918 PROPOSED APPLICATIONS OF SMITHSON's BEQUEST. 



thing cannot be done on this liberal scale, it should not be 

 attempted at all. " The travelling and other actual ex- 

 penses " of the superior officers of" the institution, will ad- 

 mit of no certain estimate. If there were a will, there 

 would be a way, to make this item absorb half the income^ 

 It can hardly stop short of some thousands. There must 

 be four subordinate officers at least, who would be entitled 

 to receive from two to three thousand dollars : say $10,000. 

 Add to these the expenses attending foreign and domestic 

 agencies, correspondence, transportation, wages of a numer- 

 ous troupe of servants, light and fuel for the whole suite of 

 establishments, occupyingan edifice costing at least $300,000; 

 and occasional printing of reports, lectures, &c. Last of all^ 

 the 9th section provides, " that of any other moneys which 

 have accrued, or shall hereafter accrue, as interest upon the 

 said Smithsonian fund, not herein appropriated, or not required 

 for the -purposes herein provided, the said managers are hereby 

 authorized to make such disposal as they shall deem best 

 suited /o?' the promotion of the purpose of the testator.'^ 



Here is a scheme of appropriation which would exhaust 

 the income if it were three hundred thousand instead of" 

 thirty, without approaching the object of the bequest. Of- 

 ficers and employees are to be first paid. If there iihould 

 be a surplus, a gallery of art, museum and library may be 

 created. The residue, if there should be any, may be ap- 

 plied to eke out the building fund. And finally, if by some 

 financial miracle, any thing should remain of that which has 

 been thrice consumed, that miraculous residuum may be 

 applied "for the promotion of the purpose of the testator." 



It would seem to be well understood that "the moneys 

 herein appropriated," and " the purposes herein provided," 

 do not promote the pur()Ose of the testator — as most cer- 

 tainly they do not. The law does not forget that the testa- 

 tor had a " purpose," and that the faith of the Government 

 is pledged to carry it into efiect, but with these facts looking 

 it in the face, it appropriates the income, to projects which 

 do not conduce to the accomplishment of the purpose ; but 

 serve only to gratify a national vanity. But what appro- 

 priation does it make to carry into efiect the object of the 

 generous Smithson ? Not the first dollar ! But with intense 

 irony it tells us, in efiect, that the said managers are author- 

 ized to apply to this object, the remainder, ivhen all has been 

 wasted ! 



No one can suppose that the enormous abuses of a sacred 

 trust, to which this law opens a wide door, were contem- 

 plated by the honorable body by whom it was enacted — 



