As a general proposition I see nothing unjust or unfair in holding that if a pensioner is sick and through ignorance or design takes laudanum without the direction or regulation of a physician the Government should not be held responsible…

I return without approval House bill No. 4580, entitled 'An act granting a pension to Farnaren Ball.'

I return without approval House bill No. 3579, entitled 'An act granting a pension to Ellen Shea.'

The proofs with which I have been furnished fail to satisfy me that the Government should grant a pension on account of death produced by a self-administered narcotic in the circumstances which surround this case.

The evidence now offered in support of this claim appears to have reference to a time long anterior to its rejection by the Pension Bureau in 1886.

The disability of which he complains has no natural relation to the sickness he claims to have had during his service.

It seems to me, however, that it would establish a bad precedent to provide for her from the Federal Treasury.

I deem the opinions of these officers abundant justification for my disapproval of the resolution without further statement of objections.

I should be glad to respond to these sentiments to the extent of approving this bill, but it is one of the misfortunes of public life and official responsibility that a sense of duty frequently stands between a conception of right and a…

I think, when the application of Mr. Worden for an increase in his allowances was twice declined for any cause during the year covering his present demand, that if he made personal expenditures for clerk hire, and especially if he did so…

When a park is established there, the island is no longer a defense in time of need.

Any other course leads to the expenditure of money by postmasters for work which they should do themselves.

I do not regard the control reserved in the resolution to the Secretary of War over such excavations, fillings, and structures upon the island as may be proposed as of much importance.

I am now advised by the Secretary of War, the Chief of Engineers, and the Lieutenant-General of the Army, in quite positive terms, that the resolution under consideration should not, for reasons fully stated by them, become operative.

I return without approval a joint resolution.

If we are to adhere to the rule that in order to entitle the widow of a soldier to a pension the death of her husband must be in some way related to his military service, there can be no doubt that upon its merits this case was properly…

I return without approval House bill No. 2282, entitled 'An act to pension Mrs. Theodora M. Piatt.'

Much interest is manifested in this case, based upon former friendship and intimacy with the deceased and kind feeling and sympathy for his widow.