486 CONGRESSIONAL PROCEEDINGS. 



appointed by the popular branch of the Government ought 

 to carry conviction to the mind of this House of the neces- 

 sity of its creation. 



He was no prophet, but when the bill was before the 

 House for the establishment of the Smithsonian Institution, 

 he had predicted what had already become a matter of fact 

 — that this institution would be an incubus upon the Treas- 

 ury, that it would be a perpetual source of expenditure. 

 The clause in Mr. Smithson's will " for the increase and 

 diifusion of knowledge among men" read well, it was true. 

 And the gentleman from Alabama undertook also to prove 

 how great financiers the Board of Regents were, and said, 

 after all the improvements are done, they would have over 

 $100,000 left. And how was this done? Why, they had 

 taken $242,000, supposed to be the interest which had accu- 

 mulated on this fund, and put that upon interest — having 

 bought Treasury notes, he supposed, on which they were 

 drawing interest; and by this means they had saved an im- 

 mense sum. Did not every member know, who had paid 

 attention to the discussion of this subject when the bill 

 passed placing $500,000 at the discretion of the Board of 

 Kegents, that not a dollar of it was there ? They first placed 

 a certain amount in the Treasury that did not exist there, 

 and then calculated interest on this fictitious amount, and 

 then interest on the interest; which is the way in which 

 they are to carry on their extensive works. 



Mr. HiLLiARD. Is the gentleman charging that upon the 

 Board or this House ? 



Mr. Johnson. Charging what ? 



Mr. HiLLiARD. Why, that a fictitious amount was placed 

 in the Treasury. 



Mr. Johnson. I was going on to prove the position that 

 this institution would be an incubus upon the Treasury. 



Mr. HiLLiARD. But does the gentleman charge the put- 

 ting this fictitious sum in the Treasury, &c., on the Board 

 or on Congress. I wish him to answer on that point. 



Mr. Johnson. On Congress. The bill of last session 

 placed $500,000 in the Treasury which was not there in 

 reality. It is true the Government received it ; but they 

 acted as a faithful trustee, and loaned it out, and not a cent 

 has ever been returned. In this state of the case, Mr. John- 

 son denied that the Government was justly bound to refund 

 the money, and that very few of their constituencies would 

 sanction it. It would have been much better if she had 

 never consented to act as trustee of it; for, notwithstand- 

 ing their flourishing with " Regents," &c., and talking of 



I 



