REPORTS OF THE BUILDING COMMITTEE. 691 



After which, the board passed the following resolutions : 



" Resolved, That the Executive Committee certify to the Chancellor and Secretary 

 of the board the total amount of debts incurred, contracts entered into, and contracts 

 authorized by the board ; and that the Chancellor and Secretary, after examination 

 and approval of the same, certify the same to the proper officer of the treasury for 

 payment." 



This, you will recollect, was done, and $250,000 of treasury notes obtained. 

 And they also passed, the same day, the following additional resolution : 



" Resolved, That the Executive Committee be authorized to receive said payment 

 in Treasury notes, payable to the order of the Chancellor of the Smithsonian Insti- 

 tution in one year from date, bearing an interest of six per cent, per annum ; and 

 that they be further authorized to exchange $150,000 of said notes as soon as practi- 

 cable for an equal amount of six per cent, stock of the United States, payable in 

 twenty years, which stock shall be payable to the Chancellor of the Institution ; 

 which said notes and stock shall be deposited for safekeeping only with the Treasurer 

 of the United States, or such other person as they may deem proper, to be drawn out 

 only upon checks or warrants signed by the Chancellor, the Secretary, and the chair- 

 man of the Executive Committee." 



Now the amount of $7,500, which we now want, and for which you have already 

 signed a requisition, (not the proper form ; it should have been " a check or warrant 

 signed by the Chancellor, the Secretary, and the chairman of the Executive Com- 

 mittee,") we desire to draw in the shape of interest, namely : the half-yearly interest 

 due in August last on the above Treasury notes, which treasury notes are the result of 

 a requisition already duly made in accordance with the first of the above resolutions 

 for $250,000, and now, as it were, in the hands of a disbursing agent. 



It is clearly expedient and proper to draw the interest first, and not to touch the 

 notes themselves till we are compelled to do so ; and to obtain this interest a power 

 of attorney from you, it seems, is necessary. 



The Chancellor, Secretary, and chairman of the Executive Committee, have the 

 full authority to draw not only the interest, but, in proportion as they may be required, 

 the treasury notes themselves also, without any ulterior appropriation, or other action 

 whatever, of the board. 



To make our payments to the contractors, we shall have to draw a portion of the 

 notes themselves, and sell them before New Year's day, the date when our semi- 

 annual interest on the principal sum of $515,169 becomes due. 



You may remember that the understanding was, that of the entire sum at which 

 the building might be contracted, not more than one fifth was to be spent by the 

 building committee in each of the five years during which the building will be in 

 progress of construction. Now you will see by the items of expenditure since the 

 1st of March last, which Mr. Seaton informs me he has sent you, that we have in 

 the present year, so far, paid to the contractor but $14,088. I learn that the probable 

 amount we shall have to pay to him up to the 1st January next, may be about 

 $10,000 ; and up to the 19th March next, (being one year from the date of the 

 contract.) perhaps $5,000 more; making the total payments in the first year but 

 $29,000, instead of $41,000, (one-fourth the amount at which the building was con- 

 tracted,) being the amount we were authorized to expend. 



We have thus, you will perceive, husbanded our resources so as to save interest 

 much beyond the anticipations of the board. 



The building proceeds as well as could be desired ; and its appearance, so far as I 

 can learn, gives universal satisfaction. 



I am, my dear sir, faithfully yours, 



EOBERT DALE OWEN. 



The Hon. George M. Dallas, Chancellor. 



The chairman, in connection with the subject of the treatise on Public Architecture, 

 of which the preparation by resolution of the 6th March last (see page 22) was 

 intrusted to him, stated to the committee that he had commenced the collection of 

 materials for said work, but had been able to make but little progress in it while at 

 home, for lack of the necessary works of* reference ; that it was his intention now to 

 devote his time to it, without interruption, in the hope that he might be able to 

 complete the letter press before the meeting of the board in December, and that some 

 of the chief illustrations were already in hands in New York. 



And, on motion, the committee adjourned. 



