REPORTS OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE. 485 



apparatus, the sum originally intrusted to the Regents has only heen diminished by 

 less than $16,000. The object of this scheme of finance is to increase the original 

 fund, which, though sufficient to establish a library and a museum, is found inade- 

 quate to meet the demands which result from the comprehensive plan of organiza- 

 tion which has been adopted. The result has, thus far, been so successful, that there 

 can now be no doubt that, if the same plan be continued until the end of the five 

 years and the funds do not greatly depreciate, there will remain the sum of $150,000 

 in accrued interest to add to the principal. To secure this desirable end without the 

 possibility of failure, it may be now advisable to petition Congress to receive from 

 the Regents the sum of $150,000, and place it with the original principal sum, never 

 to be expended, and to complete the building out of the remaining funded notes and 

 the accruing interest. 



W. W. SEATON. 



ALEXANDER D. BACHE. 



JAS. ALFRED PEARCE. 



Report of the Executive Committee for the year 1850. 



The Executive Committee submitted to the Board the following report of the ex- 

 penditures, state of finances, &c, of the Smithsonian Institution ifp to the end of 

 the year 1850 : 



The whole amount of the Smithsonian bequest received into the Treas- 

 ury of the United States, was $515,169 00 



The annual interest on the same at six per cent., is $30,910 04 



The interest which had accrued up to July, 1846, when the 



trust was placed under the care of the Regents, was 242,129 00 



Total .' $757,298 00 



The Regents 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. It was, however, thought that the income 

 of the original bequest would be small in proportion to the demand made upon it, in 

 carrying out the several parts of the extended plan of organization, and in defraying 

 the necessary expenses of a large building. The Regents, therefore, determined to 

 increase the permanent fund by saving from the accrued and accruing interest the 

 sum of $150,000, and for this purpose they resolved to limit the expenditure on the 

 building and grounds to the sum of $250,000. In order to save a part of the accrued 

 interest it was further resolved that the building should not be completed at once, but 

 in the course of a number of years, and that the sum intended for its erection should 

 be put at interest, so that the income from this source might, in part, defray the ex- 

 pense of the edifice. 



To carry out this plan, the $242,000 of accrued interest with an addition of inter- 

 est sufficient to make up $250,000, were drawn from the Treasury and invested in 

 United States securities, and in order that the Institution might not suffer loss by 

 any depreciation of these securities, the contracts of the building were made payable 

 in Treasury notes at par value, or in specie, at the option of the Regents. 



This temporary investment has proved entirely successful. It has yielded a con- 

 stant interest, and also a premium in almost every case of sale, on account of the 

 rise in the value of Government securities. 



Of the original sum thus put at interest, there remains, at present, $180,000 which, 

 at sixteen per cent., the present premium of Government securities is worth $208,- 

 800. From this it appears, that after all the expenditure on the building and ground?, 

 on researches, publications and lectures, on the library, museum, and gallery of art, 

 not only is the original bequest untouched, but there is now on hand $208,800 of un- 

 expended income. 



At the last meeting of the Board of Regents, it was resolved to fire-proof the inte- 

 rior of the centre building, at an additional expense of $44,000. The whole cost of 

 the building and grounds, in round numbers, will then be $300,000. The only way 

 in which this additional expenditure can be met, without interfering with the plan 

 of finance above described, is that of extending the time of completing the building. 

 The scheme of adding to the original bequest, will be placed beyond the possibility 

 of failure from any further demands on account of the building, if the petition 



