EEPORT 



ON THE FIELD OF THE FUTURE LABORS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



The committee to whom was referred the resolution of January 

 5th, 1860, " On the Field of the future labors of the American 

 Institute, and the suitable manner and place of their perform- 

 ance," offer the following report : 



The ingenuity and toil of individuals have procured the mate- 

 rial prosperity which has distinguished our country during the 

 last thirty years. That ingenuity has been stimulated, and that 

 toil rewarded, in part, by the American Institute. This encour- 

 agement of the National progress has earned from the State a 

 just recognition. The names of the founders and sustainers of 

 the Institute are placed in the public history of our young civili- 

 zation, and will be read in future ages as we now read the names 

 and deeds of ancient benefactors. 



To us is assigned the easier task of improving the inheritance 

 they have left us. Their sagacity and prudence have given us 

 large means of usefulness, and the public expectation will justly 

 require us to make a progress suitable to these means. 



It is the tendency of a society fund to become a sinecure, or to 

 be devoted to the special benefit of a class, although the express 

 design of the accumulators was the advancement of knowledge ; 

 but there can scarcely be a doubt, in any mind, that the estate 

 of the Institute should be prudently, but promptly, applied to a 

 permanent establishment, adapted to the specific objects set forth 

 in the charter, and to the special enlargement of the labors of 

 the Institute, in whatever department of its appropriate work 

 experience may suggest. 



For the special purpose of the Annual, or less frequent, Fairs 

 of the Institute, a place as remote as the site of the Crystal Pal- 

 ace might be available ; but for all those ordinary labors, in 

 which the Institute can have no rival in the rural districts — the 



