1682 CONGRESSIONAL PROCEEDINGS. 
have been created, the heads of which being the ‘‘Secretary of the 
Interior” and the ‘‘ Secretary of Agriculture.” 
The place filled by the Commissioner of Patents under the act of 
incorporation should naturally be filled by the Secretary of the Inte- 
rior, being the head of an Executive Department, and the Secretary of 
Agriculture should be added as the head of an Executive Department 
created since the incorporation of the institution. 
The amendment proposed by this bill is to strike out the words ‘‘the 
Secretary of State, the Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary of 
War, the Secretary of the Navy, the Postmaster-General, the Attor- 
ney-General, the Commissioner of the Patent Office, and the governor 
of the District of Columbia, and such other persons as they may elect 
honorary members,” and insert in lieu of the words stricken out ‘‘the 
heads of Executive Departments,” so that section 5579 will read: ‘‘ The 
President, the Vice-President, the Chief Justice, and the heads of 
Executive Departments are hereby constituted an establishment by 
the name of the Smithsonian Institution for the increase and diffusion 
of knowledge among men, and by that name shall be known and have 
perpetual succession, with the powers, limitations, and restrictions 
hereinafter contained, and no other.” 
As the original act of incorporation named as one of the corporators 
the governor of the District of Columbia, which office no longer exists, 
and as there has been created since a court in the District of Colum- 
bia consisting of one chief justice and two associate justices, to be 
appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the 
Senate, who shall hold office during good behavior, it would seem to 
be consistent that the evident intention of the framers of the original 
act of incorporation to name some officer of the District as one of the 
corporators, your committee recommends that the bill be amended by 
adding after the words ‘‘ Executive Departments,” in the seventeenth 
line of section 5579, the words ‘‘and the chief justice of the court of 
appeals of the District of Columbia,” and to strike out the word 
‘*and,” in the same line, after the words ‘‘ Chief Justice,” so that the 
section will read: 
Src. 5579. The President, the Vice-President, the Chief Justice, the heads of the 
Executive Departments, and the chief justice of the court of appeals of the District 
of Columbia are hereby constituted an establishment by the name of the ‘‘Smith- 
sonian Institution’”’ for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men. 
. Section 5591 of the Revised Statutes is as follows: 
The Regents are authorized to make such disposal of any other moneys which have 
accrued or shall hereafter accrue as interest upon the Smithsonian fund, not herein 
appropriated or not required for the purposes herein provided, as they shall deem 
best suited for the promotion of the purpose of the testator. 
The amendment proposed by this bill is for the purpose of avoiding 
any possible construction of the statute as it now exists restricting 
