208 SPENCER FULLERTON BAIRD 
for the present and the next year. I am sorry, however, to say that 
they are not yet definitely settled and will principally depend on 
the decision of the Regents as to the course to be pursued with refer- 
ence to the building. You have been informed that a considerable 
portion of the interior fell down, and that the Regents will be obliged 
to fire-proof the Library and Museum. This change in the plan will 
cost about 45,000 dolls. in addition to the original estimate. I fully 
agree in the propriety of the expenditure under the present circum- 
stances, for if we are to have collections of a valuable character they 
should be deposited in a suitable building. The extra expenditure 
however will diminish the annual income of the Institution, and 
increase its natural tendency to assume a statical state, in which 
miscellaneous collections of objects of nature and art are merely 
exhibited as curiosities. 
To counteract this tendency, it is important that we should 
push on the active operations, and for this purpose it is absolutely 
necessary that I should have more assistance. On this point I wish 
to have some free conversation with you and if it be possible for you 
to come to Washington for a few days it would be well for you to do 
so. We should have a full understanding with each other before our 
connection is finally settled, that there may be no cause of difficulty 
in the future. 
You know that I accepted my present position with the under- 
standing that I should be allowed to carry out my plans of active 
operations, and that in accordance with this understanding I refused 
to accept a position much more in accordance with my taste as well 
as my pecuniary interest. I now find myself however very much 
restricted by the compromise of the Board and the diminution of 
our income. I am therefore the more determined to guard myself 
and what I deem the best interest of the Institution from farther 
restrictions in the carrying out of my plans. By a reference to the 
act of Congress establishing the Institution the Secretary is made 
responsible for all its operations; he is to discharge the duty of 
Librarian, Keeper of the Museum, &c., but with the consent of the 
Board he may employ assistants. The object of giving him the power 
of choosing his own assistants is undoubtedly that he may have 
control of the operations—that he may not have forced upon him 
incompetent individuals, or those who would not give him their 
