EXECUTIVE MANSION, _July 6, 1886_.
_To the House of Representatives_:
I herewith return without approval House bill No. 5394, entitled "An act
granting a pension to Sallie Ann Bradley."
The husband of this proposed beneficiary was discharged from the
military service in 1865, after a long service, and was afterwards
pensioned for gunshot wound.
He died in 1882. The widow appears to have never filed a claim for
pension in her own right.
No cause is given of the soldier's death, but it is not claimed that it
resulted from his military service, her pension being asked for entirely
because of her needs and the faithful service of her husband and her
sons.
This presents the question whether a gift in such a case is a proper
disposition of money appropriated for the purpose of paying pensions.
The passage of this law would, in my opinion, establish a precedent so
far-reaching and open the door to such a vast multitude of claims not on
principle within our present pension laws that I am constrained to
disapprove the bill under consideration.