commodation and safety" of a large
proportion of the public buildings completed and in process of erection,
since the provision that there shall exist 40 feet of open space on
all sides is, I think, contained in all the bills authorizing their
construction. In this view the proposed legislation would establish a
very bad precedent.

It is provided in the bill that the additional 30 feet mentioned shall
be purchased for a sum not to exceed $10,000. The adjoining 106 feet and
10 inches, located on the corner of two streets, were purchased in the
year 1882 by the Government for $15,000. The permission to purchase this
addition at a price per foot greatly in excess of that already owned by
the Government seems so unnecessary, except to benefit the owner, that I
am of the opinion it should not be granted.

GROVER CLEVELAND.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _June 5, 1888_.

_To the Senate_:

I return without approval Senate bill No. 739, entitled "An act granting
a pension to Johanna Loewinger."

The husband of the beneficiary named in this bill enlisted June 28,
1861, and was discharged May 8, 1862, upon a surgeon's certificate of
disability. He was pensioned for chronic diarrhea. He died July 17,
1876. A coroner's inquest was held, who found by their verdict that the
deceased came to his death "from suicide by cutting his throat with a
razor, caused by long-continued illness."

This inquest was held immediately after the soldier's death, and it
appears that the case was fully investigated, with full opportunities to
discover the truth. Upon the verdict found, in the absence of insanity
caused by any disability, it can hardly be claimed that his death was
caused by his military service. The attempts afterwards to impeach this
verdict and introduce another cause of death do not seem to be
successful.

GROVER CLEVELAND.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _June 12, 1888_.

_To the Senate_:

I return without approval Senate bill No. 1772, entitled "An act for the
relief of John H. Marion."

It is proposed by this bill to relieve the party named therein from an
indebtedness to the Government amounting to $1,042.45, arising from the
nonfulfillment of a contract made by him in 1884 with the Government, by
which he agreed to furnish for the use of the Quartermaster's Department
a quantity of grama hay.

The contractor wholly failed to furnish the hay as agreed, and thereupon
the Government, pursuant to the terms of the contract, obtai