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SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION   1394

The Secretary reported that the accounting procedures had been modified during the year on the advice of the auditors so as to facilitate the financial operations of the Institution. Receipt, recording, deposit and disbursement of cash procedures have been revised to simplify the handling of cash and strengthen internal control. A new payroll system has been installed which eliminates the circulating of the entire payroll, for signature receipt, to all officers and employees. Payrolls are now disbursed by check through a commercial bank.

The Secretary reported that the following gifts and bequests have been received in the year 1953:

The Smithsonian Traveling Exhibition Service assembled and presented art exhibitions throughout the country, mostly on a rental basis; from July 1 through November 1953, receipts amounted to $9,270.61 and the disbursements amounted to $6,477.51. The State Department made a Grant-in-Aid for exhibitions in German and Austrian schools and museums for the education and reorientation of the Austrian and German peoples of $20,000. The Institution will receive an appropriate overhead for this work.

The management and direction of Bio-Sciences Information Exchange, with offices located in the Dupont Circle Building, and supported by seven government agencies, was assumed by the Institution as of November 1, 1953. The contract for this work carries with it a budget of $154,000. The Institution receives an appropriate overhead allotment for this work.

A grant from the Atomic Energy Commission was made for the "study of specific biological indicators of ionizing radiation and the mechanism of the action of such radiation" for $14,904. This also includes overhead.

As noted, the Institution received two gifts totaling $25,000 for an "Architectural Survey for the New Proposed Air Museum." The sum of $12,500 was received from the