28 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1923 



With the funds at present available it has not been possible, especi- 

 ally since the Natural History Building has been opened on Sundays, 

 to grant the watchmen time off in lieu of Sundays and holidays. This 

 is done in some of the Government departments and every effort is 

 being made to secure the additional funds needed to make the watch 

 service in the Museum as attractive as elsewhere. 



The Museum has, however, been fortunate in being able to keep 

 together most of its trained workers on the scientific staff. In a 

 number of instances this has been possible only because of the devo- 

 tion of the persons and their willingness to accept employment in 

 what should be* their leisure hours, in order to meet their current 

 expenses. This spirit of loyalty and devotion to the Museum is 

 appreciated. 



A better era is anticipated. Nothing in the past has had a more 

 vital relation to the work of-the Museum than the enactment bj 7 Con- 

 gress, on March 4, 1923, of the classification act of 1923, for a more 

 adequate pay schedule for the civilian employees of the Government, 

 with provisions for equal pay for equal services regardless of the 

 department in which the service is rendered. This reclassification 

 becomes effective on July 1, 1924, before which date much preliminary 

 work has to be completed. The writer was appointed liaison officer 

 for the Government bureaus under the institution. Tentative alloca- 

 tions of all the positions under the institution were made during the 

 latter part of the year and submitted to the personnel classification 

 board created to care for the matter. 



The year just closed was the second under the operation of the 

 Budget system of estimates and appropriations, and necessarily in- 

 volved changes in many methods of planning and keeping accounts. 

 Operating as it has had to do on practically the same appropriations 

 for the past 10 or 15 years, the Museum has difficulty in making ends 

 meet, and it is only by rigid economy and by the omission of many 

 things that should be done that the year ends without a deficit. 



The function of the National Museum as the depository of the col- 

 lections belonging to the United States is being recognized more and 

 more, resulting, near the close of the fiscal year, in the transfer to 

 the Museum by the Treasury Department of the entire collection of 

 numismatic materials which the Government, up to a few years ago, 

 exhibited at the United States Mint in Philadelphia. Congress also 

 reaffirmed this function of the Museum in accepting the sword of 

 Maj. Gen. Eichard Montgomery of the Continental Army, given to 

 the Nation by Miss Julia Barton Hunt, by directing that it be 

 deposited in the National Museum. 



At the annual meeting of the American Association of Museums 

 in Charleston in April, 1923, the financial prospects were such that 



