240 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1903. 



])y foreign exhilntori^, and ])y several of the States of tlie Union, and there is scarcely 

 a power in the civilized world in any region of tlie globe which has not taken part in 

 these contribntions, and some of tlieni with the largest generosity. Men of science, 

 most competent to pass judgment, pronounce them to be of immense value and are 

 of opinion that, including the gifts from States of the Union and the exhibits of the 

 United States, they could not have been brought together by purchase for less than a 

 million of dollars. 



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Their adequate exhibition requires an additional building which shall afford at 

 least four times the space furnished by the present edifice of the Institution. 



The (Tovernment of the United States is now in possession of the materials of a 

 museum exhil)iting the natural products of our own country, associated with those 

 of foreign nations, which would rival in magnitude, value, and interest the most 

 celebrated museums of the Old World. 



The immediate practical question is, Shall these precious materials be for the most 

 part packed away in boxes, liable to injury and decay, or shall they be exhibited? 



It was the act of Congress which ordered the acceptance in trust of these noble 

 gifts to the United States. The receiving of them implies that they will be taken 

 care of in a manner corresponding to the just expectations of those who gave them; 

 and one of the prevailing motives of the donors was that the productions of their 

 several lands might continue to be exhil)ited. The intrinsic value of the donations 

 is, moreover, enhanced by the circumstances under which they were made. They 

 came to us in the one hundredth year of our life as a nation, in token of the desire of 

 the governments of the world to manifest their interest in our destiny. This con- 

 sideration becomes the more pleasing when we bring to mind that these gifts have 

 been received not exclusively from the great nations of Europe from which we are 

 sprung, or from the empire and republics on our own continent beyond the line, l)nt 

 that they come to us from the oldest abode of civilization on the Nile, from the time- 

 honored empires and kingdoms of the remotest eastern Asia, and from the principal 

 states which are rising into intellectual and industrial and political greatness in the 

 farthest isles and continent; from states which are younger than ourselves and bring 

 their contributions as a congratulatory offering to their elder brother. 



We have deemed it our duty to lay these facts and reflections before both Houses 

 of Congress and to represent to them that if they, in their wisdom, think that the 

 unequaled accumulation of natural specimens and works interesting to science, the 

 evidence of the good will to us that exists among men, should be jilaced where it can 

 be seen and studied by the people of our own land and by travelers from abroad, it 

 will be necessary to make an appropriation for the immediate erection of a spacious 

 building. Careful inquiries have been instituted to ascertain the smallest sum which 

 would be adequate to that purpose, and the plan of a convenient structure has been 

 made by General Meigs, the Quartermaster-General, U. S. Army. We beg leave 

 further to represent that to accomplish the purpose there would be need of an appro- 

 priation of $250,000. This amount is required not as a first installment, to be fol- 

 lowed by others, but as sufficient entirely to complete the edifice. 



Should this appropriation be made at an early day, the ))uilding could be ready for 

 the reception of articles before the next session of Congress. 



This memorial was referred in })otli Houses to the Committees on 

 Public Buildinjj's and Grounds and met with general favor. A bill 

 meeting the requirements was passed by the Senate on February 22, 

 1877, but a corresponding bill offered in the House on March 2 was 

 defeated b}' objection, possibly because of the lateness of the session, 

 less than two days remaining before the close of Congress. The 

 debates were brief but interesting. 



