WRITINGS OF SAM: HOUSTON, 1860
565
To E. F. GRAY 1 Executive Department, Austin, March 31, 1860.
E. F. Gray, Esq., Sir: The Texas and New Orleans Railroad Company having completey Twenty-five miles of their road, make application for the land granted by the State on sai.d Twenty-five miles. You are hereby requested to proceed at once to make the necessary exam- ination and report under oath upon the condition and affairs of said road and Company, in order that I may act in regard to said application, and also upon other Sections that they may have completed in addition to said Twenty-five miles. Sam Houston. 1 Execiitive Records, 1859-1861, p. 117, Texas State Library. PROCLAMATION REVOKING THE INSTRUCTIONS OF THE COMP- TROLLER CONCERNING LAND VALUES, MARCH 31, 1860 1 WHEREAS, it has been known to me that a circular has been issued by Clement R. Johns, Comptroller of the Treasury, of the State of Texas, instructing the various Collectors of the State of Texas as to the mode of Assessment and Collection of Taxes, under the law approved February 11th, 1860; And Whereas, said instructions contain requirements not contemplated by law, but Oppressive to the Citizens, and subversive to their rights, and calculated to prevent the payment of taxes on lands and involve the State in endless litigations; and Whereas the said law declares: [Houston quotes Section 8 1 which we omit.] And, Whereas, the Said Comptroller, has furnished the Vari- .ous Asessors and Collectors of the State, with what purports to _be the "average value of the lands in each County in the State, for the year 1859," but which is not the "average value" of said lands, as shown from the report of the Comptroller, for the fiscal year ending August 31, 1859, and the prices there fixed, as the rates upon which taxes must be paid upon Said lands, being far beyond either the "average Value" as assessed for taxes, or Their real value· in the market; And Whereas, the said Comptroller arbitrarily directs the Assessors and Collectors of the State to disregard a portion of the law as follows: [We omit the quotation from the Comptroller.] Now, Therefore, I Sam Houston, Governor of the State of Texas, by virtue of the powers vested in me, by the Constitu- tion, which declares that "the Governor shall take care that the
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