484 REPORTS OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE. 



fund. In conclusion, the committee would beg leave to submit to tbe Board that the 

 amount and variety of disbursements which the Executive Committee have to make, 

 and the proper keeping and recording the accounts and appropriations of the Institu- 

 tion, require the services of a skillful accountant and book-keeper for the performance 

 of this duty, as well as the examination of accounts for payment, the preparation of 

 estimates on which to base requisitions, the preparation of statements of expenditures 

 for the examination and approval of the proper officers, as required by law, prelimi- 

 nary to their presentation to the Treasury Department for settlement, and such other 

 duties of accountant, book-keeper, and clerk, as the Board of Kegents, the Executive 

 and Building Committees, and the Secretary may have occasion to require of him. 



The committee, therefore, recommend the appointment of such an officer, at an 

 annual salary not exceeding four hundred dollars. 



All of which is respectfully submitted. 



W. W. SEATON. 

 J. A. PEAECE. 

 A. D. BACHE. 



Washington, January 1, 1849. 



Report of the Executive Committee for the year 1849. 



The Executive Committee submit to the Board the following report of the expend- 

 itures, state of finance, &c, of the Smithsonian Institution : 



The whole amount of the Smithsonian bequest received into the United States 

 Treasury was $515,169. The interest which had accrued on the same up to July 1st, 

 184G, was $242,129, making in all $757,298. 



The Kegents were authorized to expend on the building the $242,129 which had. 

 accrued in interest, together with such portions of interest on the original bequest as 

 might remain unexpended in any year. They concluded, however, to limit the whole 

 expenditure on the building and the grounds to a sum not exceeding $250,000 ; and, 

 in order that this might not exhaust the accrued interest, it was resolved that this ex- 

 penditure should not be made at once, but in the course of five years, and that in the 

 meantime the sum of $242,000, authorized to be expended on the building, should be 

 invested so as to yield an interest which might, in part, serve to defray the expense 

 of the building. To carry out this plan, the $242,000, with the addition of accrued 

 interest sufficient to make up the sum of $250,000, were invested in Treasury notes; 

 and, in order that the Institution might not be a loser by a possible depreciation of 

 these notes, the contracts for the building were made payable in them at par value or 

 in specie, at the option of the Kegents. Up to this time, only $50,000 of these notes 

 have been disposed of. They have thus been made to yield a constant interest, be- 

 sides increasing in value on account of the rise in Government securities. The whole 

 expenditure since the commencement of operations to the present time, is $199,157.21 ; 

 the whole of which has been made from the accruing interest on the fund and the 

 sale of $50,000 of notes above-mentioned. 



The following is a synopsis of the present state of the finances of the Institution : 



Amount of Smithson's bequest $515,169 00 



Interest due thereon to July 1, 1846 242,129 00 



$757,298 00 



Balance on hand January 1, 1850 $8,277 35 



Treasury notes funded 200,000 00 



Permanent fund 515,169 00 



Present rate of United States loan, 112 per cent.; therefore add 24,000 00 



747,446 35 

 From this should be deducted, for accounts not rendered 6,000 00 



$741,446 35 



The whole amount paid on the building and grounds up to this time is $134,876.21. 



From this it appears that, after paying for more than one-half of the building, 



carrying on the operations of the Institution, collecting a library and philosophical 



