Senate, three members of the House of Representatives, together with six persons other than members of Congress. As the pioneer American institution for the encouragement of scientific research and publication, the Smithsonian Institution is to be ranked among the potent educational influences under the oversight of the Federal Government. Connected with the Institution are the National Museum (1846), the Bureau of American Ethnology (1879), the National Zoological Park (1890), and the Astrophysical Observatory (1891).

The Will of James Smithson

[From GOODE, G. B., The Smithsonian Institution, 1846-1906, pp. 19-20.]

I, JAMES SMITHSON Son to Hugh, first Duke of Northumberland, & Elizabeth, Heiress of the Hungerfords of Studley, & Niece to Charles the proud Duke of Somerset, now residing in Bentinck Street, Cavendish Square, do this twenty-third day of October, one thousand eight hundred and twenty-six, make this my last Will and Testament:

I bequeath the whole of my property of every nature & kind soever to my bankers, Messrs. Drummonds of Charing Cross, in trust, to be disposed of in the following manner, and I desire of my said Executors to put my property under the management of the Court of Chancery.

To John Fitall, formerly my Servant, but now employed in the London Docks, and residing at No. 27, Jubilee Place, North Mile end, old town, in consideration of his attachment & fidelity to me, & the long & great care he has taken of my effects, & my having done but very little for him, I give and bequeath the Annuity or annual sum of One hundred pounds sterling for his life, to be paid to him quarterly, free of legacy duty & all other deductions, the first payment to be made to him at the expiration of three months after my death. I have at divers time lent sums of money to Henry Honore Sailly, formerly my Servant, but now keeping the Hungerford Hotel, in the rue Caumartin at Paris, & for which sums of money I have undated bills or bonds signed by him. Now, I will & direct that if he desires it, these sums of money be let remain in his hands at an Interest of five per cent. for five years after the date of the present Will.

To Henry James Hungerford, my Nephew, heretofore called Henry James Dickinson, son to my late brother, LieutenantColonel Henry Louis Dickinson, now residing with Mr. Auboin, at Bourg la Reine, near Paris, I give and bequeath for his life the whole of the income arising from my property of every nature & kind whatever, after the payment of the above Annuity, & after the death of John Fitall, that Annuity likewise, the payments to be made to him at the time of the interest or dividends becomes due on the Stocks or other property from which the income arises. Should the said Henry James Hungerford have a child or children, legitimate or illegitimate, I leave to such child or children, his or their heirs, executors, & assigns, after the death of bis, or her, or their Father, the whole of my property of every kind absolutely & forever, to be divided between them, if there is more than one, in the manner their father shall judge proper, or, in case of his omitting to decide this, as the Lord Chancellor shall judge proper.

Should my said Nephew, Henry James Hungerford, marry, I empower him to make a jointure.

In the case of the death of my said Nephew without leaving a child or children, or the death of the child or children he may have had under the age of twenty-one years or intestate, I then bequeath the whole of my property, subject to the Annuity of One Hundred pounds to John Fitall, & for the security & payment of which I mean Stock to remain in this country, to the United States of America, to found at Washington, under the name of the Smithsonian Institution, an Establishment for the increase & diffusion of knowledge among men.

I think it proper here to state, that all the money which will be standing in the French five per cents. at my death in the names of the father of my above mentioned Nephew, Henry James Hungerford, & all that in my names, is the property of my said Nephew, being what he inherited from his father, or what I have laid up him from the savings upon his income.

JAMES SMITHSON. [L.S.]

III. THE EDUCATIONAL WORK OF GOVERNMENT

DEPARTMENTS

for

The possibilities of the Federal Government performing an educational service, having both economic and cultural worth for the people of the entire country, have been thoroughly established by the Department of Agriculture. Many other

divisions of the central government likewise contribute to the broadening of national ideals and the quickening of national progress. Withal the direct and tangible results of its work, and the country-wide scope of its influence have given to the Department of Agriculture a momentum that promises to keep it in the front rank of the active educational forces of the nation.

IV. THE CHILDREN'S BUREAU

The manifold benefits accruing to the people of the country from the undertakings of the numerous bureaus and divisions of the United States Department of Agriculture, even during its relatively brief existence, always afforded a forceful argument for those who foresaw the possibilities of the proper utilization of Federal influence for the conservation and betterment of child life. The arguments advanced by social service workers and others of altruistic motives for the constitution of a Federal agency, the chief attention of which would be directed toward child welfare, had added force through the failure of Congress to provide sufficient funds to enable the Bureau of Education properly to carry on its legitimate work.

AN ACT To establish in the Department of Commerce and Labor a bureau to be known as the Children's Bureau.

[Act of April 9, 1912 (37 Stat. 79) as amended by Act of March 4, 1913 (37 Stat. 736).]

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That there shall be established in the Department of Commerce and Labor a bureau to be known as the Children's Bureau.1

SEC. 2. That the said bureau shall be under the direction of a chief, to be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, and who shall receive an annual compensation of five thousand dollars. The said bureau shall investigate and report to said department upon all matters pertaining to the welfare of children and child life among all classes of our

1 Transferred from Department of Commerce and Labor to Department of Labor by act approved March 4, 1913.

people, and shall especially investigate the questions of infant mortality, the birth rate, orphanage, juvenile courts, desertion, dangerous occupations, accidents and diseases of children, employment, legislation affecting children in the several States and Territories. But no official, or agent, or representative of said bureau shall, over the objection of the head of the family, enter any house used exclusively as a family residence. The chief of said bureau may from time to time publish the results of these investigations in such manner and to such extent as may be prescribed by the Secretary of Commerce and Labor.

SEC. 3. That there shall be in said bureau, until otherwise provided for by law, an assistant chief, to be appointed by the Secretary of Commerce and Labor, who shall receive an annual compensation of two thousand four hundred dollars; one private secretary to the chief of the bureau, who shall receive an annual compensation of one thousand five hundred dollars; one statistical expert, at two thousand dollars; two clerks of class four; two clerks of class three; one clerk of class two; one clerk of class one; one clerk, at one thousand dollars; one copyist, at nine hundred dollars; one special agent, at one thousand four hundred dollars; one special agent, at one thousand two hundred dollars, and one messenger at eight hundred and forty dollars.1

SEC. 4. That the Secretary of Commerce and Labor is hereby directed to furnish sufficient quarters for the work of this bureau at an annual rental not to exceed two thousand dollars.

SEC. 5. That this Act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage.

V. THE BUREAU OF EDUCATION

The proposals for the establishment of a national Bureau of Education date from about 1864 and 1865. In 1866 a memorial form was presented to Congress on the subject by the National Association of State and City School Superintendents. In 1867 an act was passed establishing a National Department of Education. The Memorial and this act of Congress are eliminated from this collection but are given in the Source Book in the History of Education in the United States.

1 A considerable increase in appropriations was made by act of July 16, 1914, (38 Stat. L. p. 505).

1. Statutes relating to the Office

The statutes under which the Bureau now operates are as follows:

SEC. 516. (Office of Education.) There shall be in the Department of the Interior a Bureau called the Office of Education, the purpose and duties of which shall be to collect statistics and facts showing the condition and progress of education in the several States and Territories, and to diffuse such information respecting the organization and management of schools and school-systems, and methods of teaching, as shall aid the people of the United States in the establishment and maintenance of efficient schoolsystems, and otherwise promote the cause of education throughout the country.1

SEC. 517. (Commissioner of Education.) The management of the Office of Education shall, subject to the direction of the Secretary of the Interior, be intrusted to a Commissioner of Education, who shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, and shall be entitled to a salary 2 of three thousand dollars a year.

SEC. 518. (Duties of Commissioner.) The Commissioner of Education shall present annually to Congress a report embodying the results of his investigations and labors, together with a statement of such facts and recommendations as will, in his judgment, subserve the purpose for which the office is established.3

SEC. 519. (Rooms for Office of Education.) The Chief of Engineers shall furnish proper offices for the use of the Office of Education.4

1 Act of March 2, 1867, ch. 158, 14 Stat. L. 434; Act of July 20, 1868, ch. 176, 15 Stat. L. 92, 106.

2 Later increased to $5000.

3 Act of March 2, 1867, ch. 158, 14 Stat. L. 434.

Act of March 2, 1867, ch. 158, 14 Stat. L. 434; Act of March 2, 1867, ch. 167, 14 Stat. L. 466.