1250 CONGRESSIONAL PROCEEDINGS. 
at the last meeting of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Insti- 
tution the following resolution was adopted: 
Resolved, That the Regents recommend to Congress that the form of the sundry 
civil appropriation bill be so changed in the terms relating to the Museum and the 
Bureau of Ethnology as to provide— 
(1) That these moneys shall be disbursed under the direction of the Smithsonian 
Institution. 
(2) That ‘the estimates for the appropriations of the Museum in future shall be 
sent direct to the Secretary of the Treasury by the Smithsonian Institution through 
its Secretary. . 
In obedience to the wishes of the Board of Regents thus expressed, 
the matter was brought to the attention of the Secretary of the Interior, 
in a recent interview, by Chief Justice Waite (the Chancellor of the 
Smithsonian Institution) and myself. As a result of this meeting a 
letter has been received from the Secretary of the Interior, in which 
he expresses the opinion that changes may be made with great pro- 
priety both in the manner of voting the appropriation and in the 
method of its disbursement. A copy of this letter is herewith inclosed, 
together with a copy of a second letter received in response to an 
inquiry as to the manner in which this change may best be effected. 
In further explanation of the third request, I wish to say that this 
does not involve a new appropriation, since the estimate for this 
amount is included, as I understand it, in the sum of $375,525, esti- 
mated by the Secretary of the Treasury for the printing of the Interior 
Department and its bureaus. (See page 129 of the ‘Estimates ot Appro- 
priations, 1888-89.”) I may say in further explanation of this item 
that an appropriation has thus been made for the printing of the 
National Museum for at least twelve years past, and I am informed 
that the amount allotted during recent years has usually been $10,000. 
I believe these changes will be in the interest of the public service, 
and respectfully ask that they be made. 
I am, sir, your obedient servant, 
S. P. Lanery, Secretary. 
Hon. Samurt J. RANDALL, 
Chairman of Committee on Appropriations, 
House of Representatives. 
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, 
Washington, February 14, 1888. 
Srr: I have considered the topic of the conference which I had the 
honor to have yesterday with the Chancellor of the Smithsonian Insti- 
tution and yourself, being the relation of the Interior Department to 
the expenditure of the appropriation for the increase and care of the 
National Museum, which is a part of the Smithsonian Institution, and 
