The Board of Regents 63 



the law holds quarterly meetings for the purpose of auditing 

 the accounts for expenditures made in accordance with the 

 appropriations voted by the Board at its annual meeting. 

 The Executive Committee has also customarily performed 

 the duties of a Committee of Ways and Means, besides acting 

 upon many matters directly referred to it by the Board. Two 

 of its members have always been the two Regents resident in 

 Washington, and the third some other'member, not a Sena- 

 tor or Representative, living near enough to Washington to 

 be readily accessible. The Executive Committee, therefore, 

 soon became an Advisory Committee, practically always in 

 session, which the Secretary constantly consults in regard 

 to the interpretation of questions of policy, and the method 

 of carrying out the instructions of the Board. The citizen 

 residents have usually served for longer periods than others 

 as members of the Executive Committee, and many of them 

 have become intimately associated with the executive work 

 of the organization. 



Since the organization of the Board of Regents, fifty years 

 ago, the names of 129 persons have appeared upon its roll. 

 Among these are a large number of the most distinguished 

 citizens of the United States, men eminent in statesmanship 

 and diplomacy, in governmental administration, in science, 

 in literature, and in arts. Each one of these has contributed 

 his share to the prosperity of the Institution by his counsel 

 and good judgment. 



The long list of distinguished names here given shows 

 how carefully the Regents have been selected, so that repre- 

 sentative men from every section of the Union might be in- 

 cluded in that important body. 



From the Middle States: William J. Hough, Gideon Haw- 

 ley, Millard Fillmore, Samuel Sullivan Cox, John V. L. 

 Pruyn, William B. Astor, William A. Wheeler, Andrew D. 



