Veto Message

To the Senate:

I return herewith Senate bill No. 1441, entitled "An act granting a pension to M. Romahn."

The beneficiary named in this bill enlisted September 13, 1862, and was discharged May 24, 1865.

He filed his claim in the Pension Bureau December 5, 1882, alleging that in the winter of 1862, from being put on duty--standing guard excessively--he became afflicted with varicose veins. His army record shows no disability of any kind, though he served more than two years after the date at which he alleges his injury was incurred. His application was rejected on the ground that no record of his disability appeared and that the evidence of the same filed upon such application was insufficient.

The claim now made to Congress for relief is the same as that made to the pension Bureau, with the allegation added that in May, 1865, his breast and shoulder were injured by a railroad accident while he was on detail duty.

If the latter-described injury really existed, it is exceeding strange that it found no place in his claim before the Pension Bureau, while the account given of the cause of his alleged varicose veins must surprise those who are at all familiar with the character of that difficulty and the routine of army service. His continued performance of military duty after he incurred this infirmity, the fact that he made no claim for pension on that account until twenty years had passed, and the unsatisfactory evidence now produced to support his allegation tend to induce the suspicion that the decision of the Pension Bureau was entirely just and that this bill is not based upon substantial merits.

GROVER CLEVELAND