402
WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 1857
aspiring, unprincipled favorites, parasites, and pets-the power to strike down men who are as old as the Navy of the United States, who have adorned its annals, who have given luster to our national character, and whose achievements entitle them to perpetual renown. The facts show that they were stricken down by men who were culled and picked for particular purposes; indi- viduals were marked, registered, "dotted," by the beneficiaries who struck down those individuals. Sir, it is for the purpose of vindicating honorable men, and the position taken in the Senate in their support, against the imp~sitions upon the public service that have dishonored and disgraced it, that I wish the informa- tion. By it the worthy will only be made more worthy, and the unworthy will only be exposed to the censure and condemnation which they justly merit. 1 Congressional Globe, 1856-1857, Part 1, pp. 345, 346. Houston had offered resolutions on January 14 (see above document), to which Mallo1·y had made a speech ridiculing Houston's anxiety concerning naval desertions and other irregularities, or apparent irregularities, in the Navy. This is Hous- ton's reply. CONCERNING THE ALLOWANCE OF TRAVELING EXPENSES FOR INDIAN AGENTS 1 January 26, 1857 I would suggest to the chairman of the Finance Committee, that it might be well to regulate the trayeling expenses attendant on superintendents performing this duty. Unless this is done there wm be claims hereafter. The amendment should state the mileage to be allowed for traveling a given distance, and every- thing else which is necessary. The regulations of the Department will not be sufficient on this point without the sanction of law. [An interruption declared that the present measure was only a beginning of a more comprehensive system.] Mr. Houston. I doubt whether it will improve the system in any particular unless there is some definite action taken upon this point. It may remain in the discretion of the head of the Department to make such allowance as he may think a fair com- pensation, and in that way it may be beneficial. Indian agents ought never to leave their posts unless there be some urgent necessity for it, which is not the case now. They ·were very often in the interior of the country, and not residing at their agencies. They make it a matter of convenience entirely, to claim an agency, derive their salary, and withhold their attention from their duties.
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