20 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 



dignity of extoricn- which has come to he associated with the buildings 

 erected ])}" the Government of the United States. 



The Secretary lias, howevei', frequently adverted to the fact that 

 it is not bricks and mortar, nor, even, cases and specimens that 

 make the museum, but (more important than these) the learning and 

 enthusiasm of the men who ])ring together and classify and describe 

 these collections. Of such men there is an inadequate numl)er, and 

 all are inadetpiately paid, AVhile w^ages of laborers and mechanics 

 and the cost of living to all men have advanced by leaps and bounds, 

 the salaries of the scientific staft' of the Government, and more 

 especially of the Museum, have to a great extent been kept at a 

 stationary level. The increase in the number of museums, the increase 

 in the nund)er of colleges and universities, the increase in their endow- 

 ments have all put a premimn, as it were, upon the services of men of 

 the first raidv, and it is the real devotion of the Museum statf, and not 

 the pecuniary reward which they have received, that has preserxed 

 to the Government the services of this distinguished, zealous, and 

 effective, but wholly underpaid body of men. 



The best of the scientific staff of the Museum are retained not 

 merely l)y the unselfishness of their interest in science, l)ut ])ecause 

 they can remain there without the duties of tuition, which attach to 

 higher salaries that they can receive in colleges. But they ean not 

 be expected to remain indefinitely when so much better terms are 

 being daily held out to them elsewhere. 



The Secretary has repeatedly drawn the attention of Congress to 

 the need of the ]VIuseum for an increase in the item under ''preserva- 

 tion of collections'' for the purpose of making at least small advances 

 in the salaries of the stall', and in the estimates submitted this 3'ear he 

 has d(>terniined to sacritice needed improvements in many directions 

 with the hope that, on this single item. Congress ma}" see its way clear 

 to appro\-e his reconuuendation. 



To relie\e the congestion in some of the most crowded exhibition 

 halls, and to permit the display of a few more of the objects taken 

 from storage. Congress authorized the construction of galleries which 

 have also been found well adapted as temporary lal)oratories in sev- 

 eral de[)artments, and for extension of the Museum library. 



The innnl»er of specimens received during the year was al)Out 

 450, 000, ]naking the total number of objects nearly five and a half mil- 

 lion. The more im])ortant additions and general details concerning 

 the several departments are given in an appendix in the report of the 

 Assistant Seci-ctary. 



BITRKAC OF AMKKICAN P^THNOLOGY. 



lles(>arches among the native American tribes were continued by 

 the Bureau of American Ethnology, under the supervision of Maj. 



