PROCEEDINGS OF THE BOARD OF REGENTS. XV 



In regard to the civil service the Secretary .said: 



The Board will remember that at its meeting held in 1898 the Regents passed a 

 resolution instructing the Secretary to request of the President certain nioditications 

 in the civil-service regulations, and at its meeting last year the Board was informed 

 that the Chancellor, together with the Secretary, had called upon the President, 

 who stated that he was holding the matter under advisement. As a result of this 

 action, I beg to report that in the President's order of May 29, 1899, directing cer- 

 tain modifications and additions to the civil-service rules, the position of a.ssi.stant 

 secretary of the Smithsonian Institution in charge of the National Museum and one 

 private secretary or confidential clerk to the Secretary of the Institution were relieved 

 from examination; that for jwsitions on the scientific staff of the Institution non- 

 competitive examinations are iiermitted, or examinations may even be waived, pro- 

 vided the President approve of such action in each case, persons thus entering the 

 service being not eligible to transfer to other divisions of the classified service. 



Continuing his statement the Secretary briefly mentioned the sub- 

 jects of the National Reserves, the International Catalogue of Scientific 

 Literature, and the Centennial Celebration of Professor Henr^^'s ])irth, 

 as well as the relinquishment of the Toner Lecture Fiuid. 



The Secretary then called attention to a second gift to the Institution 

 from the late Chinese minister, Chang Yen Hoon, of an interesting 

 ])ronze piece of great antiquity, which was shown to the Regents. On 

 motion, the Secretary was requested to make a proper acknowledgment 

 '•by direction of the Board." 



NATIONAL UNIVKUSITY. 



Senator Henderson then presented the following report of the 

 Special Connuittee: 



Washington, D. C, Jdimari/ ,.'4, l.'/OO. 

 To ilw Board of Reyeuls: 



In July, 1897, a meeting of the American Association of Agricultural Colleges and 

 Experiment Stations was held in Minneapolis, Minnesota, at which meeting the fol- 

 lowing resolution was adopted: 



"AVsoZrcf/, That a committee of five be ajjpointed by the President to investigate, 

 to consider, and, if practicable, devise a plan whereby graduate students of the land- 

 grant and other colleges may have access to, and the use of, the Congressional Library 

 and the collections in the Smithsonian Institution, the National Museum, and the 

 scientific bureaus of the various departments at Washington of the United States (lov- 

 ernment, for the purposes of study and research; said plan to include suggestions as 

 to the manner in which such work may be organized, coordinated, and directed to 

 the best advantage; the composition and organization of such a staff as may be neces- 

 sary to properly coordinate and direct such work, and also an outline of such legisla- 

 tion as may be necessary to effect the general jiurposes of this resolution." 



This committee seems to have made diligent inquiries into the subjects suljmitted 

 to its investigation, and in the autumn of 1898 presented a full and interesting report 

 of its labors to the Association. 



A brief extract from that report is as follows: 



"The inquiries and investigations so far made lead the committee to the conclusion 

 that it is entirely practical)le to provide for the use of the Library of Congress and the 

 collections of the Smithsonian Institution, the National Museum, and of the various 

 scientific and other bureaus in the several departments of the General Government, 

 by graduate students of the land-grant and other colleges for study and research, and 



