EEPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 



THE BOARD OF REGENTS. 



In accordance with a resolution of the Board of Eegents adopted 

 January 8, 1890, by which its annual meeting occurs on the fourth 

 Wednesday of each year, the Board met on January 23, 1895, at 10 

 o'clock a. m. The journal of its proceedings will be found, as hitherto, 

 in the annual report of the Board to Congress, though reference is 

 made later on in this report to several matters upon which action was 

 taken at that meeting. 



It becomes my sad duty to announce the death of two members of 

 the executive committee of the Board of Eegents during the year, Dr. 

 Welling, on September 4, 1894, and Dr. Coppee, on March 21, 1895. I 

 give sketches of their lives and work on subsequent pages devoted to 

 necrology. 



On February 27, 1895, Mr. Gardiner G. Hubbard, of Washington City, 

 was appointed a Begent by joint resolution of Congress. 



The term of office of Senator Cullom expired with his term as Sena- 

 tor on March 4, 1895. 



ADMINISTRATION. 



The expenses borne by the Institution, incidental to its administration 

 of Government trusts, are increasing so rapidly that I feel it my duty 

 to again call attention to the subject, though it has been mentioned at 

 greater or less length in all of my recent reports. The exj)enses that I 

 refer to are not specifically provided for by any of the present appro- 

 priations, since they belong, not singly to the National Museum, or to 

 the Bureau of Ethnology, or to the International Exchange Service, or 

 the like, but to expenditures common to all of them. I deem it in the 

 interest of economy that an appropriation be asked to cover these items, 

 for it seems manifest that this expenditure should be met from some 

 common source, owing to the limited size of the establishments in 

 question, some of which are rather assimilable to divisions than to 

 bureaus. It is evident, for instance, that an appropriation of $17,000 

 for international exchanges or an appropriation of $10,000 for an 

 observatory can not each so well bear the separate provision of a dis- 

 bursing officer, a stenographer, and the other like employees as in the 

 case of larger bureaus. There is, however, no practicable way of 

 arranging this in accordance with the present terms of the appropria- 

 tions, which may be said to tacitly assume that each of these bureaus 

 or divisions is thus completely provided for. It is in some cases impos- 

 sible that it should be so without the expenditure of much more than 

 the appropriated sum, and the terms of the appropriations should, in 

 the interest of economy, either recognize the propriety of meeting each 

 bureau's share of these common expenses out of each one's appro- 

 priation, or else out of a special appropriation made in their common 

 interest. 



