REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 7 



care, but fully recognizes the importance of the branches supported 

 by the Government, many of which are inherent in the organic act 

 of the Institution, and desires, in cooperation with the Board and 

 the Congress, to administer and develop these important charges of 

 the Institution. 



The duties of the Secretary from the date of the death of Mr. 

 Langley up to the end of January, 1907, when I was appointed to 

 that office, were performed with ability and fidelity by Mr. Richard 

 Rathbun, an Assistant Secretary of the Institution, by designation 

 of the Chancellor under authority of the act of May 13, 1894, pro- 

 viding for the appointment of an Acting Secretary. 



It is gratifying to report that the current business of the Institu- 

 tion was conducted in a prompt and efficient manner, and that no 

 arrearages in the work of the Government branches under its direc- 

 tion had to be noted in the quarterly statements made to the President 

 and the annual statement made to Congress in accordance with law. 



In view, however, of the recent examination by a commission 

 appointed by the President into the business methods of all of the 

 Government Departments, not including the branches under the 

 charge of the Smithsonian Institution, I thought it wise to appoint 

 a committee for the purpose of examining into the business methods 

 of the Institution and its several branches, with a view to suggesting, 

 if found desirable, improvements in the business methods of the 

 Institution and its various branches, and in the transaction of busi- 

 ness between them and the Institution. 



Mr. H. W. Dorsey, who had been for many years connected with 

 the Institution, was on March 29 appointed chief clerk. 



Several amendments affecting the operation of the civil-service 

 law and rules in their bearing on the personnel of the branches of the 

 Government service under the direction of the Smithsonian Institu- 

 tion were promulgated by Executive order during the year. The 

 only change in the rules, however, which affects the branches of the 

 Institution specifically is that announced in the Executive order of 

 April 15, 1907. This provides that the paragraph in the legislative 

 act approved June 22, 1906 (prohibiting the transfer of any employee 

 in the classified service from one Executive Department to another 

 until the employee shall have served for a term of three years in the 

 Department from which transfer is desired), may be waived in pro- 

 posed transfers to or from the Smithsonian Institution and certain 

 independent bureaus or offices of the Government, when in the judg- 

 ment of the Civil Service Commission the interests of the service so 

 require. 



