JOURNAL OF I'KOCEEDINGS. XLl 



But wliilc we can not veiitmv- on any dclinitions of ]>()lic..v (all <iucs 

 tlons of policy having been left by ns in abeyance), we may properly re- 

 call to the recollection of the Board one great leading principle which 

 has i)revailed in the administration of the Institution from its begin- 

 ning down to the present day ; that princii)le is, that the Secretary is 

 charged with plenary ])()wer m his oflice, and therefore with an entire 

 and undivided responsibilily for tiie right and i)roper administration 

 of the Smithson trust. That trust gives to bim the reason of his ofh- 

 cial being, and it is ccniferred by the Kegents, without restrictions of 

 their own, because of the contidence reposed in the ability, integrity, 

 and discretion of the Secretary. Hence any change of policy which 

 should require a division of responsibility because of a multiplicity or 

 heterogtiieity of oi)erations, would work an entire change in the theory 

 of our administration, would break up the continuity of our history^ 

 and might seriously jeopard the efliciency of the Institution by marring 

 its harmony and unit}'. This harmony and this unity of operations 

 would therefore seem to require the establishment of a permanent and 

 definite line of policy to be pursued by the Institution as far as i)os- 

 sible without break and without chasm because of changes occurring 

 ill its executive head. 



It is obvious that anything like a fundamental revision and recousti- 

 tution of the pro]>er work and proper relations of the Institution re- 

 curring periodically at the death of each Secretary would be fraught 

 with serious detriment to its usefulness and to its fame. But if the 

 si)ecitic nature and at tlie same time the ensemble of its general opera- 

 tions can be maintained, it would seem that those operations may re- 

 ceive any addition or undergo any extension which shall be found 

 coini)atible with prudent and elhcient administration under a single 

 head -How far, therefore, the ties which now bind the Institution to 

 the National Museum, to the Bureau of Ethnology, and to certain sci- 

 entific aspects of the Fish Commission, should be tightened or loosened 

 is a question of expediency to be determined by a careful analysis and 

 a deliberate weighing of all the elements involved in the problem set 

 before us — that is, by considering and judging how far each and all 

 of these adjuncts may be made ancillary to the i^roper work of the 

 Smithsonian Institution under the conduct of a single responsible ex- 

 ecutive ofhcer. 



It is with these general convictions, and with the view of bringing 

 more definitely before you the subject-matters which would seem to 

 call for deliberation at this extraordinary session, that we venture to sub- 

 mit the following resolutions to your consideration, some of which, it 

 will be seen, are suggested as mere starting points for discussion : 



1 . Resolved, That a committee of three Regents be appointed to draft 

 resolutions expressive of the exalted admiration cherished by the Board 

 for the late Spencer F. Baird, ll. d,, our gratitude for the long, faith- 

 ful, and abundant labors which he performed in the service of this In- 

 stitution, our reverence for his memory, and our i)iofound sense of the 

 loss which the cause of science has sustained in his lamented death. 



