Record. xli 



Pay roll $1,200.00 



Fuel, light 315.00 



Printing and postage for notices of meetings, etc 150.00 



Repairs 75.00 



Telephone 48.00 



Miscellaneous 150.00 



$1,938.00 

 Residue for publishing papers $ 432.00 



The retiring President wishes he could say that the above esti- 

 mate is reasonable; but he fears that some of the annual dues may not 

 be paid, and that the items of "Repairs" and •'Miscellaneous" may be 

 unexpectedly greater. It is quite certain that the front steps need 

 repairs, if not entire reconstruction. If, however, the spare room 

 could be well rented, the writer believes the residue for publications 

 would be realized. 



In his report a year ago, the writer discussed a plan for the erec- 

 tion of a fireproof building on the rear of the Academy lot for the 

 accommodation of the Library, Museum, Council Room and Lecture 

 Hall, while renting the entire present building for commercial pur- 

 poses, the income of which should go wholly to promote the legiti- 

 mate work of the Academy. If money should be given the Academy 

 — say $50.000.00 — to carry out this plan several important results 

 would follow: 



1. First and foremost the Academy would be sure of an adequate 

 income for all time. The commercial value of the present building, 

 enlarged or reconstructed, would be permanently very great. 



2. The Library and museum would be properly arranged and 

 stored in a fireproof structure, reasonably secure from all injury. 

 Words cannot properly describe the present jeopardy of our library 

 of 20,000 scientific volumes and pamphlets standing exposed on wooden 

 shelves in a building with wooden floors, doors and stairs, and with a 

 large coal-burning furnace in the basement — in short, in a veritable 

 "fire trap." The Academy cannot afford to insure the library and, be- 

 sides, no reasonable amount of money would compensate for its loss. No 

 friend of the Academy, certainly no President and Council, can look 

 the present situation squarely in the face and not tremble at the 

 thought of a conflagration in or near our building. Ten minutes of 

 fire and water, and the priceless library is a ruin. 



3. The plan under discussion includes a Hall for Lectures, built 

 for the purpose, with a smooth white wall for lantern pictures, with 

 seats arranged for seeing and hearing, and above all remote from the 

 almost continuous rattling, rumbling, jangling, whirring, honking 

 of trolley cars and automobiles, which infest our present hall. 



The proposed new building should stand fiush on the alley, forty 

 or fifty feet from the present structure, and a few feet from the east 

 and west boundaries of the lot, with a heating plant so placed as to 

 economically heat both buildings, rear and front. 



