95
WRITINGS OF 5AM HOUSTON, 1860
the accounts, thereby insuring to the Government the responsi- bility of the pay master who has given bond for Twenty Thousand Dollars and has taken an oath faithfully to perform his duties, 1 1pon which certificate the Comptroller will issue his warrant. Should there be errors in the conduct of the pay master, the auditor and Comptroller will be a check and prevent any injury to the Government. Thus two officers will be acting as checks upon the muster and the pay rolls. Were the Auditor and the Comptroller alone to adjust the accounts without any law for the same, and make payments, there would be no check upon this action and the Governor would feel that he had not secured all the safeguards to the Treasury which by law he is required to do. If you have any law to refer to which has escaped my obser- vation, I shall be glad to give it my attention, as I have no other disposition than to enforce the execution of the laws, and unless you do present such law, it will be the duty of the Executive to take such measures as will cause his instructions already given to be complied with. You speak of the Executive's not being permitted to exercise control over your office. It is not your office, Sir, nor mine. It is an office of the Government. The law specifies your duty in it, and the Constitution appropriates to me a control over it, and all that I desire is to exercise the constitutional and lawful control over it that is delegated to me by the people. Sam Houston. 1 Com.pt1·olle1·s' Lette,·s; also Executive Records, 1859-1861, pp. 190-191, Texas State Library. To J. w. SAVAGE 1 Executive Department, Austin, July 4, 1860. Mr. J. W. Savage, Corresponding Secretary, &c. Dear Sir: Your esteemed favor of May 1st, notifying me of my election as an honorary member of the Ciceronian Society of Ironton, Ohio, and requesting my acceptance of the same, has been received. The object of your society being "the mutual improvement and cultivation of the mental faculties," is a laudable one, and I with pleasure accept the compliment tendered me.
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