WRITINGS OF 5AM HOUSTON, 1854
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personal knowledge of the population of Washington, in order to give efficiency to the guard, and we can get no person on whom the responsibility could better rest than the Commissioner of Public Buildings. I shall, therefore, move to amend the amend- ment by striking out "Secretary of the Interior," and inserting "Commissioner of Public Buildings."
1 Cong1·essional Globe, Part III, 1853-1854, p. 1980.
REMARKS ON THE CIVIL AND DIPLOMATIC BILL, JULY 27, 1854 1
My attention has been at this moment called to the subject, and it really appears very strange that all other Departments should be provided for specially, and that these should be ex- cluded-that it should be left to a particular officer to afford them the extra compensation if he thinks proper, while all the other Departments receive this percentage on their ordinary pay. Now, if it is right to give a per centage or advance upon the pay of the regular salaried clerks in the different Departments, why should it not be done in this Department? If the object is to do justice to all, leave it to the Secretary of the Treasury to fix within his discretion the extras to be given to all the clerks, and let not an exception be made of one particular Department. If it is fair to make the increase in one Department, it is fair to make it in all. If it is fair to make it generally, it is not fair to make an exception of this particular class of officers, so that I cannot see any reason for excluding these and admitting others. Either make it discretionary altogether, or make it discretionary as to none. It is the plainest thing in the world to my mind. 1 Cong1·essional Globe, Part III, 1853-1854, p. 1959. The Senate took up the Civil and Diplomatic Bill-a bill that made appropriation for civil and diplomatic expenses of government--ending June 30, 1855. A heated dis- cussion arose over the interpretation of a proposed amendment that provided that "(1) the bill approved April 22, 1854-nn Act to amend the third section of the act by making appropriation for the civil and diplomatic expenses of the government for the year ending June 30, 1854, and for other purposes-to be construed to increase compensation for the fiscal year ending June 24, last, and to include within its provisions clerks of the Department of State and the Office of Coast Survey; the chief clerk in the last named department to receive the same compensation as the chief clerks in other departments of government for the fiscal year; and that the money
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