4 KEPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 



Institution and its several dependencies for t\w tiscal year ending June 

 30, 1903. 



The Board adopted tlie annual report of the executive connnittee to 

 the same date, showing in detail the financial condition of the Institu- 

 tion. 



Senator Henderson, chairman of the permanent committee, made 

 statements in regard to the proposed bequests of Addison T. Reid and 

 Joseph White Sprague; also concerning the will of Wallace C. Andrews, 

 and the present status of the Hodgkins and Avery funds. He further 

 reported upon the expenditures incurred by the Secretary since the 

 last annual meeting, in continuing his experiments in mechanical 

 flight under the authority of the Board. 



The Secretary made a statement concerning the publications in 

 preparation by the Institution and also with regard to aerodromic 

 experiments carried on by him. 



He reported that Congress, under a clause of the sundry civil act, 

 approved March 3, 1003, had authorized the erection of a new build- 

 ing for the National iNIuseum at a cost not to exceed $3,500,000. 



He spoke of th(^ work of the Bureau of American Ethnology and of 

 his efforts to place the Bureau upon a sound administrative footing. 

 He recalled previous efforts to secure a law for the protection of 

 antiquities on the pul)lic domain, and urged present action. The 

 Board thereupon adopted a resolution to that effect. 



The Secretary reported upon the work of the International 

 Exchanges, the National Zoological Park, and the Astroi)hysical 

 Observatory. 



The report of the special committee to consider the question of 

 deffning the duties of the executive connnittee Avas submitted by the 

 Chancellor, ))ut action thereupon was deferred until the meeting of 

 March 7. 



At the evening session of this nu^eting Dr. A. Graham Bell sub- 

 mitted in full his re])ort upon the renu)val of James Smithson's 

 remains from (ienoa to Washington, which is on iile with the records 

 of the Board and a lengthy abstract of which will be found on page T. 



After remarks, the Board adopted the following resolutions: 



'■'■ Bcwlvt'd, That the Board of R(\gents desire to record in the min- 

 utes of the Institution their profound apj)reciation of the voluntary 

 sei-vice of Dr. Alexander (Traliam Bell in personally going to (Jenoa 

 and returning with the remains of James Smithson that they might 

 find a resting place in the grounds of the Institution he so nobly 

 founded M'or the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men.' 



'' liesolrrd, Tiiat the Chancellor and the Secretary, with the mem})ers 

 of the executive connnittee, be appointcni a committee upon the (|ues- 

 tion of the final (lisjjosition of the remains of Jfiuies Smithson and of 

 the momiment to be erected to him, with power to act in the entire 

 matter." 



