4 REPORT OF THE SECRP:TARY. 



Institution iuul its scA-oral dependencies for the fiscal year endino- June 



3U, vjm. 



The Board adopted the annual report of the executive committee to 

 the same date, showing- in detail the financial condition of the Institu- 

 tion. 



Senator Henderson, chairman of the permanent committee, made 

 statements in regard to the proposed l)e(iu(^sts of Addison T. Reid and 

 Joseph White Sprague; also concerning the will of Wallace C. Andrews, 

 and the present status of the Hodgkins and Avery funds. He further 

 reported u])on the expenditures incurred l)y the Secretary since the 

 last annual meeting, in continuing his experiments in mechanical 

 fiight under the authority of the Board. 



The Secretary made a statement concerning the publications in 

 l)reparation by the Institution and also with regard to aerodromic 

 experiments carried on bv him. 



He reported that Congress, under a clause of the sundry civil act, 

 approved March 8, 1903, had authorized the erection of a new build- 

 ing for the National Museum at a cost not to exceed $3,500,000. 



He spoke of the work of the Bureau of American Ethnology and of 

 his eti'orts to place the Bureau upon a sound administrative footing. 

 He recalled previous eti'orts to secure a law for the protection of 

 anti(|uities on th*^ puVdic domain, and urged present action. The 

 Board thereupon adopted a resolution to that etiect. 



The Secretary reported upon the work of the International 

 P^xchanges, the National Zoological Park, and the Astrophysical 

 Observatory. 



The report of the special committee to consider the question of 

 defining the duties of the executive committee was sul)mitted by the 

 Chancellor, l)ut action thereupon was deferred until the meeting of 

 March 7. 



At the evening session of this meeting Dr. A. Graham Bell sub- 

 mitted in full his report upon the removal of James Smithson's 

 remains from (Jenoa to Washington, which is on tile with the records 

 of the Board and a lengthy a])stract of which will be found on pag-e 7. 



After remarks, the Board adopted the following resolutions: 



" Besolved, That the Board of Reg-ents desire to record in the min- 

 utes of the Institution their profound appreciation of the voluntary 

 service of Dr. Alexander Graham Bell in personally going to Genoa 

 and returning with the remains of James Smithson that they might 

 find a resting place in the grounds of the Institution he so nobly 

 founded 'for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men.' 



" Resolved, That the ChanciMlor and the Secretary, with the members 

 of the executive committee, be appointed a conunittee upon the (pies- 

 tion of the final disposition of the remains of Jairies Smithson and of 

 the monument to be erected to him, with power to act in the entire 

 matter." 



