444 JOURNAL OF EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE. 



Again: "Six per cent, interest ' on the lent fund,'" ($515,169,) payable half-yearly, 

 &c, is appropriated for the perpetual maintenance and support of the Institution, 

 and not a word is said about interest on any other fund. The rule, then, of inter- 

 preting laws " expresio unius, exclusio est alterius " applies. It would, therefore, 

 seem to follow, that Congress did not intend to pay interest upon interest. Can the 

 Secretary of the Treasury, then, do that by indirection, which the law did not con- 

 template should be done ? Can he issue stocks, bearing interest, for a sum on which 

 Congress did not intend that interest should be paid ? It would seem to me not. 



Such are the views which I, at present, take of the subject. I would have been 

 glad if Congress had allowed us to make interest on interest which had accrued, but 

 not having done so, (as I read the law,) I would be unwilling to attempt it without 

 further authority from them. It is possible that, at the next session, the act might 

 be amended in this particular, as well as in others, if it should be thought necessary 

 to make the application. 



I regret that there is a diversity of opinion upon this subject between the Execu- 

 tive Committee and myself, but they will hear the views of other gentlemen, and 

 will act according to the lights before them. 



I am, most respectfully, your obedient servant, 



I. S. PENNYBACKEE. 



W. "W. Seaton, Esq., 



Chairman Executive Committee, Smithsonian Institution. 



Washington, September 16, 1846. 

 Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 12th inst., 

 in which you state the views of the Executive Committee of the Smithsonian Insti- 

 tution, as to the best plan for employing the accumulated interest, declared by the 

 late act of Congress to be due. 



It is proposed to invest it in United States stocks, with the view of obtaining six 

 per cent, on the amounts until the money is required for actual use. The statement 

 of the plan and its advantages, which you have given me, is so satisfactory, that I 

 hasten to express my concurrence in your views. 



Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 



HENEY W. HILLIAED. 

 W. W. Seaton, Esq., 



Chairman of Executive Committee, Smithsonian Institution. 



Andover, Mass., September 18, 1846. 

 To W. W. Seaton, Esq., Hon. Eobert Dale Owen, Col. Joseph G. Totten, 

 Executive Committee of the Regents of the Smithsonian Institution. 

 Gentlemen: Yours of the 12th instant, was received yesterday. The question 

 which you ask being one referring to the construction of a law, I feel quite incompe- 

 tent to give an opinion which should carry any weight in it. It seems to me, now, 

 though I should defer to legal authority in the matter, that the appropriation named 

 in the act of Congress establishing the Smithsonian Institution can only be drawn 

 from the Treasury as it is wanted for building purposes, and, like other appropria- 

 tions, cannot be drawn out for investment; and, like the accumulations of interest 

 on the original fund, is not subject to the process of compound interest. Should the 

 Attorney General of the United States, or the Secretary of the Treasury, be of opin- 

 ion that the Eegents have the power to draw this money and to invest it in Govern- 

 ment securities, I wish to be understood as co-operating in the measures which the 

 Executive Committee may take in accordance with that advice. 

 Very respectfully yours, 



A. D. BACHE. 



It appearing from the above letters, that a difference of opinion 

 existed among the Regents, as to the power of making the invest- 

 ment in question. 



On motion of Mr. Totten, it was — 



Resolved, That it is inexpedient for the committee to act on the subject of the in- 

 Testment of interest belonging to the Institution. 



