THE MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN 



197 



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tween the garden and school of hotany still closer through placing 

 the former under the care of the directors of the university, it might 

 be possible to ensure a much larger revenue for the needs of the garden 

 since the university enjoys exemption from taxation under an old 

 charter, which the new establishment could scarcely expect to secure 

 with the existing constitutional provisions of the state. The argu- 

 ments were well consid- 



ered, but the saving of 

 money which to-da}'' 

 would amount to over 

 $25,000 annually did 

 not weigh in Mr. Shaw's 

 mind as contrasted with 

 autonomy, and when he 

 died, in August, 1889, his 

 will was found to provide 

 for the administration of 

 the garden by an inde- 

 pendent board of trustees, 

 consisting of fifteen per- 

 sons; ten named by the 

 testator, and the other five 

 holding office as trustees 

 ex officio, in various ca- 

 pacities : The chancellor 

 of Washington Universit}^, 

 the bishop of the episcopal 

 diocese of Missouri, the 



president of the public school board of St. Louis, the president of the 

 Academy of Science of St. Louis, and the mayor of the city. Two 

 additional honorary trustees, whom he evidently hoped to have assist 

 in the inauguration of the establishment on broad lines, were named: 

 Dr. Asa Gray and Professor Spencer F. Baird neither of whom, un- 

 fortunately, survived Mr. Shaw, while it is evident from the phrasing 

 of his will that their places were not intended to be filled. Two other 

 citizens of St. Louis, named as trustees in the will, had died, also, 

 before the testator, and it was held by the courts that their places 

 should not be filled. Except for the members ex officio, the board of 

 trustees is a self-perpetuating body, itself filling vacancies as they occur. 

 The testamentary provisions for the carrying out of Mr. Shaw's 

 purposes do not differ in any essential respect from the plan sketched 

 in the enabling act of 1859 passed because there was at that time 

 some uncertainty as to the possibility of otherwise making the provisions 



George Engelmann. 



