thereafter a pension was
allowed the widow in her own right, dating from the soldier's death, in
1884, with $2 additional per month for each of the two minor children.
The beneficiary was not included because she had reached the age of 16
years prior to her father's death.

The report of the committee to whom this bill was referred states that
no claim for pension on account of the soldier's death has ever been
filed in the Pension Bureau, and it seems that upon this theory it was
proposed to pension the daughter. I do not suppose it was intended that
a double pension should be allowed. In point of fact, the widow has
already been pensioned, and no such pension allowance has been made for
the minor children. There is no suggestion that the widow has died or
remarried.

If this bill should become a law, two full pensions would be in force at
the same time, one to the widow and another to the daughter, each
predicated upon the services and death of the same soldier.

GROVER CLEVELAND.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 27, 1895_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I herewith return without approval House bill No. 6868, entitled "An act
for the relief of Catherine Ott, widow of Joseph Ott."

An application by the beneficiary named in this bill, under the law of
1890, was rejected on the ground that her husband died in the service,
and therefore had not been honorably discharged, as required by that
law.

It appears that after he had served a number of years in a cavalry
regiment, and having been once discharged for reenlistment, he was
transferred to the Veteran Reserve Corps and was in that service at the
time of his death.

In these circumstances the rejection of the beneficiary's claim on the
ground stated is held, under present rulings of the Pension Bureau, to
have been erroneous, and such claim can now be favorably adjudicated
upon proof of continued widowhood of the applicant and the lack of other
means of support than her daily labor.

If such proof is supplied, she would be entitled to a pension dating
from July 14, 1890, which would be much more advantageous than the
relief afforded by the bill herewith returned.

If the beneficiary can justly claim a pension dating from her
application to the Pension Bureau in 1890, the benefits accruing to her
therefrom should not be superseded by this special legislation, which
allows relief only from the date of its enactment.

GROVER CLEVELAND.

EXECU