The Writings of Sam Houston, Volume VIII

WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 1860

65

· To CLEMENT R. JoHNs 1 Executive Department, Austin, May 22, 1860.

Honorable C. R. Johns, Comptroller Sir: In a letter to you of May 18th, 1860, your attention was called to the act of February 30, 1860, making an appropriation for frontier defence. The Executive would again solicit an answer to the query there presented. He desires to know whether the $300,000 there appropriated can be "drawn from the Treasury," without leav- ing a .deficit in the amount required for the current revenue from time to time, to pay the ordinary expenses of the Govern- ment. If the amount can be drawn without leaving a deficit, the Rangers should be paid in cash. If it cannot be done, certifi- cates of indebtedness to an amount not exceeding $200,000 may be issued upon which in the opinion of the Executive, 10 per cent interest should be paid. It was stated to you that contracts for supplies to an amount equal to the balance of University Funds remaining in the Treasury had been made. No proposition in reference to the certificates of indebtedness authorized to be issued under the Act making appropriations for the protection of the Frontier has ever reached the Executive, other than the refusal on the part of the Comptroller to allow interest on the same. The Executive does not contend that there is a positive law authorizing interest upon the $200,000 of debt, but he is will- ing to take the responsibility of assuring the public that the Leg- islature will pay interest on it. Unless this is done, the cer- tificates of debt will at once depreciate to 80 cents on the dollar, for parties cannot afford to take them at par and wait two years for the money. To compel the Rangers to submit to this loss would be unjust. Should the requirements of law prevent the payment of those military claims in money, you will prepare for the issuance of certificates of debt, to the amount of $200,000 bearing interest at the rate of ten per cent, per annum, as stated in your letter. Enclosed I send to you ·a form of the scrip I wish issued. Sam Houston. 1 Compt?-olle1·s' Lette1·s; also Executive Records, 1859-1861, p. 164, Texas State Library. J ohns's reply is in Comptrollers' Letters, Texas State Library.

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