338 SOCIETY OF NATURALISTS. 



REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON THE REPEAL 

 OF THE DUTY ON SCIENTIFIC AND PHIL- 

 OSOPHICAL APPARATUS. 



Your committee report that the}' prepared the following peti- 

 tion, which has been very numerously signed and duly presented 

 to Congress : 



We, the undersigned, respectfully petition the Senators and 

 Representatives of the United States, in Congress assembled, to 

 remove all duties upon scientific and philosophical apparatus, 

 whose chief use is for instruction or research. 



It is evident that the welfare and prosperity of the entire 

 country depends primarily upon the education of the people and 

 the difllision of knowledge, and that, to secure happiness at home 

 and success in commercial competition abroad, every practical 

 means to improve education and advance science must be utilized 

 unhesitatingly. To fail in this respect is to fail in patriotism. 

 Education is the foundation of national well-being, and the de- 

 mands of education must precede, therefore, all other special 

 demands. In a government like ours, " of the people, by the 

 people, for the people," education is rightlv regarded as the 

 corner-stone of the whole fabric. 



It is indispensable for teachers and investigators of all branches 

 of natural science to obtain numerous pieces of apparatus, most 

 of which are incapable of use for other purposes than those of 

 instruction and research. The duties upon such apparatus act as 

 a direct, serious, and unpatriotic interference with the education 

 of the country, and injure the whole nation to an incalculably vast 

 extent. Experience shows that the provision now in force for the 

 free importation of scientific instruments by institutions is entirel}' 

 inadequate to remedy the great evil. 



Finally, the duty collected on scientific and philosophical 

 apparatus imported into this country, while a serious tax upon 

 individuals, is so limited in amount that the loss consequent upon 

 the removal of the duty will be insignificant compared to the gain, 

 whicli will be for the highest purposes of the whole people. 



