th good reason, that he had become despondent on
account of the delay in determining his application for a pension and
because he supposed that important evidence to establish his claim which
he expected would not be forthcoming. It is very likely that this
despondency existed and that it so affected the mind of this old soldier
that it led to his suicide. But the fact remains that he took his own
life in a deliberate manner, and that the affection of his eyes, which
was the disability claimed, was not in a proper sense even the remote
cause of his death.

I confess that I have endeavored to relieve myself from again
interposing objections to the granting of a pension to this poor and
aged widow. But I can not forget that age and poverty do not themselves
justify gifts of public money, and it seems to me that the according of
pensions is a serious business which ought to be regulated by principle
and reason, though these may well be tempered with much liberality.

I can find no principle or plausible pretext in this case which would
not lead to granting a pension in any case of alleged disability arising
from military service followed by suicide. It would be an unfair
discrimination against many who, though in sad plight, have been refused
relief in similar circumstances, and would establish an exceedingly
troublesome and dangerous precedent.

GROVER CLEVELAND.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, _August 10, 1888_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I return without approval House bill No. 8574, entitled "An act granting
a pension to Sallie T. Ward, widow of the late W.T. Ward."

The husband of this beneficiary served about nine months in the Mexican
War. He entered the service as a brigadier-general in 1861, and served
through the War of the Rebellion with credit, and was wounded in the
left arm on the 15th day of May, 1864.

For this wound he was pensioned according to his rank, and received such
pension until his death, at the age of 70 years, which occurred October
12, 1878.

The cause of his death was brain disease, and it seems not to be
seriously claimed that it had any relation to his wound.

His widow is now in receipt of the pension provided for those of her
class by the Mexican pension law.

If this bill becomes a law, I am unable to see why, in fairness and
justice, the widow of any officer of the grade of General Ward should
not be allowed $50 a month, the amount proposed by this bill to be paid
his wid