REPORT OF COMMITTEE. 167 



and that committee, desirous of serving the interests and forward- 

 ing the objects of the Society, which they believed to be to secure 

 a handsome and appropriate building, selected the Montgomery 

 House estate, and had plans and estimates, prepared by G-. J. F. 

 Bryant, placed before them and the Society. These estimates 

 showed that the building could have been erected in 1862 for 

 $85,000. This plan has been materially and essentially altered 

 in its interior arrangements, while its exterior character has been 

 preserved, and, it is confidently hoped, its architectural propor- 

 tions improved, its fitness augmented, and its beauty of design 

 much enhanced. It is now presented with the full belief that, 

 after much study, it comes as near as possible to the wants and 

 requirements of the Society both as regards its own uses and that 

 equalty important one of income. It has had the earnest attention 

 and deliberation of some of the committee, and is offered with the 

 hope and expectation that it will be satisfactory to all." 



' ' The entire cost of the erection of the building, according to 

 the estimates of Mr. Bryant now made to your committee, and pro- 

 cured from responsible parties, and since revised, will not exceed 

 $102,500 ; and, when the offers are open to competition, he believes 

 it will be reduced. When your committee take into consideration 

 the greatly enhanced value of the stocks owned by the Society 

 over that of 1862, this excess over the estimates of the first plan is 

 far more favorable than they were led to anticipate. 



"The income of the building, according to the best judgment 

 of your committee, after careful inquiry as to the income of prop- 

 erty in the immediate vicinity, will be fully equal to six per centum 

 per annum on the entire investment. 



" To meet the cost of the erection of the building, your com- 

 mittee herewith annex a statement of the assets of the Society 

 available for that purpose, very carefully and accurately prepared 

 by the treasurer, and believed to be correct, amounting to $100,054 

 on the 23d of January last. 



" To meet the payment of the mortgages upon the estate, paya- 

 ble in twenty years from September 1, 1863, it is proposed by your 

 committee to recommend to the Society, immediately upon the 

 completion of the building, the creation of a sinking fund, which 

 shall meet its liabilities in 1883. This proposition is to lay aside 

 every }*ear $3,500 from the income of Mount Auburn, which will, 

 with interest, amount in sixteen years to $98,745. 



