258 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS lent and others were not so favorable to the claimant as the general laws already passed. A dependent pension bill, permitting a pension of $12 per month to all soldiers and sailors who served in the war for the Union, upon the ground of service and present disability alone, whether incurred in the service or since, was vetoed, on the ground that a sufficient time had not elapsed since the war to jus tify a general service pension; that its terms were too uncertain and yielding to insure its just and impartial execution; that the honest soldiers of the country would prefer not to be regarded as objects of charity, as was proposed ; and that its enactment would put a wholly uncalled-for and enormous an nual burden upon the country for very many years to come. The veto was sustained. Vetoing an ap propriation for the distribution of seeds to drought- stricken counties of Texas, he said: "I can find no warrant for such an appropri ation in the constitution; and I do not believe that the power and duty of the general government ought to be extended to the relief of individual suffering which in no manner properly related to the public service or benefit. A prevalent tendency to disregard the limited mission of this power and duty should, I think, be steadfastly resisted, to the end that the lesson should be constantly en forced that, though the people support the govern-
