6 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 



growtli of the couutry, and aided by private benefaction, now snrpass 

 ours from ten to twenty fold. 



We can never regret the generous spirit which has dictated the direc- 

 tion of the expenditure of the Smithsonian income in the past, but it is 

 true that if a less absolutely unselfish policy had bten followed — if, for 

 instance, though keeping np all proper expenditures for the increase 

 and diffusion of knowledge, those funds whose expenditure has practi- 

 cally inured chiefly to the benefit of the General Government had been 

 allowed to accumulate — the Institution would have been comparatively 

 wealthy to-day. 



I will instance, in explanation of my meaning, the remark of Profes- 

 sor Henry in 1872, to the effect that the Government, in equity, should 

 then have paid the Institution $300,000 for the use of the present build- 

 ing. This building, erected wholly out of Smithsonian funds at the cost 

 of over lialf a million dollars, has, with the exception of a small por- 

 tion, been ever since that time used rent-free by the Government; and 

 if the observation had force then, it has double force to-day. 



Again, the Institution has left in i)erpetual charge of the nation, in 

 the Museum alone, property acquired out of its private fund (and to 

 wliich it has apparently the same title), whicli is probably now more 

 than equal in value to the whole amount of the Smithsonian bequest. 



While it is gratefully recognized that Congress has never dealt in any 

 ungenerous spirit with the Institution, I can not think it superfluous to 

 keep such facts as those just cited in mind at a time when it becomes 

 necessary to review the whole scheme of expenditure, in view of an 

 income practically diminishing, and which would, if not for these facts, 

 be more than double its actual amount. 



The will of James Smithson, of England, " to found at Washington, 

 under the name of the Smithsonian Institution, an establishment for 

 the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men," was made Octo- 

 ber 23, 1826. 



•The existence of the bequest was communicated to Congress by a 

 message from the President of the United States December 17, 1835, 

 and by an act of Congress approved July 1, 183G, the bequest was ac- 

 cepted, and the President was authorized and enabled to assert and 

 prosecute with effect the claim of the United States to the property 

 thereby bequeathed and then held in trust by the English court of 

 chancery. 



Under this authority the sum of $508,318.40 was received in gold by 

 the United States and placed in the Treasury. 



The " Smithsonian Institution" provided for in the will of Smithson 

 was not established, however, by Congress until August 10, 1840, when 

 a definite plan of organization was adopted and operations commenced. 



By act of Congress February 8, 1807, the Secretary of the Treasury 

 was authorized to receive a residuary legacy of Smithson, which had 

 been received by the Institution in 1863, aufountiug to $26,210.03, on 



