Trustees Records, Vol. 2, 1854 (page 087)

87

One among the many reasons why this statuary should
not be procured, is the state of the finances of the Corporation. _
By the last annual report fo the Treasurer, it appears
that the property belonging to the Corporation amounted to
the sum of $29,900. Estimating the stocks in which it
was invested at par _ while nearly all of them are greatly
depreciated. _ It also appears by the Treasurer's report,
that the expenditures exceeded the income, (which included
the sales of lots during the year) $252.51. We shall
therefore find, when all the lots are sold, if we proceed
in this manner, that we have the embellishments on hand,
but no fund & no means to meet the current expenses
of the Corporation. _

Another reason why the statuary should not be placed
in the Chapel is, that in the opinion of many persons
who profess, or are supposed to be judges in such matters, the
light will not be good, and the beauties of the statues will not
be seen to advantage, nor justice be done to the artists who
shall construct them. _

But it is not necessary here to detail all the objections
to the plan. _

The undersigned believes that an arrangement can be
entered into with the artists who have been engaged to make
the statues, to relinquish the contracts by making them a liberal
compensation for the work already done: but if that cannot
be accomplished, that some disposition can be made of the
statues when completed, by which a large part of the expen-
diture may be returned to the Corporation; and if only
one half of the amount should be saved, that sum at
compound interest, in twelve years would give the original