Show by JOHN DICKINSON SHERMAN NE hundred years ago there was living in continental europe an englishman who was known as james smithson and he was rather widely known too especially in scientific circles lie biad a con reputation as an analytical chemist and his collection of more than mineral specimens was 4 noted and there was an atmosphere of mystery about him that intrigued public in terest certain things about this james smithson were public for all men to read it was cnown that he was a british citizen that he was an A M of pembroke college oxford 1786 and that in 1787 he had been made a fellow of the royal but people sensed a mystery in these condl alons unmarried he possessed ample means to keep away fiora england rie hid apparently cut loose from all british ties in choit he was to them an english expatriate with scientific research as an avocation james smithson died in genoa in 1829 at the age of sixty four lie was burled on the heights of san it was then discovered that this mysterious englishman had left a will that caused world wide astonishment james Pm ithon in hort had bequeathed his entire fortune in trust to the united baates of america to found at washington under the name of the institution an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men of course there was a story back of tills astonishing will and here it Is james smithson was the natural ion of hugh smithson afterward percy who become the first duke of northumberland of the third creation james smithson made demand in upon his blood relatives for recognition under the name of perci this recognition was refused by them thereupon james exclaimed very well then I 1 will make the name of famous when the name of percy la forgotten U liy did james smithson select the united states as his agent in carrying out his expressed intention to make the name of famous it la hard to say he had never been here the nation was anathema to the english smarting under their defeats in the revolution and the war of 1812 host englishmen of his station in life were predicting its downfall that the elsh was father to the thought was shown immediately upon the outbreak of our civil war perhaps james smithson was for the united states because his countrymen were against the young nation perhaps he thou glit the gift would be appreciated in america and would not be in angland perhaps he was unwittingly a prophet and had a aslon of his expressed purpose fulfilled james estate amounted to ga congress formally accepted the bequest and established the institution by act approved august 10 1840 republics are said to be ungrateful the united states accepted james gift and made use of it hut for 75 bears apparently there was no thought of the giver anally in 1001 alexander graham cell the inventor of the telephone moved in the matter the gercys are scotch and doctor bell was a transplanted scot james smithson s body was from genoa and brought to america sealed in the original tomb and was placed within a mortuary chapel erected near the entrance to the institution so it Is that on the mall near tenth street in the capital city of taft united states stands the institution in effect it Is a century old this year in fact for eighty icara t has been carrying out the purpose of its founder and now its fame Is worldwide and so Is the name of smithson congress in accenting the gift decided that the federal government was without authority to administer the directly and therefore constituted exactly blat james smithson had specified an establishment the statutory members of this establishment are the president of the united states the ace president the chief jus alce of the supreme court and alie presidents cabinet the affairs of the establishment are adman by a board of regents whose membership consists of the president the chief justice three members of the senate and three members of the house of representatives together with els other persons other than members of congress two of whom shall be resident in tho city of washington and the other tour shall be inhabitants of boma detate but no two of them of the ame state one of the regents Is elected aban bellor by the board in the past the selection has fallen upon the vice president or the chief justice the regents choose a suitable person as secretary of fhe institution he Is also the secretary of the board and the executive officer directly in charge of the institutions activities the so constituted sees frequent changes in alie personnel of the establishment and of the board of regents A change of national administration for example may put in a new establishment again the death of president harddng automatically ended the sen ice of calvin cooledge both as regent and chan bellor and made him head of the establishment chief justice taft was elected chancellor in his place again the senators on the board at the end of alie 1024 fiscal year were lodge of massa chu mccormack lck of illinois and stanley of kentucky the senators now are smoot of utah pepper of pennsylvania and fearls of michigan johnson of washington moore of virginia and newton of minnesota are the present house mem bers on the board dwight W morrow a member of th firm t J P morgan A co and recently head of the dents aircraft investigating committee has just been appointed by joint resolution of congress to the board of regents a significant appointment in view of conditions which will be set forth later the other civilian members are henry white and frederic A delano of washington city charles F choate jr of boston robert S brooklings of st louis and orwan B laughlan tn of pittsburgh the world wife fame as a cen ter of scientific activities in america has largely been due to the work of its secretaries the first three were joseph henry who served from 1840 to 1878 spencer F baard 1878 87 samuel P langley all were scientists of note dr charles D walcott has been secretary since 1907 he enjoys world wide fame as a geologist and as an organizer and executive hl activities aside from his have been many from 1002 7 he had charge of the alon and conduct of the united states reclamation he was secretary of the carnegie institute during 5 its formative period during the world war he was chairman of the national advisory committee for aeronautics and chairman of the military section of the national research council he has been president of the american association for the advancement of science the largest of scientists ip the world lie Is a nature lover a national park enthusiast and a leader in the conference on outdoor recreation most americans assume the to be a government institution a sort of bureau of one of the executive departments depart menti it Is not as the foregoing shows rot only was it privately founded and privately endowed it Is privately directed and financed the federal government Is merely the guardian this gives the freedom from political influences and at the same time security and stability the manifold successes of the largely come under the three headings research co operation with gov ern ments institutions and in and spread of knowledge io fewer than ten of the federal governments scientific bureaus have grown out of the smith conlan s researches and several still remain under its direction these include the museum this Is one of the most tangible of the achievements of the it began with a small collection of miscellaneous cui lost lies it has now more than sped mens covering almost the whole field of human interests and attracting more than a million visitors a year the national gallery of art this includes a number of important individual connections the gifts of public spirited citizens A unit of the hat lonal gallery la the freer gallery of art presented to the nation with its building and an endowment by charles lang freer bureau of american ethnology this Is engaged in the collection and publication of information relating to the american indian and natives datives of hawaii astrophysical observatory this solar phenomena with in california art yona and chile dr charles G abbot famous director of the work Is now abroad looking tor a site for a fourth station in asia or africa through the generosity of the national geographical society international exchange service Is the agency of the united states government for the exchange of scientific literary and governmental alons with foreign governments institutions and individuals it handles about packages a year its shipments abroad going to eighty als agencies in fifty four countries the smith boalan this service to insure the widest possible distribution of its own publications the world has now adopted the system international catalogue of scientific literature this organization consists of a central bureau in london and thirty three regional bureaus in thirty three of the nations and publishes an an nual classified index the zoological park this Is the fa collection of about 1800 animals in roch creek alley in washington congress of late years has done fairly well in the matter of appropriations for these bureaus under the direction of the the freer gallery of art has its own endowment but the institution itself Is in financial straits in eighty years ltv activities have increased a hundred fold while its endowment has only doubled its present endowment Is but 1200 from which the annual income Is about from that sum only about Is available tor research and for publications compare these figures with the endow ment of the carnegie institution with its income of 1 since the world war does not go very far and gifts have fallen oft iso the has found its income so inadequate that it has had to curtail its major services of research and publication it has been forced to suspend ltv contributions to knowledge cries and to reduce the miscellaneous collections series to one third of the former size it has beep forced to postpone the printing of important manuscripts and to reject other manuscripts of equal importance anven the cataloguing catalo guing of its wonderful library has fallen tar behind in the major field of research the secre an nual report makes a surprisingly good showing it appears however that leis than 10 research projects are now being held up tor lack of and must be financed before they can be under herein lies the significance of alie appointment bv congress of dwight P morrow as a member of the board of regents it a current report in washington that mr may bo elected chancellor by the board tin situation seems to demand that moro funds must be had from the american people by gift and the board feela someone must head a campaign to ralee abeso funds chief justice taft chancellor at this writing does not think ho should bi the man for the leason that it might in some vay embarrass the head of the judiciary mw president dadea thinks it does not comport with the dignity of hla office otherwise he haa said he would gladly undertake the work so washington has its eye on mr morrow and has tha idea that he la the man slated for abo job in any event the board of regents has lt wl ask atle ican an people for r minimum addition to ita lo i |