M JOtlKNAL OF PROCEEDlNa^. 



searches/' aud he wished it understood — not as a matter of criticism, but 

 iu explanatiou — that the Executive Committee made no exaiuinatiou 

 or inspection of tlie accounts of the Bureau of Ethnology. These were 

 exclusively under the control — according to the acts of Congress mak- 

 ing the appropriations — " of the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institu- 

 tion." In this respect a diftercnce existed between the «luty of the com- 

 mittee in regard to these accounts and those of the Museum or of other 

 trusts committed to the Institution, of which careful examination was 

 made of every voucher. 



The Secretary stated that he would be very wiliiug to be relieved of 

 this weigiity responsibility and would be gratified if it could be assumed 

 by the Regents. He had no desire to assume a personal responsibility 

 in regard to the appropriation referred to, and he hoped that in the 

 future it might be found possible to make the approi)riations to the 

 " /Smithsonian Institution'''' instead of to the " Secretary.'''' 



Dr. Welling remarked that the Executive Committee does not care to 

 share this responsibility. 



Dr. Coppee said he thought it the (Z«<^^ of the Regents to share in 

 this ; and that if the language of the act was doubtful, and if in relation 

 to one trust it was the duty of the Secretary to confer with the Execu- 

 tive Committee, he thought that in others, although the Regents or the 

 Institution were not specially mentioned, he ought to come under the 

 same arrangement. 



General Meigs said that Congress made the distinction referred to by 

 Dr. Welling, aud it was not for the Board to advise or dictate to Con- 

 gress. 



[This view was assented to by various members of the Board.] 



The Secretary having stated that the accounts of the Museum were 

 settled by the Interior Department, and that the estimates for preserva- 

 tion, etc., of the collections were sent by him through the Secretary of 

 the Interior to the Secretary of the Treasury, the Chancellor remarked 

 that he thought that all the accounts of the Institution in regard to 

 any operations committed to it, should be settled directly with the 

 Treasury Department, and not through an intermediate department. 



The Secretary said that the Chancellor had anticipated what he was 

 about to say. As the Executive Committee had observed, the relations 

 of the Museum with the Department of the Interior on the one hand 

 and with the Regents on the other, are undoubtedly ambiguous, since 

 the late Secretary of the Interior himself wrote to say that he did not 

 understand them. At present the Secretary of the Institution transmits 

 the estimates for the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Treas- 

 ury, but does not transmit those of the Museum, which are sent through 

 the Secretary of the Interior. It would seem desirable that some ar- 

 rangement should be made by which in the future all the estimates 

 should be submitted to the Secretary of the Treasury, aud all api>ro- 

 priatious for the Museum, as well as for the Bureau of Ethnology, made 



