WRITINGS OF 5AM HOUSTON, 1842
44.5
dividual whose service I may be able to procure, for the purpose of affixing the President's signature to the Exchequer bills, now in the course of preparation. From the press of business in the Executive Office, which will continue till the adjournment of Con- gress, it will be impossible for the President's Private Secretary to perform the laborous duty imposed by law as it now stands. The compensation should be such as to enable me to obtain the services of a competent and reliable person. Sam Houston [Rubric] [Endorsement]: Read on January 26th. 1 "Messages of the Presidents," Cong1·essional Pavers; also Executive Rec- ord Book, No. 40, p. 26, Texas State Library. TO THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 1 Executive Department, City of Austin, "January 26th, 1842. To the Honorable, the House of Representatives: The joint resolution "authorizing the Commissioner of the Gen- eral Land Office to receive audited drafts of the government, as Texas promissory notes," in payment of land dues and dues on patents, presents to me the important fact that, under its pro- visions the heavy expenses of the land office establishment must be defrayed from the public revenues from other sources, with- out yielding any material aid in its own support. Under the present depressed condition of the country, it would seem to be nothing more than justice that the land holder should pay at least the actual expense attending the transaction of his business in the Land Office. The citizen who owns no land should not be compelled to pay his taxes to furnish a patent to his neigh- bor free of cost. Large appropriations of Exchequer bills will be required to meet the wants of the office, which will remain a heavy burthen upon the currency, unless they are absorbed, as they should be, in the payment of Land .Office dues. It is not in- tended or desired that the Office should produce any revenue over and above its expenses; but that it ought to support itself, none will deny. Upon the success of this last effort to establish a currency de- pends every hope of the country. Every aid within the control of the government must be invoked to sustain it. The public ex-
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