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SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION  1422

as to the appropriate action to take on the recommendations. Before action is taken it is approved in writing by members of the Permanent Committee. Almost every week during the year and sometimes, in active periods, almost every day, official communications are prepared by me in order to carry forward the proper management of the investments of the Institution. Detailed quarterly statements of all our investments are also received from our investment counsel. Copies of these reports are on the table. These statements represent in clear form the current picture of our investment holdings.

Mr. James F. Lawrence and Mr. George S. Johnston of the firm, Scudder, Stevens & Clark, who now have the immediate supervision of the portfolio of the Smithsonian Institution, were present at that part of the meeting of the Executive Committee on December 12, 1955 when the Institution's portfolio was under consideration. The financial affairs of the Institution in general and a number of specific questions concerning our investments were considered at a policy level at this time. The factors which should govern the relative proportions of various types of investments in the portfolio of the Institution were discussed.

It may now be of interest to present here a brief history of the two main endowments of the Smithsonian Institution. Carried forward to December 31, 1955 these are as follows:

CONSOLIDATED FUND
[[three column table]]
Book Value of Investments | ||
  July 1, 1923 |  | $177,965.28

Additions to Investments
  1923-1955|  |    |

  Gifts, Bequests and Miscellaneous|   |  $1,562,412.66

  Reinvestment of income |  563,748.05 |   |

  Gains from Sales of Securities |  791,051.44  | 2,917,212.15

  Total Book Value
     December 31, 1955 |  |  $,095,177.43

Market Value
  December 31,1955 |   | $4,112,183.83

  Gains on Securities now owned |  1,017,006.40 |   |

  Profit on Securities sold from
    December 31, 1954 to
    December 31, 1955    | 204,137.37 |    |