[114] When Congress, pressured by the Grand Army of the Republic, passed a bill granting pensions for disabilities not caused by military service, Cleveland also vetoed that.[115] Cleveland used the veto far more often than any president up to that time.[116] In 1887, Cleveland issued his most well-known veto, that of the Texas Seed Bill.[117] After a drought had ruined crops in several Texas counties, Congress appropriated $100,000 (equivalent to $3,015,926 in 2021) to purchase seed grain for farmers there.[117] Cleveland vetoed the expenditure. In his veto message, he espoused a theory of limited government:

.mw-parser-output .templatequote{overflow:hidden;margin:1em 0;padding:0 40px}.mw-parser-output .templatequote .templatequotecite{line-height:1.5em;text-align:left;padding-left:1.6em;margin-top:0}I can find no warrant for such an appropriation 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 is 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 enforced that, though the people support the government, the government should not support the people. 