Viewing page 402 of 488

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

[[preprinted]]
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION  811
[[/preprinted]]

"Twentieth: I give and bequeath to said Smithsonian Institution capital stock of said Parke, Davis and Company of the market value at the time of my death of Fifty Thousand Dollars ($50,000). The cash dividends on said stock, or the income derived from the proceeds of the sale thereof, shall be used solely for the care of maintenance of the gardens and statuary provided for in the next preceding paragraph of this Will."

These bequests created three trust funds. The income to be applied is the income derived from these funds. It is not the income of the "specified capital sums named" as distinguished from the corpus of the trusts, not is it a fixed income of the magnitude assignable under usual trust fund conditions to the capital sums named. The income as stated in the will consists of the cash dividends on the said shares of stock bequeathed in trust or the income derived from the proceeds of the sale thereof.

The first and third subdivisions of the question submitted are answered in negative and the second subdivision is answered in the affirmative with the addition that the income to be applied embraces that derived from the proceeds of the sale of the shares mentioned.

"Q. 3. Is it necessary to pay as annual compensation to the curator of the Freer Gallery the whole income of the capital fund described in paragraph 18 of the will in the event that the interpretation (2) should be attached to query No. 2."

The trust in Paragraph Eighteenth is that the income "shall be used by the Regents of said Institution solely for the purpose of hiring a competent curator." It was manifestly the intention of the testator that this income should not be devoted to any other purpose if it was needed for the purpose stated. It is understood that the difficulty arises from the increase in the dividends on the shares of stock, which has been such that the amount is too large for the purpose stated if it is judged by the standard which may be deemed to be appropriate in determining the reasonable compensation of a competent curator of the ability required and with the duties assigned to him by the will.

Your Committee is of the opinion that the income derived from the cash dividends on the shares described in Paragraph Eighteenth of the will, or from

[[initialed]] CGA [[/initialed]]