51 [ 1 ] 



No. II. 

 REPORT OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE. 



The Executive committee submitted to the Board the followino; report of 

 the expenditures, state of finances, &c., of the Smithsonian Institution 

 up to the end of the year, 18-50: 



The whole amount of the Smithsonian bequest received into 



tlie Treasury of the United States, was $ 515,169 00 



The annual interest on the same at six per 



cent., is $30,910 04 



The interest which had accrued up to July, 1846, 



when tiie trust was placed under the care of 



the Regents, was 242,129 00 



Total, S^ 757,298 00 



The Regents were authorized to expeml on the building, the $242,129, 

 which had accrued in interest, together with such portions of interest on the 

 original bequest as miglit remain unexpended in any year. It was, however 

 thought that the income of the original bequest would be small in propor- 

 tion to the demand made upon it, in carrying out the several parts of the 

 extended plan of organization, and in defraying the necessary expenses of a 

 large building. The Regents, therefore determined to increase the perma- 

 nent fund by saving from the accrued and accruing interest, the sum of 

 5S150,()00, and for this purpose they resolved to linut the expenditure on 

 the building and grounds to the sum of $250,000. In order to save a part 

 of the accrued interest, it was further resolved that the building should not 

 be completed at once, but in the course of a number of years, and that the 

 sum intended for its erection, should be put at interest, so that the income 

 from this source, might in part, defray the expense of the edifice. 



To carry out this plan, the $242,000 of accrued interest with an addition 

 of interest sufficient to make up $250,000, were drawn from the Treasury 

 and invested in United States securities, and in order that the Institution 

 miglit not suffer loss by any depreciation of these securities, the contracts 

 of the building were made payal)le in Treasury notes at par value, or in 

 !^]iecie, at the option of the Regents. 



Tins temporary investment has proved entirely successful. It has 

 yielded a constant interest, and also a premium in almost every case of sale, 

 on account of the rise in the value of government securities. 



Of the original sum thus put at interest, there remains at present, 

 $^180,000, which, at sixteen per cent., the present premium of government 

 securities is worth $208,800. From this it appears, that after all the ex- 

 penditure on the building and grounds, on researches, publications and lec- 

 tures, on the Library, Museum, and Gallery of Art, not only is the original 

 bequest untouched, but there is now on hand, $208,800," of unexpended 

 income. 



At the last meeting of the Board of Regents, it was resolved to fire-proof 



