TWENTY-NINTH CONGRESS, 1845-47. 431 



next after the passage of this act, and they shall then fix on the times for 

 regular meetings of the board ; and on application of any three of the man- 

 agers to the superintendent of the said institution, it shall be his duty to 

 appoint a special meeting of the board, of which he shall give notice by 

 letter to each of the members ; and at any meeting of the board of man- 

 agers, five shall constitute a quorum to do business. And each member of 

 the board of managers shall be paid his necessary traveling and other actual 

 expenses in attending meetings of the board, which shall be audited and 

 recorded by the superintendent of the institution ; but his service as mana- 

 ger shall be gratuitous. And whenever money is required for the payment 

 of the debts or performance of the contracts of the institution, incurred or 

 entered into in conformity with the provisions of this act, or for making 

 the purchases and executing the objects authorized by this act, the superin- 

 tendent or the managers, or any three thereof, may certify to the president 

 of the board that such sum of money is required ; whereupon, he shall sub- 

 mit the same to a committee of three of the managers, appointed for that 

 purpose, for examination and approval ; and upon such examination and 

 approval, he shall certify the same to the proper officer of the Treasury for 

 payment. And the said board shall make all needful rules, regulations, and 

 by-laws, for the government of the institution and the persons employed 

 therein, and shall submit to Congress, at each session thereof, a report of 

 the operations, expenditures, and condition of the institution. 



A7id be it further enacted, That, so soon as the board of managers shall 

 be regularly and legally organized, it shall be their duty to cause to be pub- 

 lished, for the space of one year, in such of the most widely circulated 

 newspapers in the United States and in Europe, as they may deem best, the 

 offer of suitable rewards or prizes for the best written essay on ten subjects, 

 the most practical and useful which the majority of said board shall deter- 

 mine upon. And when, after a decision upon the relative merits of the 

 different essays, they determine to which the prize shall be awarded on the 

 several subjects, it shall be their duty to have as many copies of each of the 

 essays printed as they may deem best, to be distributed to the Governors of 

 the several States ; to the several incorporated literary universities ; to such 

 European institutions as they may choose ; and the balance to be distributed 

 throughout the United States, by the members of Congress, thus fulfilling, 

 in the letter and spirit, the wise and comprehensive intentions of the donor 

 for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men. 



Mr. Owen desired to say a few words in reply to the gen- 

 tleman from Vermont, [Mr. Marsh,] and the gentleman 

 from Louisiana, [Mr. Morse.] The gentleman from Lou- 

 isiana had already given the most important item in reply 

 to the gentleman from Vermont — namely, that we had no 

 right to run counter to what might clearly seem to be the 

 intention of Mr. Smithson. This fund was not ours ; it 

 was intrusted to us for a special purpose ; and unless we 

 could believe that he would desire, if living, the establish- 

 ment of a library, the money ought not to be so appropri- 

 ated. 



This bill had been framed in a spirit of compromise. The 

 original Senate bill of the last session appropriated ^5,000 

 for this object. The gentleman from Vermont, Mr. Owen 

 believed, proposed twenty thousand. The bill proposed 

 a medium — a sum not exceeding ten thousand dollars. He 

 hoped the House would not go further, A gentleman who 



