AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 25 



Receipts. Expenditures. Surplus. 



19th Annual Fair, 1846, $14,312 00 $10,225 25 $4,086 75 



15,275 27 9,619 06 5,656 21 

 17,546 00 12,031 91 5,514 09 

 18,770 23 11,384 05 7,432 18 

 22,419 14 16,289 13 6,130 01 

 20,763 50 14,141 27 6,622 23 

 25,429 49 16,181 17 5,248 32 



4,950 56 10,909 84 * 

 27,705 19 21,821 30 5,883 89 

 27,861 26 23,145 05 4,616 21 

 28,666 83 126,947 98 1,718 85 

 The grand object of our fairs and exhibitions has never been 

 to make money, save so far as our profits might enlarge and ex- 

 tend our usefulness to the cause. Had it been otherwise, our 

 managers might have restricted the admission, by placing all their 

 tickets on sale, and thus, by possibility, enhanced the aggregate 

 of the receipts. Instead of which, they have adopted the wiser 

 and more liberal policy of extending complimentary invitations 

 to those whose patronage to science and art it is desirable to 

 secure, as well as to public men in every profession, to enlist their 

 favor. By including the families of the members in their tickets, 

 extending to exhibiters, military corps, and others, free admission 

 at all times, and scattering ladies' tickets among their friends, 

 they have thus crowded their exhibition with visitors, and in- 

 creased the attractions of the fair to citizens and strangers, who 

 were ready to purchase tickets at the door. And though the 

 thousands who nightly thronged our fairs without pay, may have 

 led to the exaggerated estimates made of our receipts ; yet we 

 are persuaded that they contributed to bring other thousands in 

 sufficient numbers who did pay, so that our large expenses have 

 all been met, and a sufficient margin to sustain the Institute. 



We claim for the Institute, that in this, and in every other 

 department, our financial transactions will bear the closest scru- 

 tiny, and that our resources have been husbanded with the 

 strictest regard to economy. Nor are we able to discover any 

 reduction of expenses in conducting the general affairs of the 

 Institute, which can now be made without sacrificing its efficiency 

 and diminishing its usefulness. We have no sinecure offices, nor 

 do we pay any salaries, except for the indispensable clerical 

 helpers in our business office, none of whose places could be 

 adequately filled at less rates. By the ownership of our promises 

 on Broadway, eligible and spacious halls are secured for our ex- 



•Deficiency $5,959 28. 



I The rent of the Palace is not included in this amount. 



