THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. MEMBERS EX OFFICIO OF THE "ESTABLISHMENT." WILLIAM MCKINLEY, President of the United States. LYMAN J. GAGE, Secretary of the Treasury. JOHN D. LONG, Secretary of the Navy. CORNELIUS N. BLISS, Secretary of the Interior. REGENTS OF THE INSTITUTION. (List given on the following page.) OFFICERS OF THE INSTITUTION. SAMUEL P. LANGLEY, Secretary, Director of the Institution and of the U. S. National Museum. RICHARD RATHBUN, Assistant Secretary, In charge of Office and Exchanges. CHARLES D. WALCOTT, Acting Assistant Secretary, In charge of National Museum. IX REGENTS OF THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. By the organizing act approved August 10, 1846 (Revised Statutes, Title LXXIII, section 5580), and amended March 12, 1894, "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 composed of the Vice-President, the Chief Justice of the United States, three members of the Senate, and three members of the House of Representatives, together with six other persons, other than Members 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 the same State." REGENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 1897. The Chief Justice of the United States: MELVILLE W. FULLER, elected Chancellor and President of the Board January 9, 1889. The Vice-President of the United States: GARRET A. HOBART (March 4, 1897). Term expires. United States Senators: JUSTIN S. MORRILL (appointed Feb. 21, 1883, Mar. 23, 1885, Dec. 15, 1891, and Mar. 15, 1897) Mar. 3, 1903 SHELBY M. CULLOM (appointed Mar. 23, 1885, Mar. 28, 1889, and Mar. 3, 1901 GEORGE GRAY (appointed Dec. 20, 1892, and Mar. 20, 1893). Members of the House of Representatives: Mar. 3, 1899 JOSEPH WHEELER (appointed Jan. 10, 1888, Jan. 6, 1890, Jan. 15, 1892, Jan. 4, 1894, and Dec. 20, 1895). Dec. 22, 1897 ROBERT R. HITT (appointed Aug. 11, 1893, Jan. 4, 1894, and Dec. 20, 1895). Dec. 22, 1897 ROBERT ADAMS, JR. (appointed Dec. 20, 1895)... Dec. 22, 1897 Citizens of a State: JAMES B. ANGELL, of Michigan (appointed Jan. 19, 1887, and Jan. 19, 1899 ANDREW D. WHITE, of New York (appointed Feb. 15, 1888, and Mar. 19, 1900 WILLIAM PRESTON JOHNSTON, of Louisiana (appointed Jan. 26, 1892). Jan. 26, 1898 JOURNAL OF PROCEEDINGS OF THE BOARD OF REGENTS OF THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. ANNUAL MEETING OF THE BOARD OF REGENTS. JANUARY 27, 1897. In accordance with a resolution of the Board of Regents adopted January 8, 1890, by which its stated annual meeting occurs on the fourth Wednesday of January, the Board met to-day at 10 o'clock a. m. Present: The Chancellor (Mr. Chief Justice Fuller) in the chair; the Hon. A. E. Stevenson, Vice President of the United States; the Hon. J. S. Morrill, the Hon. S. M. Cullom, the Hon. George Gray, the Hon. Joseph Wheeler, the Hon. R. R. Hitt, the Hon. Robert Adams, jr., the Hon. William L. Wilson, Dr. J. B. Angell, Dr. Andrew D. White, the Hon. John B. Henderson, the Hon. Gardiner G. Hubbard, and the Secretary, Mr. S. P. Langley. At the Chancellor's suggestion the Secretary read the minutes of the last meeting in abstract. There being no objection the minutes were approved. The Secretary presented his annual report for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1896, remarking that as the Regents had already been supplied with copies by mail he would say nothing further upon it now. On motion the report was accepted. Senator Henderson, as chairman of the Executive Committee, presented the report of the Executive Committee for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1896. On motion the report was adopted. Senator Henderson presented the following customary resolution relative to income and expenditure, which was adopted: Resolved, That the income of the Institution for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1898, be appropriated for the service of the Institution, to be expended by the Secretary with the advice of the Executive Committee, with full discretion on the part of the Secretary as to items. Senator Henderson, as Chairman of the Permanent Committee (composed of the Executive Committee and the Secretary), stated that the matters which affect the Avery estate, and which were before the Board at the last meeting, had had the committee's consideration. There was no special report, but he hoped to have a statement to make by the next meeting. The Chancellor then announced that if there was no objection the matters in the Avery estate would be postponed for a report at the next annual meeting of the Board. The Secretary said: The Regents know of the irreparable loss which the Institution has sustained in the death of Dr. Goode, a man who can not be replaced; a man who was devoted to its service; who, it almost might be said, laid down his life for it, and who possessed a combination of administrative ability and general scientific knowledge with every element of moral trustworthiness for which I do not know where to look again. I have thought that the Regents might like to make, by exception, an acknowledgment of this by some resolution, and I will request Dr. White to present those prepared. Dr. White then read the following resolutions: Whereas the Assistant Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, Dr. G. Brown Goode, died on September 6, 1896, Resolved, That the Board of Regents wish to here record their sense of the devotion to duty which in the late Dr. Goode came before any considerations of personal advancement, or even before the care of his own health, and of their recognition that his high administrative ability and wide knowledge were devoted unselfishly to the service of the Institution, with results whose value they can not too highly acknowledge; and they desire to express their feeling of the loss that the Institution, the National Museum, and the cause of science has sustained in his untimely death. Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be suitably engrossed and transmitted to the family of Dr. Goode. Dr. White said: In being asked to offer these resolutions I wish to say that I accept the duty as one especially grateful to my own feelings. I became acquainted with Dr. Goode about sixteen years ago when he went abroad to Berlin, representing the Smithsonian Institution at the Fisheries Exposition. I think every one who met him then conceived a very high opinion not only of his executive abilities, which he had much occasion to show, but of his personal qualities. I took occasion to bring him into connection with the leading German men of science, and he at once seemed to win not merely their respect but also their most kindly feelings. You are aware that on that occasion the United States exhibition was by far superior to any of their own, and it was then that we received the great prize from the Emperor Wilhelm, which now stands in the Museum under our care. At various times since I have had occasion to renew my acquaintance with Dr. Goode, and I have never ceased to hold the good opinion which his admirable qualities aroused in me. Mr. Hubbard said: Mr. Brown Goode was a very warm personal friend of mine. I personally regret his loss, and I regret it still more on account of the loss to the Museum. I do not suppose that there was any man living who knew better what was necessary for the Museum than he. I do not believe any man ever lived, or ever will live, who will give so much of his time and thought to the work of this Museum as Mr. Brown Goode did, and his death is a blow which the Museum will feel as long as it lasts. Senator Morrill said: I frequently had occasion to converse with Dr. Goode in relation to the future growth of the Museum. It is, perhaps, well known to most of you that I have been making an effort for some years now to secure an additional building for the Museum, and in talking over the matter Dr. Goode was very earnest in his purpose to fill it with something that would be worthy of our country, and he was also strongly of the opinion that there was no country that could afford as many valuable and attractive collections for Museum purposes as the United States, and, with the Smithsonian, was capable of doing so in a more economical manner than perhaps any other country in the world. Mr. Wilson said: My personal relations with Dr. Goode were so pleasant and cordial that though I can add nothing to what has been already said by Dr. White, Mr. Hubbard, and Senator Morrill, I feel at least like seconding these resolutions. I was thrown a great deal with Dr. Goode in a most informal and unofficial way and I learned to have the highest possible respect for him, not only as a scientific man, but as an individual. The simplicity, modesty, and general kindliness of his character were always his striking features, and I remember no greater shock in recent months than the announcement of the death of this still young man, which I learned from an American paper as soon as I returned from abroad last summer. On motion, the resolutions were adopted by a rising vote. The Secretary said that before leaving this subject he might say that the year had been a painful one for the Institution in the loss of other people not known to the Regents, but only less essential to it than Dr. Goode. Mr. R. E. Earll and others who were identified with it had been thus taken away, and it had been difficult to find persons of efficiency to attend to their work. The Secretary added that he had lost not only Dr. Goode, but also Mr. Winlock, who was assistant in charge of the Institution, who came next to Dr. Goode in authority, and who was trusted and trustworthy in every way. It had been a sad year here, but he would say nothing further about its losses except that the deaths included a number of employees who were also valuable in their positions. The Chancellor stated that the appointment of an Assistant Secretary was made by the Secretary, with the consent of the Regents; in other words, the initiative, under the law, came from the Secretary. He would like to hear from the Secretary about it. The Secretary then addressed the Board as follows: The Board is aware that a vacancy exists in the Assistant Secretaryship, caused by the death of Dr. Goode, a like successor to whom can hardly be found. Under correction of the Chancellor, I will recall that while the law authorizes the Secretary to, with the consent of the Board of Regents, employ assistants, he is not required to employ anyone. In the early days of the Institution there was one Assistant Secretary in charge of the library, to which there was added later by Professor Honry one in charge of the Museum. The latter of these was Professor Baird, who was in turn appointed Secretary by the Regents, and who, during a term of nearly ten years, appointed no assistants until January 12, 1887, when he received the consent of the Regents to the appointment of one in charge of the exchanges, library, and publications, and another in charge of the Museum. There have been, therefore, periods in the history of the Institution when there was but one Assistant Secretary, a long period immediately preceding the present incumbency when there was none, and subsequently a brief period when there were two. The work of the Institution has enormously increased, even since the death of Secretary Baird. In regard to subordinate positions, the power of appointment has been exercised by the successive Secretaries for a period of over 40 years, and with an absence of any suggestion of favoritism, partiality, or harshness, which is rare in office. In all these appointments and in every official relationship the recognition of the plenary authority of the Regents, as exercised through the Secretary, has been the foundation of good government. It is because the authority of the Board and its method of action is so absolutely recognized that it has been so very rarely needed to display it to make it effective, and thus during ten years of the Museum's administra |