448 CONGRESSIONAL PROCEEDINGS. 



Buch wen fastened upon the Government. As to present or 

 prospective appropriations, I say that the machinery, the 

 paraphernalia, connected with this bill, cannot be carried 

 out on a respectable scale for less (Mr. Ficklin was under- 

 stood to say) than one million of dollars a year. It is, to be 

 sure, provided that the money shall not come out of the 

 Treasury at present ; but do we not know that subsequent 

 Congresses can enlarge the appropriations ? Experience 

 should teacii us to guard against everything of this kind. 



He regarded the bill as one of the most odious and 

 abominable ever presented here. He would rather see 

 this half million returned to the British court of chancery ; 

 he would rather see ten millions sunk to the bottom of the 

 Potomac, or melted, or destroyed, than see this bill pass. 



Mr. TnuRMAN said that he had heard it stated this morn- 

 ing that the investment of the Smithsonian fund in State 

 bonds was an act unauthorized by law. Kot having time 

 to investigate the laws himself, he had privately inquired of 

 a number of members whether such was the fact, but they 

 were unable to inform him. He had thereupon made the 

 inquiry of the gentleman from Massachusetts, [Mr. Adams,] 

 whose acquaintance with the subject was so thorough. 

 The inquiry was important; for if the investment was 

 an unauthorized act, it would not do for this Government 

 to shield itself behind the misconduct of its officer, and say 

 that the money is not in the Treasury. But if, on the other 

 hand, the Government had, in good faith, invested the fund 

 60 that it might produce interest until an application of it 

 should be made, pursuant to the design of the testator, 

 then the objection of the gentleman from Massachusetts, 

 that the money is not in the Treasury, is entitled to great 

 weight. For, as a general rule, it is the duty of a trustee 

 to make the trust fund produce interest ; and the Govern- 

 ment of the United States probably did right in directing 

 this fund to be invested, and ought not, as a matter of 

 course, to be held bound to reimburse it at any moment on 

 a failure to pay by those to whom it had been loaned. 

 Whether the investments made were judicious or otherwise, 

 Mr. Thurman did not know. He had not inquired, for it 

 was not his purpose to cast censure anywhere. 



As to the merits of the bill under consideration, he 

 would do nothing more than express an opinion, without 

 going into any argument whatever. He could not vote for 

 the bill, unless it were most materially changed. He was 

 opposed to the erection of an immense institution at the 

 city of Washington, that would ultimately become a charge 



