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SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 1347

the independent position that has been its safeguard for more than 100 years of its existence. The proposal in S. 1136 was made ostensibly to relieve the President of the United States of unnecessary duties, and as a measure of economy in administration. Our statements demonstrated that the Smithsonian in its operations imposed no special requirements on the President's time, that the business of the Institution was conducted by a Board of Regents, and that placement of the Smithsonian under another agency would actually increase operating expenses. The bill finally was referred out of the Committee in question with recommendation that it be placed with the Senate Committee on the District of Columbia, which was done. The matter rests here with no action contemplated at the present time as far as known. The Secretary's office maintains contact with the Committee mentioned for further representations should this be necessary at any time. It may be added that the Bureau of the Budget concurs in our opinion as to the impropriety of including the Smithsonian in this proposed legislation. 

A special bill, H. R. 2555, was designed to transfer the Grant-Lee relics that have been on exhibition in the U. S. National Museum for many years to the newly reconstructed Appomattox Court House in Virginia under the National Park Service, being a continuation of earlier efforts in this direction. In a report to the Committee on Library that handled this matter it was pointed out that the relics in question were public property, and that as now located in our exhibitions in Washington, they were available to many more thousands of people than would be the case at Appomattox. The House Regents were actively interested in behalf of the Smithsonian, and the bill finally received unfavorable report in the Committee. 

At the Special Meeting of the Board of Regents of May 3, the Secretary brought to the attention H. R. 3757, under consideration by the Committee on the Judiciary of the House of Representatives, being a bill to revise, codify, and enact into Law Title 20 of the United States Code entitled "Education." This title covers the legal authorities under which the 

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