Page:Life and Select Literary Remains of Sam Houston of Texas (1884).djvu/345

 amendments to our revenue laws, that the defalcations which have already occurred in the collection of the direct taxes alone, amount to more than fifty-two thousand dollars; and the defalcations of the late collectors of import duties, at the two ports of Galveston and San Augustine, reach nearly thirty thousand dollars. It is obvious, therefore, that the laws must be so improved by the action of the Legislature as to secure the more certain and prompt transmission of the public moneys. Otherwise, no safe calculation can be made as to the means annually appropriated for the support of Government.

The total amount of expenditures for all purposes, during the present administration, up to the first of November last, excluding fifty thousand eight hundred and seventy-three dollars and eighty-two cents, incurred during the administration of my predecessor, and paid by this, is four hundred and sixty-six thousand one hundred and fifty-eight dollars and nine cents, leaving a balance of five thousand nine hundred and forty-eight dollars and ninety-one cents, after carrying on the Government for the last three years. It should be mentioned, also, that the estimate of expenditures dates back to the first of December, 1841, and that of receipts to the first of February, 1842, at which time Exchequer bills began to be received for revenue—a space of two months during which the expenses of Government were being incurred, without the receipt of a dollar to meet them.

It appears, from the several enactments on the subject, that the amount appropriated for sustaining the Post-Office establishment, during the administration of my predecessor, was two hundred and fifty-two thousand nine hundred and seventy dollars, and that the like appropriations during the last three years, for the same purpose, amount to but about twenty-nine thousand. Notwithstanding, however, this great difference in the means afforded for the support of this important branch of the public service, it is believed that, by the exercise of proper economy, the mails have been regularly transported upon all the routes prescribed by law, so as to give the greatest benefit possible under the means which could be applied.

This statement, it is believed, will best explain the conduct of the administration in the management of its finances, and, perhaps, satisfy the people of the Republic that all within its power has been done to economize the means which they had contributed for the support of our institutions. Much hardship has been encountered, and sometimes extreme perplexity endured, by all the public officers, by the fluctuations to which the currency has been subjected. But they have the satisfaction to know that, although they have frequently received less than one-half the compensation assigned them by law for their services, they have materially assisted in sustaining their country in the time of difficulty and need.

During the past summer, dissensions of a most unfortunate character, arising from private and personal causes, and leading to the most deplorable excesses against life and property, existed in the county of Shelby, and extended in some degree to the surrounding districts. The necessity for the prompt intervention of the Government to arrest this state of things became imperative, and, accordingly, the Executive proceeded in person to a convenient point near the scene of difficulties, and ordered out a military force deemed sufficient for the effectual attainment of the object in view. He is happy to say that the citizen soldiery obeyed the call upon their patriotic services with the utmost alacrity;