2 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 



day of January in each year, tlie Board met on January 27, 1892, at 10 

 o'l'lock A. M. The journal of its proceedings will be found as usual in 

 its annual report to Congress, but for convenience reference is also here 

 made later to a portion of its action. 



A special meeting of the Board of Kegents was held on October 21, 

 1891, at which a gift of $200,000 from Mr. Thomas Gr. Hodgkins, of Se- 

 tauket, Long- Island, was formally accepted; and another was held on 

 March 29, 1892, to take action regarding certain Congressional appro- 

 priations. 



The following changes in the personnel of the Board of Kegeuts are 

 to be noted: The appointment of the Hon. W. C. P. Breckinridge, of 

 the House of Representatives, by the Speaker of tha House {pro tem- 

 pore), January 15, 1892, to succeed the Hon. Benjamin ButterAvorth, 

 whose term expired December 23, 1891 ; the appointment, by joint reso- 

 lution of Congress, approved January 26, 1892, of President Williara 

 Preston Johnston, of Tulane University, Louisiana, to succeed Dr. 

 ISToah Porter, Avho resigned December 31,1889; and the appointment, 

 by the same resolution, of the Hon. John B. Henderson, of the District 

 of Columbia, to succeed Gen. M. 0. Meigs, who died January 2, 1892. 



The following have been re-appointed to fill vacancies caused by the 

 expiration of their own terms : The Hon. Justin S. Morrill, of the United 

 States Senate, l)y the Vice-President of the United States, December 

 15, 1891, the Hon. Joseph Wheeler, and the Hon. Henry Cabot Lodge, 

 of the House of Representatives, by the Speaker {2)ro tempore) of the 

 House, January 15, 1892, and Dr. H-enry Coppee, by joint resolution 

 of Congress approved January 20, 1892. 



The Board has suffered the loss by death of Gen. Montgomery C. 

 Meigs on Januiiry 2, 1892. Dr. ISToah Porter, an ex-member of the 

 Board, died on March 4, 1892. lleference is made to them elsewhere in 

 the necrologic notices. 



ADMINISTRATION. 



I beg to repeat the recommendation contained in my report of last 

 year, that Congress be requested to make some provision for meeting 

 the actual expenses of the administration of the affairs of the General 

 Government confided to the Institution. There is no such provision 

 now for the considerable and increasing clerical expenses, which belong 

 not to any single Government bureau under its care, but to the charge 

 of their common administration, and these expenses all fall ultimately 

 upon the Institution. 



Another difficulty arising out of the great extension of the interests 

 under the care of the Regents, which makes the duties of the Secretary 

 and the Assistant Se(iretary altogether different from what they were 

 in its early history, has been calling for relief for some time, and has 

 finally been met by appropriate action of the Board; for, apart from the 

 need of a Congressional appropriation which shall i^rovide for the 



