2 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1923 



THE BOARD OF REGENTS 



The affairs of the Institution are administered by a Board of 

 Regents whose membership consists of " the Vice President, the Chief 

 Justice, three Members of the Senate, and three Members of the 

 House of Representatives, together with six other persons other than 

 Members of Congress, two of whom shall be resident in the City 

 of Washington and the other four shall be inhabitants of some State, 

 but no two of them of the same State." One of the Regents is 

 elected chancellor by the board; in the past the selection has fallen 

 upon the Vice President or the Chief Justice ; and a suitable person 

 is chosen by them as secretary of the Institution, who is also secre- 

 tary of the Board of Regents and the executive officer directly in 

 charge of the Institution's activities. 



In regard to the personnel of the board, the following changes 

 occurred during the year: Robert Walton Moore, Member of the 

 House of Representatives from Virginia, was appointed a Regent 

 by the Speaker of the House, to succeed the late Lemuel P. Padgett. 

 Mr. Henry White was reappointed by joint resolution of Congress, 

 Mr. Irwin B. Laughlin, of Pennsylvania, was appointed to succeed 

 the late Dr. A. Graham Bell, and Mr. Frederic A. Delano, of the 

 District of Columbia, to succeed Mr. John B. Henderson, who died 

 during the year. The election of Representative Frank L. Greene 

 to the Senate on March 4, 1923, automatically terminated his term 

 as a Regent. 



The roll of Regents at the close of the fiscal year was as follows: 

 Calvin Coolidge, Vice President of the United States, Chancellor; 

 William H. Taft, Chief Justice of the United States; Henry Cabot 

 Lodge, Member of the Senate; A. Owsley Stanley, Member of the 

 Senate ; Medill McCormick, Member of the Senate ; Albert Johnson, 

 Member of the House of Representatives ; R. Walton Moore, Member 

 of the House of Representatives ; George Gray, citizen of Delaware ; 

 Charles F. Choate, jr., citizen of Massachusetts; Henry White, citi- 

 zen of Washington, D. C. ; Robert S. Brookings, citizen of Missouri ; 

 Irwin B. Laughlin, citizen of Pennsylvania ; and Frederic A. Delano, 

 citizen of the District of Columbia. 



GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS 



A systematic campaign was begun during the year to increase the 

 endowment of the Institution to more adequate proportions though 

 at the close of the year this has had no material success. It is felt 

 that there is considerable misunderstanding throughout the country 

 regarding the resources of the Smithsonian Institution, many per- 

 sons believing that it is supported, at least to some extent, by the 

 Government. As a matter of fact, though the Congress appropriates 

 funds annually for the maintenance of the various bureaus which 



