May 29, 1903.] 



SCIENCE. 



849 



mens or catalogues, but represents the 

 voluntary contribution of individuals to 

 the direct support of the museum. 



These museums expended $725,116 for 

 salaries and wages, from which we see that 

 the public support which they received was 

 not quite sufficient to meet this item alone, 

 the entire expense for maintenance, pur- 

 chase of specimens, cost of expeditions, 

 libraries and publications being, so to 

 speak, borne by voluntary subscription of 

 private individuals. 



It is possible to discover the amounts 

 paid for specimens in the ease of thirteen 

 of these museums; the total sum being 

 $80,828, or less than twice the sum an- 



4.9 per cent, for expeditions, 5.7 per cent, 

 for publication of researches and 1 per 

 cent, for books, pamphlets and binding ; 

 leaving 31.3 per cent, for maintenance, re- 

 pairs, eases, installation of collections, etc. 

 The museums under political auspices, 

 whose employees serve under civil service 

 rules, show poor economy in their manage- 

 ment in comparison with that of museums 

 whose finances are managed by boards of 

 trustees not subjected to political in- 

 fluences, and who have full control over the 

 administration of public or private funds, 

 with power to appoint and discharge all 

 museum employees under rules of their 

 own makina-. . 



nually expended by the Kensington Mu- 

 seum for this purpose. Eight of the mu- 

 seums maintained expeditions for collection 

 or research, and these cost in the aggregate 

 $48,544. Nine institutions expended a 

 total of $58,118 in the publication of re- 

 searches, and twelve expended a total sum 

 of $13,895 for books, pamphlets and bind- 

 ing. In other words, in these sixteen mu- 

 seums we find that 51 per cent, of their in- 

 come came from public grants, and 49 per 

 cent, from private sources, while 51 per 

 cent, of their total income was expended in 

 salaries and wages. Wliere the amounts 

 are known, an average of 6.1 per cent, of 

 their income was expended for specimens, 



For example, the four institutions under 

 civil service rules expended from 45 per 

 cent, to 75 per cent, of their incomes in the 

 payment of salaries and wages, the average 

 being 63.7 per cent. ; whereas the twelve 

 museums not under civil service regula- 

 tions expend from 25 per cent, to 66 per 

 cent, in salaries and wages, the average 

 being 45 per cent, or 18.7 per cent, lower 

 than that of the institutions under the civil 

 service. 



A fair example of the general lack of 

 economy of civil service administration in 

 our miiseums is illustrated by a comparison 

 of the expenditure of our National Museum 

 with that of three non-political institutions. 



