WRITJNCS OF 5AM HOUSTON, 1857
440
to the present moment, since the glories of his administration, which he left as a legacy to his country. 1 Cong1·essional Record, Part 2, 1856-1857, pp. 1049, 1050, 1054. The State of Tennessee had offered The He1"1nitage, the home of Andrew Jackson, as a gift to the Federal Government, provided it should be used as the location for a branch of the Military Academy. It was also requested that this branch of the military academy should be devoted especially to the cavalry. At the same time a proposition was made to buy Mount Ve1-non, the home of Washington, for th~ sum of $500,000, and establish there another branch of the military academy. During the wrangling debate that arose over these proposals, Houston spoke. ON THE BILL FOR AN APPROPRIATION FOR THE DISTRIBUTION OF SEEDS, MARCH 3, 1857 1 Mr. Houston. I regret extremely to say anything at this state of the business of the Senate, but so far as I can express myself, my object is to sustain this amendment. My colleague very aptly remarked that he believed, as I believe, that the sum appropriated for seeds is the most beneficially expended money that is expended by this Govrnment. No longer ago than this morning I have received three letters thanking me for seeds that I had distrib- uted in the country, and of other persons requesting that they might be furnished with them. As for the Patent Office report, I know it is the most popular work that has ever been distributed by Congress; and whether it is an abuse, or whether it is that it has grown into custom, it is certainly sanctified by experience. I shall vote for the con- tinuance of that work for the purpose of improving agriculture and benefiting the country at large. I shall do so from the num- ber of applications that I have received throughout the States. If the gentleman from South Carolina has not received a corre- sponding expression to the interest he took in the welfare of his constituents in distributing seeds, and if they have not been suf- ficiently grateful, or have not kindly responded thanks for them, it is no reason, because the seeds were not acceptable in South Carolina, that they would not be acceptable in other sections of the country, even if they were distributed by himself. I there- fore insist that this amendment should be adopted as a matter of justice to the community-one gratifying to them, and highly beneficial to culinary and agricultural purposes. I know that for the single article of the Chinese sugar cane, I must have received twenty or thirty applications, in addition
Powered by FlippingBook