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He argues that the bill will only encourage fraudulent assertions. If sufficient of them should request the Commissioner of Agriculture to send their shares of the grain thus allowed them to the suffering farmers of Texas, they might be enabled to sow their crops, the constituents for whom in theory this grain is intended could well bear the temporary deprivation, and the donors would experience the satisfaction attending deeds of charity. 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. Experience has demonstrated, I believe, that all estimates concerning the probable future cost of a pension list are uncertain and unreliable and always fall far below actual realization. It is represented that a long-continued and extensive drought has existed in certain portions of the State of Texas, resulting in a failure of crops and consequent distress and destitution. It must be borne in mind that in no case is there any grading of this proposed pension. Thus in March, 1879, large arrearages of pensions were allowed to be added to all claims filed prior to July 1, 1880. They must be "dependent upon their daily labor for support." 0000000927 00000 n
The war of the Rebellion terminated nearly twenty-two years ago; the number of men furnished for its prosecution is stated to be 2,772,408. Another law of a like character was passed in 1828, requiring service until the close of the Revolutionary War; and still another, passed in 1832, provided for those persons not included in the previous statute, but who served two years at some time during the war, and giving a proportionate sum to those who had served not less than six months. Abolitionist Sheet Music Cover Page, 1844, Barack Obama, Howard University Commencement Address (2016), Blueprint and Photograph of Christ Church, Constitutional Ratification Cartoon, 1789, Drawing of Uniforms of the American Revolution, Effects of the Fugitive Slave Law Lithograph, 1850, Genius of the Ladies Magazine Illustration, 1792, Missionary Society Membership Certificate, 1848, Painting of Enslaved Persons for Sale, 1861, The Fruit of Alcohol and Temperance Lithographs, 1849, The Society for United States Intellectual History Primary Source Reader, Bartolom de Las Casas Describes the Exploitation of Indigenous Peoples, 1542, Thomas Morton Reflects on Indians in New England, 1637, Alvar Nuez Cabeza de Vaca Travels through North America, 1542, Richard Hakluyt Makes the Case for English Colonization, 1584, John Winthrop Dreams of a City on a Hill, 1630, John Lawson Encounters Native Americans, 1709, A Gaspesian Man Defends His Way of Life, 1641, Manuel Trujillo Accuses Asencio Povia and Antonio Yuba of Sodomy, 1731, Olaudah Equiano Describes the Middle Passage, 1789, Francis Daniel Pastorius Describes his Ocean Voyage, 1684, Rose Davis is sentenced to a life of slavery, 1715, Boston trader Sarah Knight on her travels in Connecticut, 1704, Jonathan Edwards Revives Enfield, Connecticut, 1741, Samson Occom describes his conversion and ministry, 1768, Extracts from Gibson Cloughs War Journal, 1759, Alibamo Mingo, Choctaw leader, Reflects on the British and French, 1765, George R. T. Hewes, A Retrospect of the Boston Tea-party, 1834, Thomas Paine Calls for American independence, 1776, Women in South Carolina Experience Occupation, 1780, Boston King recalls fighting for the British and for his freedom, 1798, Abigail and John Adams Converse on Womens Rights, 1776, Hector St. Jean de Crvecur Describes the American people, 1782, A Confederation of Native peoples seek peace with the United States, 1786, Mary Smith Cranch comments on politics, 1786-87, James Madison, Memorial and Remonstrance Against Religious Assessments, 1785, George Washington, Farewell Address, 1796, Venture Smith, A Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Venture, 1798, Letter of Cato and Petition by the negroes who obtained freedom by the late act, in Postscript to the Freemans Journal, September 21, 1781, Black scientist Benjamin Banneker demonstrates Black intelligence to Thomas Jefferson, 1791, Creek headman Alexander McGillivray (Hoboi-Hili-Miko) seeks to build an alliance with Spain, 1785, Tecumseh Calls for Native American Resistance, 1810, Abigail Bailey Escapes an Abusive Relationship, 1815, James Madison Asks Congress to Support Internal Improvements, 1815, A Traveler Describes Life Along the Erie Canal, 1829, Maria Stewart bemoans the consequences of racism, 1832, Rebecca Burlend recalls her emigration from England to Illinois, 1848, Harriet H. Robinson Remembers a Mill Workers Strike, 1836, Alexis de Tocqueville, How Americans Understand the Equality of the Sexes, 1840, Missouri Controversy Documents, 1819-1920, Rhode Islanders Protest Property Restrictions on Voting, 1834, Black Philadelphians Defend their Voting Rights, 1838, Andrew Jacksons Veto Message Against Re-chartering the Bank of the United States, 1832, Frederick Douglass, What to the Slave is the Fourth of July? 1852, Samuel Morse Fears a Catholic Conspiracy, 1835, Revivalist Charles G. Finney Emphasizes Human Choice in Salvation, 1836, Dorothea Dix defends the mentally ill, 1843, David Walkers Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the World, 1829, William Lloyd Garrison Introduces The Liberator, 1831, Angelina Grimk, Appeal to Christian Women of the South, 1836, Sarah Grimk Calls for Womens Rights, 1838, Henry David Thoreau Reflects on Nature, 1854, Nat Turner explains the Southampton rebellion, 1831, Solomon Northup Describes a Slave Market, 1841, George Fitzhugh Argues that Slavery is Better than Liberty and Equality, 1854, Sermon on the Duties of a Christian Woman, 1851, Mary Polk Branch remembers plantation life, 1912, William Wells Brown, Clotel; or, The Presidents Daughter: A Narrative of Slave Life in the United States, 1853, Cherokee Petition Protesting Removal, 1836, John OSullivan Declares Americas Manifest Destiny, 1845, Diary of a Woman Migrating to Oregon, 1853, Chinese Merchant Complains of Racist Abuse, 1860, Wyandotte woman describes tensions over slavery, 1849, Letters from Venezuelan General Francisco de Miranda regarding Latin American Revolution, 1805-1806, President Monroe Outlines the Monroe Doctrine, 1823, Stories from the Underground Railroad, 1855-56, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Toms Cabin, 1852, Charlotte Forten complains of racism in the North, 1855, Margaraetta Mason and Lydia Maria Child Discuss John Brown, 1860, South Carolina Declaration of Secession, 1860, Alexander Stephens on Slavery and the Confederate Constitution, 1861, General Benjamin F. Butler Reacts to Self-Emancipating People, 1861, William Henry Singleton, a formerly enslaved man, recalls fighting for the Union, 1922, Ambrose Bierce Recalls his Experience at the Battle of Shiloh, 1881, Abraham Lincolns Second Inaugural Address, 1865, Freedmen discuss post-emancipation life with General Sherman, 1865, Jourdon Anderson Writes His Former Enslaver, 1865, Charlotte Forten Teaches Freed Children in South Carolina, 1864, General Reynolds Describes Lawlessness in Texas, 1868, A case of sexual violence during Reconstruction, 1866, Frederick Douglass on Remembering the Civil War, 1877, William Graham Sumner on Social Darwinism (ca.1880s), Henry George, Progress and Poverty, Selections (1879), Andrew Carnegies Gospel of Wealth (June 1889), Grover Clevelands Veto of the Texas Seed Bill (February 16, 1887), The Omaha Platform of the Peoples Party (1892), Dispatch from a Mississippi Colored Farmers Alliance (1889), Lucy Parsons on Women and Revolutionary Socialism (1905), Chief Joseph on Indian Affairs (1877, 1879), William T. Hornady on the Extermination of the American Bison (1889), Chester A. Arthur on American Indian Policy (1881), Frederick Jackson Turner, Significance of the Frontier in American History (1893), Turning Hawk and American Horse on the Wounded Knee Massacre (1890/1891), Helen Hunt Jackson on a Century of Dishonor (1881), Laura C. Kellogg on Indian Education (1913), Andrew Carnegie on The Triumph of America (1885), Ida B. Wells-Barnett, Lynch Law in America (1900), Henry Adams, The Education of Henry Adams (1918), Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Why I Wrote The Yellow Wallpaper (1913), Jacob Riis, How the Other Half Lives (1890), Rose Cohen on the World Beyond her Immigrant Neighborhood (ca.1897/1918), William McKinley on American Expansionism (1903), Rudyard Kipling, The White Mans Burden (1899), James D. Phelan, Why the Chinese Should Be Excluded (1901), William James on The Philippine Question (1903), Chinese Immigrants Confront Anti-Chinese Prejudice (1885, 1903), African Americans Debate Enlistment (1898), Booker T. Washington & W.E.B. 0000008924 00000 n
Persons seeking to obtain the pension provided by this section must be now or hereafter-- 
3. Such disability must be such as "incapacitates them for the performance of labor in such a degree as to render them unable to earn a support." 0000007618 00000 n
This has been repeatedly and quite lately demonstrated. "Suffering from mental or physical disability." The section allowing this pension does, however, require, besides a service of three months and an honorable discharge, that those seeking the benefit of the act shall be such as "are now or may hereafter be suffering from mental or physical disability, not the result of their own vicious habits or gross carelessness, which incapacitates them for the performance of labor in such a degree as to render them unable to earn a support, and who are dependent upon their daily labor for support." 0000008070 00000 n
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Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia, February 11, 1887: Veto of Military Pension Legislation, Notice of Non-Discrimination and Equal Opportunity, February 16, 1887: Veto of Texas Seed Bill, February 2, 1888: Message Regarding Civil Service Reform, October 1, 1888: Message Regarding Chinese Exclusion Act, December 4, 1893: First Annual Message (Second Term), March 29, 1894: Veto Message of Monetary Legislation, December 3, 1894: Second Annual Message (Second Term). 0000044063 00000 n
But it is a mistake to suppose that service pensions, such as are permitted by the second section of the bill under consideration, are new to our legislation. The latter pensions were granted to the soldiers of a war involving much hardship for disabilities incurred as a result of such service; and it was not till within the last month that the few remaining survivors were awarded a service pension. Yet we are now living under a war tax which has been tolerated in peaceful times to meet the obligations incurred in war. We are all tempted by the contemplation of such a condition to supply relief and are often impatient of the limitations of public duty. 
Under these statutes 561,571 pensions have been granted from the year 1861 to June 30, 1886, and more than 2,600 pensioners have been added to the rolls by private acts passed to meet cases, many of them of questionable merit, which the general laws did not cover. 0000004524 00000 n
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Every patriotic heart responds to a tender consideration for those who, having served their country long and well, are reduced to destitution and dependence, not as an incident of their service, but with advancing age or through sickness or misfortune. I herewith return without my approval House bill No.
No corresponding number of statutes have ever been passed to cover every kind of injury or disability incurred in the military service of any war. I do not think that the objects, the conditions, and the limitations thus suggested are contained in the bill under consideration. In his veto message, Cleveland explained his vision of proper government. 10457, entitled "An act for the relief of dependent parents and honorably discharged soldiers and sailors who are now disabled and dependent upon their own labor for support." The friendliness and charity of our countrymen can always be relied upon to relieve their fellow-citizens in misfortune. Such disability must not be "the result of their own vicious habits or gross carelessness." The attempt of the Government to escape the payment of a pension on such a plea would of course in a very large majority of instances, and regardless of the merits of the case, prove a failure. 2. As to the meaning of the section of the bill under consideration there appears to have been quite a difference of opinion among its advocates in the Congress. Practically this provision is not important. The service-pension bill passed at this session of Congress, thirty-nine years after the close of the Mexican War, for the benefit of the soldiers of that war, requires either some degree of disability or dependency or that the claimant under its provisions should be 62 years of age, and in either case that he should have served sixty days or been actually engaged in a battle. 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. Cleveland vetoes the Dependent Pension Bill, which would have given a military pension to anyone serving a minimum of ninety days in any war. trailer
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The pension it awards is allowed to enlisted men who have not suffered the least injury, disability, loss, or damage of any kind, incurred in or in any degree referable to their military service, including those who never reached the front at all and those discharged from rendezvous at the close of the war, if discharged three months after enlistment. Hb```I ce`aTaNCa'Z%@q&4 X@,dctt YDX(6? "/NHK,(=4|,=^m I understand that a large quantity of grain is furnished for such distribution, and it is supposed that this free apportionment among their neighbors is a privilege which may be waived by our Senators and Representatives. It will be observed that there is no limitation or definition of the incapacitating injury or ailment itself. It exacts only a military or naval service of three months, without any requirement of actual engagement with an enemy in battle, and without a subjection to any of the actual dangers of war. 
It thus becomes important to consider the meaning and the scope of these last-mentioned conditions. If in the effort to carry out the proposed law the degree of disability as related to earnings be considered for the purpose of discovering if in any way it curtails the support which the applicant, if entirely sound, would earn, and to which he is entitled, we enter the broad field long occupied by the Pension Bureau, and we recognize as the only difference between the proposed legislation and previous laws passed for the benefit of the surviving soldiers of the Civil War the incurrence in one case of disabilities in military service and in the other disabilities existing, but in no way connected with or resulting from such service. 0000004044 00000 n
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. So far as it relates to the soldiers of the late civil war, the bounty it affords them is given thirteen years earlier than it has been furnished the soldiers of any other war, and before a large majority of its beneficiaries have advanced in age beyond the strength and vigor of the prime of life. Copyright 2022. Any attempt, however honest, to administer this law in such a manner would necessarily produce more unfairness and unjust discrimination and give more scope for partisan partiality, and would result in more perversion of the Government's benevolent intentions, than the execution of any statute ought to permit. Under the last call of the President for troops, in December, 1864, 11,303 men were furnished who were thus discharged. In my last annual message the following language was used: The effect of new invitations to apply for pensions or of new advantages added to causes for pensions already existing is sometimes startling. 0000009432 00000 n
On this 1st day of July, 1886, 365,763 pensioners of all classes were upon the pension rolls, of whom 305,605 were survivors of the War of the Rebellion and their widows and dependents. It will be seen that the bill of 1818 and the Mexican pension bill, being thus passed nearer the close of the wars in which its beneficiaries were engaged than the others--one thirty-five years and the other thirty-nine years after the termination of such wars--embraced persons who were quite advanced in age, assumed to be comparatively few in number, and whose circumstances, dependence, and disabilities were clearly defined and could be quite easily fixed. It is within my personal knowledge that individual aid has to some extent already been extended to the sufferers mentioned in this bill. 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. The number of enlistments in the Revolutionary War is stated to be 309,791, and in the War of 1812 576,622; but it is estimated that on account of repeated reenlistments the number of individuals engaged in these wars did not exceed one-half of the number represented by these figures. It is sad, but nevertheless true, that already in the matter of procuring pensions there exists a widespread disregard of truth and good faith, stimulated by those who as agents undertake to establish claims for pensions heedlessly entered upon by the expectant beneficiary, and encouraged, or at least not condemned, by those unwilling to obstruct a neighbor's plans. 0000018629 00000 n
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. It is here suggested that the Commissioner of Agriculture is annually directed to expend a large sum of money for the purchase, propagation, and distribution of seeds and other things of this description, two-thirds of which are, upon the request of Senators, Representatives, and Delegates in Congress, supplied to them for distribution among their constituents. 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 operation of sympathy or the tender mercies of social and political influence, with their unjust discriminations. In 1818, thirty-five years after the close of the Revolutionary War, they were granted to the soldiers engaged in that struggle, conditional upon service until the end of the war or for a term not less than nine months, and requiring every beneficiary under the act to be one "who is, or hereafter by reason of his reduced circumstances in life shall be, in need of assistance from his country for support." Hitherto such relief has been granted to surviving soldiers few in number, venerable in age, after a long lapse of time since their military service, and as a parting benefaction tendered by a grateful people. uZ,7ww8%b;5+*AS/C~i-$W=Inda3{bPGuGO|04?y=*U;H@2qb,|TuZ~lk0. Such was the principle of the Revolutionary pension law of 1818, much more clearly stated, it seems to me, than in this bill. For the year ending June 30, 1887, $75,000,000 have been appropriated for the payment of pensions, and the amount expended for that purpose from 1861 to July 1, 1886, is $808,624,811.51. 0000000999 00000 n
It was estimated that they numbered 300 at the time of the passage of the act; but the number of pensions allowed was 3,742, and the amount paid for such pensions during the first year of the operation of the act was $180,000, instead of $24,000, as had been estimated. 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. A prevalent tendency to disregard the limited mission of this power and duty should, I think, be steadfastly resisted, to the end that the lesson should be constantly enforced that though the people support the Government the Government should not support the people. Is the Government to enter the homes of claimants for pension and after an examination of their surroundings and circumstances settle those questions? The chairman of the Committee on Pensions in the Senate, having charge of the bill in that body, dissented from the construction of the bill announced in the House of Representatives, and declared that it not only embraced all soldiers totally disabled, but, in his judgment, all who are disabled to any considerable extent; and such a construction was substantially given to the bill by another distinguished Senator, who, as a former Secretary of the Interior, had imposed upon him the duty of executing pension laws and determining their intent and meaning.