FIFTY-FIRST CONGRESS, 1889-1891. 1487 
Regents of the Smithsonian Institution have accepted the trust imposed by the act 
of April 30, 1890. 
é Very respectfully, A. C. MarrHews, 
Comptroller. 
Hon. A. B. NErrietron, 
Acting Secretary of the Treasury. 
Exuisir A. 
SMITHSONIAN InsTITUTION, 
Washington, D. C., February 20, 1891. 
Str: I have been informally requested, through your Mr. Glover, to state whether 
the Regents of the Smithsonian Institution have accepted the trust imposed by the 
act of April 30, 1890, relative to the organization of the National Zoological Park. 
Mr. Glover showed me a copy of the resolution adopted by the House of Representa- 
tives on February 14, 1891, when, on the motion of Mr. Enloe, it was— ; 
“‘ Resolved, That the Secretary of the Treasury be requested to inform the House 
of Representatives whether or not the Regents of the Smithsonian Institution have 
accepted the trust imposed by the act approved April 30, 1890, entitled ‘An act for 
the organization, improvement, and maintenance of the National Zoological Park,’ 
and to report by what legal authority the Treasury Department has paid out that 
portion of the appropriation made by said act which has been expended up to and 
including the 27th day of January, 1891.” 
I beg to express my thanks for the kindness which gives me an opportunity to say 
what, in the absence of the Regents and the Chancellor, I can only give as my own 
opinion, viz, that the Regents did not conceive that the law called upon them either 
to formally accept or decline, as a trust, what was in their opinion a duty imposed 
by the act in question, any more than a military officer should undertake to accept 
or decline a duty imposed upon him by the lawful orders of his superiors. 
The act of Congress of August 10, 1846, organizing the Smithsonian Institution, 
copy of which is herewith submitted, provides— 
‘The business of the Institution shall be conducted at the city of Washington by 
a board of regents, named the Regents of the Smithsonian Institution, to be com- 
posed of the Vice-President, the Chief Justice of the United States, and the gov- 
ernor of the District of Columbia, three members of the Senate and three members 
of the House of Representatives, together with six other persons, other than mem- 
bers of Congress, two of whom shall be resident in the city of Washington, and the 
other four shall be inhabitants of some State, but no two of them of the same State.” 
‘(Revised Statutes, Title LX XIII, section 5580.) 
And further (see section 5582) that— 
* * * ‘The Board shall also elect three of their own body as an executive com- 
maiitee. . + = °* 
The Board is, therefore, by its fundamental constitution, composed of citizens dis- 
persed through the States, and is represented in its recess by-three members of its 
body elected under the fundamental act. 
At the meetings of the Board of Regents of January, 1889, and in 1890, there had 
been a general expression of opinion by the Regents in favor of a proposed National 
Zoological Park, to be established in the interests of science, and the members of the 
board in the Senate and House were requested to advocate the passage of the bill 
then before Congress. It has already been stated that in the view of the Regents 
such an act when passed was mandatory upon them, and that they had no discretion 
whether to accept or decline it, or do anything else than to execute the duty imposed 
by Congress. : 
In the exercise of his ordinary and necessary functions, the Secretary, not indi- 
vidually but advised and instructed by the executive committee and after conferring 
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