WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, '1861
244
The Comptroller declined to send the vouchers necessary to secure the collection of the amount. It was the intention of the Executive to solicit the services of one or more of our members of Congress then at Washington in the settlement of our business, and when the amount due the State was ascertained, to obtain U. S. Treasury drafts, which could have been cashed here by the Comptroller at par, and thus all the expenses of a special agent would have been avoided. The Executive again on the 9th of October requested that the vouchers for the whole claim be forwarded at as early a day as practicable, the Comptroller hav- ing informed him that they were ready for transmission. On the 3d of November, desiring to facilitate and hasten the collec- tion of this amount, the Executive notified the Comptroller of his intention to appoint Geo. J. Durham, Esq., chief clerk of the Comptroller's office, as agent to bear the muster rolls, vouchers, etc., to Washington, and to attend to the collection of the claim. On the 5th of November a communication was received from the Comptroller, declining to place the papers in the hands of Mr. Durham, and on the 28th of November Mr. Durham declined to accept the appointment, which in the meantime had been tendered him. The only obstacle in the way of the prompt collection of the amount has been the fact that the vouchers have not been placed in the possession of the War Department. Until this is done the money can not be obtained. The vouchers are in the possession of the Comptroller, and it has been in his power at any time to transmit them either in person or by some safe hand to the Secretary of War. When the claim has progressed thus far toward a settlement, the Executive will direct his endeavors toward securing all that may be justly due the State. It is also proper to state that since the letter to the Comptroller of October last, stating that the muster rolls, etc., were ready for transmission to Washington, the Executive has been notified that five of the rolls, representing about $40,000 of the amount due, are lost. An examination of the facts presented will furnish the Legis- lature the data upon which to base their actions in reference to future operations of the Treasury. It will be seen that there is already a deficit in the revenue necessary to meet the civil ex- penditures. The ordinary expenses of the Government until the taxes come in in June will be about $30,000 per month. The deficit already existing added to this amount will consume the
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