Viewing page 67 of 84

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

JOURNAL OF PROCEEDINGS. 125

men" which have given to the Smithsonian Institution its chief reputation and greatest usefulness throughout the civilized world.

The reasonable explanation of the terms of the organic law (and which those who were familiar with the discussions at the time know to be the true one) is, that Congress did not attempt to define the particular course which the Institution should take, probably because under the conflicting and incongruous views that were urged, it did not clearly see its way to do so. But while the law allowed all the available income to be devoted to a library, if the Regents should think proper to give the new establishment that direction, it required scientific cabinets, laboratories, &c., which looked to a certain amount of development upon a different line. The act indicated two or three allowable lines along which the Institution might develop, either of which would soon have absorbed all the income. Under it the Regents might have converted it essentially into a library, into an educational establishment, or into a museum. Under it they also might, still fulfilling the required conditions, develop lines of operation which come closer to the express intent of the founder, which intent must have been the governing principle of the whole enactment. And this is what our predecessors did. It is not surprising that this small body, having the responsibility laid upon it, should have adhered as closely as possible to the terms of Smithson's will "founding an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men." We believe that the propriety and the wisdom of their course, confirmed by the results, is now unquestioned.

That the museum and other collections mentioned in the act of establishment must have been regarded as a subsidiary feature, and the library equally so, (except upon the alternative of its having the lion's share,) would seem evident from the fact that these were to be maintained upon the income of the Smithsonian fund, while the objects composing them belonged, and appear still to belong, to the Government of the United States, and to be held in charge of the Institution for exhibition and study. Accordingly, when these collections increased to such extent that the care and exhibition of them threatened to absorb a large part of the income of the Smithson fund, and to cripple legitimate operations for the increase and diffusion of knowledge, which the Regents had at the outset originated, and of which experience had shown the wisdom so soon, we say, as these Government collections began to press heavily upon the institution, Congress, being informed thereof, made provisions for assuming this burden. It has made increasing provision as the collections have themselves increased in magnitude and cost of maintenance. It has thereby manifestly acted upon the theory that these museums are national property. The alternative view, viz, that they are gifts, supplemented with gifts for their support, would be fatal to the Institution, for the objects remain, continually increase, and cannot be declined, while the gift for their maintenance may at any time cease to be made. Upon this theory, Congress could at any time con-