the evidence strongly tends to support the conclusion reached.  If restored to the rolls, such restoration would still be “subject to the provisions and limitations of the pension laws,” and he would not be exempt from further investigation if circumstances or newly developed facts justified such a course.

Whatever may be the merits of the case, however, I am advised by the Pension Bureau that the bill, if it becomes a law in its present form, would be inoperative for the reason that the beneficiary is therein described as having been a member of the Sixth Regiment of Iowa Volunteer Cavalry, whereas he actually served in the Fifth Regiment of the Volunteer Cavalry of that State.

GROVER CLEVELAND.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, June 1, 1896.

To the Senate: 

I herewith return without approval Senate bill No. 149, entitled “An act granting a pension to Helen M. Jacob.”

The purpose of this bill is to grant a pension of $12 per month to
“Helen M. Jacob, of Rochester, Ind., widow of Benjamin Oden West.”