258 CONGRESSIONAL PROCEEDINGS. 



[H. R. No. 386.] 



A BILL to provide for the disposal and mana<>;ement of the fund be- 

 queathed by James Smithson to the United States, for the establishment 

 of an institution for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men. 



Sec. 1. Be it enacted hy the Senate and House of Representatives of the 

 United States of America in Congress assembled, That the President of the 

 Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives of the United 

 States, the Chief Justice of the United States, the Secretaries of State, 

 Treasury, "War, and Navy, the Postmaster and Attorney Generals, the 

 Chief Justice of the Circuit Court of the United States for the District of 

 Columbia, and the Mayor of the city of Washington, shall be, and hereby 

 are, constituted a body politic and corporate, by the style and title of the 

 trustees of the Smithsonian Institution for the increase and dift'usion of 

 knowledge among men, with perpetual succession, and the usual powers, 

 duties, and liabilities, incident to corporations. 



Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That the corporation so constituted 

 shall have power to appoint, from citizens of the United States other than 

 members of the board, a secretary and a treasurer, to hold their offices 

 during the pleasure of the board, and removable at their pleasure, and 

 others to be appointed in their places, and to fix from time to time their 

 compensations. And the secretary and treasurer only shall receive pecu- 

 niary compensation for their services, and those of the members of the 

 board of trustees shall bo gratuitous. And the offices of secretary and 

 treasurer may, at the discretion of the board of trustees, be held by the 

 same person. The secretary and treasurer shall be sworn to the faithful 

 discharge of the duties of their respective offices ; and the treasurer shall 

 give bond, with the penalty of fifty thousand dollars, with suretifs to the 

 satisfaction of the Secretary of the Treasury, for the safe custody and faith- 

 ful application of all the funds of the Institution which may come to his 

 hands or be at his disposal. 



Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That the sum of five hundred and 

 eight thousand three hundred and eighteen dollars and forty-six cents, 

 placed in the Treasury of the United States on the first day of September, 

 eighteen hundred and thirty-eight, as the proceeds, in part, of the bequest 

 of James Smithson to the United States, together with all sums which have 

 been or may hereafter be realized from the said bequest, shall be passed 

 hereafter to the credit of a fund, to be denominated the Smithsonian fund, 

 in the Treasury of the United States. And the faith of the United States 

 is hereby pledged for the preservation of the said fund undiminished and 

 unimpaired, to bear interest at the rate of six per cent, a year, payable 

 half-yearly, on the first days of January and July, to the treasurer of the 

 board of trustees of the Smithsonian fund, to be applied to the purposes 

 of the fund, conformably to the laws, and subject to the revision and regu- 

 lations of the board of trustees. 



Sec. 4. And be it further enacted. That no part of the said Smithsonian 

 fund, principal or interest, shall be applied to any school, college, univer- 

 sity, other institute of education, or ecclesiastical establishment. 



Sec. 5. And be it further enacted. That the appropriations to be made 

 from time to time by Congress, to the purposes of the Smithsonian Institu- 

 tion, as declared by the testator, shall be exclusively from the accruing 

 interest, and not from the principal, of the said fund; but Congress shall 

 retain the power of investing, at their discretion, the principal of said fund 

 and its increase in any other manner, so as to secure not less than a yearly 

 interest of six per cent., and may appropriate, from any other unappropri- 

 ated moneys in the Treasury, sums to an amount not exceeding six years of 

 the accruing interest on the Smithsonian fund, to be repaid from the 

 said accruing interest into the Treasury, 



Sec. 6. And be it further enacted, That the sum of thirty thousand dol- 

 lars, part of the accruing interest on the same Smithsonian fund, be, and 



