The Board of Regents 



6i 



must be residents of the city of Washington. The presid- 

 ing officer of the Board of Regents is the Chancellor of the 

 Smithsonian Institution, who is elected by the Board of 

 Regents from among their own number. This office has, 

 however, always been held either by the Vice-President or 

 by the Chief Justice.^ 



The executive officer of the Board of Regents is the Sec- 

 retary of the Institution, who is elected by them. The duties 

 and responsibilities of Secretary are such as in other institu- 

 tions usually belong to the office of Director : the name by 

 which this officer is designated is that which in Washington 

 is associated with the highest grade of executive responsibil- 

 ity. The Secretary makes all appointments on the staff, the 

 members of which are technically his "assistants." He is re- 

 sponsible for the expenditure and disbursement of all funds of 

 the Institution, is the legal custodian of all its property, and, 

 ex officio, its librarian and the keeper of its museum. 



He presents to the Regents an annual report upon the 

 operations, expenditures, and condition of the Establishment, 

 which is transmitted by the Board to Congress for publica- 

 tion. By a special act of Congress in 1879 and amended in 

 1884, an Acting Secretary is provided for, in case of the ab- 

 sence or disability of the Secretary, the designation being left 

 with the Chancellor of the Institution. 



1 Vice-President Dallas was the first Chan- 

 cellor, and was succeeded by Vice-President 

 Fillmore. When Mr. Fillmore was elevated 

 to the Presidency of the United States, in 

 1850, Chief Justice Taney was elected Chan- 

 cellor. In 1857 Mr. Taney resigned the 

 place on the ground that the Vice-President, 

 the liighest in rank of the ofticers of the gov- 

 ernment who are ex officio Regents, was the 

 proper person to preside. " Unfortunate 

 events," he continued, " have for some time 

 past left the government without a Vice-Pres- 

 ident elected by the people. And when that 

 office was vacant the Regents conferred on 

 me the office, which had always before been 



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filled by the Vice-President. And "when I 

 accepted it I regarded the appointment as a 

 temporary one. The reason for the appoint- 

 ment has now happily ceased, and I desire to 

 give the Regents an opportunity of restoring 

 the original plan of organization, in which I 

 fully concurred when it was adopted." Mr. 

 Breckinridge, Vice-President of the United 

 States, who was present at this meeting, 

 moved that the present Chancellor, Chief Jus- 

 tice Taney, be reelected to that oftice. The 

 precedent thus established of electing the 

 Chief Justice to be Chancellor of the Institu- 

 tion has never since been abandoned. 



