78 REPORTS OF COMMITTEES. 



HErORT OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE. 



The Executive Committee submit the following report of the state 

 of the finances of the Smithsonian Institution, the expenditures during 

 the year 1856, and an estimate of receipts and appropriations for 1857. 



The whole sum appropriated for the current expenses of the Insti- 

 tution for the year 1856, including the remaining payment on the 

 building, was thirty-nine thousand dollars. The actual expenditures 

 for the several items do not materially differ from those specified in 

 the estimate submitted by the committee and adopted by the Board. 

 The whole sum expended was $38,158 90, which is less than the 

 amount appropriated by $841 10. 



A committee was appointed February 24, 1855, consisting of Messrs. 

 English, Pearce, and Mason, to consider the best means of investing the 

 extra fund, Mr. Corcoran having signified his intention to relinquish 

 the charge of the money deposited with him. After due consulta- 

 tion, the committee concluded to recommend the purchase of State 

 stocks. This being agreed to by the Board, at a subsequent meeting 

 the Secretary was instructed to make the purchase under the direction 

 of the Finance Committee. An account of the transaction under this 

 resolution is given in the report of the Hon. Mr. English of that com- 

 mittee. 



It will be recollected that the extra fund amounted to one hundred 

 and twenty-five thousand dollars, and from the report of Mr. Eng- 

 lish it will be seen that of this sum one hundred and nineteen thou- 

 sand four hundred dollars have been expended in the purchase of 

 State stocks ; that six hundred dollars remain in the hands of 

 Messrs. Riggs & Co. ; and that five thousand dollars of that fund, 

 applied in 1855 to the payments on the building, is now in the treas- 

 ury. There is, therefore, five thousand six hundred dollars of the 

 extra fund uninvested. It is, however, not advisable to invest this 

 immediately, because the half-yearly income of the Institution is not 

 receivable until the first of July, and it is necessary to retain a suffi- 

 cient sum in tiie treasury to meet the payments for paper, i)rinting, 

 &c., for the next volume of Contributions, which cannot be post- 

 j)oned. 



The folloAving is a general statement of the fund : 



The whoje amount of the Smithsonian bequest dej)osited 

 in the treasury oi the United States (from which an 

 annual income, at 6 per cent., of $30,910 14 is de- 

 rived) is $515,169 00 



Extra fund Irom unexpended income, now 

 invested in State stocks, yielding an an- 

 nual interest of $7,380 $119,400 00 



Extra lund de})()sited with liiggs & Co., 



to be invested 600 00 



