1252 CONGRESSIONAL PROCEEDINGS. 
In 1858, by the act of the 2d of June (Stat., XI, 301), an appropria- 
tion of $4,000 ‘*for the preservation of the collection of the exploring 
and surveying expeditions of the Government” was made as a contin- 
gent expense in the office of the Secretary of the Interior. This 
appears to have been the product of the condition acceded to by the 
Secretary of the Interior upon the occasion of the removal of the col- 
lections from the Patent Office to the Smithsonian; and, pursuing the 
same practice, in October, 1858, Professor Henry, your illustrious pred- 
ecessor, requested of the Secretary of the Interior the renewal of the 
same appropriation. Since that time this course appears to have been 
pursued, without any other reason for its support than this summary 
narration indicates. 
By the seventh section of the act for the establishment of the Smith- 
sonian Institution (Stat., LX, 105) the Secretary is directed to discharge 
the duties of ‘* keeper of the Museum,” and authorized, with the con- 
sent of the board, to employ assistants. No power of appointment of 
any of the officers who expend the money provided by these annual 
appropriations is supposed to exist, or, since the transfer to the Smith- 
sonian, has ever been exercised by any officer of this Department. 
The manner of the appropriation has operated to impose upon the 
disbursing officer of this Department the duties of an auditor and a 
treasurer for this fund, as an officer for whom the Secretary is respon- 
sible; but no authority over the expenditures appears to rest with the 
Secretary of the Interior, or at least ever to have been exercised, 
so that any scrutiny supposable has been that only of an auditor. 
Practically, the disbursement of this appropriation has been made by 
the officers of the Smithsonian Institution, subject to two audits—one 
by this Department and the other by the Treasury—while the disburs- 
ing officer of the Interior Department acts as the disbursing officer for 
the Smithsonian, and a clerk has been assigned, as I am informed, by 
the Smithsonian to duty in the Interior Department to assist the dis- 
bursing officer. 
Obviously there is nothing in the relations between the Smithsonian 
and the Interior Department to require the continuance of this state 
of things. The National Museum enjoys now an annual appropriation 
of a large amount in the various items, not usually less than $150,000. 
In the last act the appropriation was of $12,000 for heating, lighting, 
electrical, and telephonic service; of $116,000 for the preservation, 
exhibition, and increase of the collections, and of $40,000 for cases, 
furniture, fixtures, and appliances, both of the latter items embracing 
salaries. These items indicate not only the considerable proportions 
which the Museum has attained, but that their disbursement should be 
in the hands of those who have the government of the Museum and a 
direct responsibility exacted. 
