WRITINGS OF 5AM HOUSTON, 1853
393
be clerical gentlemen there :ready to make out his bills and furnish him with a receipt, and that would be a good voucher. Could he not take receipts for money paid for tickets at railroad depots? What difficulty was there in that? And yet the Secretary, accord- ing to the plan he has laid down for disbursements in his office, knew it would be impossible, and said it could not be expected. It ought not to be expected of that Department, I grant you, or of any one connected with it, judging from some little inklings I have had of it. The Secretary goes on, "for the satisfaction of the Comptroller, however" ;-only for the satisfaction of the Comptroller! The object was not to do business in a proper and exact manner, as it ought to be done in every Department of this Government in the disbursement of money, but for the satisfaction of that Argus that watches over the Treasury-that terror to evildoers, and blessing to those who do well-the Comp- troller; "Mr. Kennedy placed in his possession, as I have been informed such papers as he had procured, exhibiting the justice of his charges. These papers were not presented as vouchers in the technical sense of the term, but merely as collateral evidence." How beautifully he glosses this over; what exquisite rhetoric that is for the occasion; what an elegant glossary he could write of present transactions which are going on even about this Capitol! Mr. Secretary Stuart continues: "In many instances Mr. Kennedy was traveling in company with other persons." Why did not he send in his bills to show the sufficiency of the information contained in the report? Ah! it would be glanced over, whereas if it were stated in this direct manner, it might not be noticed. "And the bills were made out for their joint ex- penditures." Would it not have been just as easy to have made them out for their separate expenditures? The clerks employed in magnificent railway depots and hotels are paid for attending to each individual. They do not expect that people will travel with such splendid retinues; and they do not always accomodate individuals as well as gentlemen who go out on these missions of exploration. "And in order to arrive at the 'true amount of his charges against the Government, it is necessary to ascertain his proportionable part of them.' " But has he done it? The whole amounts to $1,469.76. Mr. Kennedy did not come in with his proportion of one fifth or one sixth of that, but he comes
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