NATIONAL MTTSETTM BUILDINGS. 243 



In his message to the Forty-Hfth Congress, first session, December 

 3, 1877, the President recommended " that an adequate appropriation 

 be made for the establishment and conduct of a national museum under 

 their [the Regents] supervision." 



Acting upon the basis of information supplied during the previous 

 session, the same bill was introduced in the House of Representatives 

 (H. R. 2662) on Januar}^ 21, 1878, by Senator Case}' Young. It was 

 referred to the Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds, which, 

 through Mr.' Young, submitted a report (No. 211) upon the measure 

 on Februar}' 25, 1878. On March 6 following, the bill was again 

 brought up, referred to the Committee of the Whole and placed on 

 the Calendar, but no further action was taken. A similar bill (S. 1320) 

 was su])mitted in the Senate by Senator Justin S. Morrill on May 27, 

 1878, and referred to the Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds. 



The report of the House committee (No. 241) briefiy sets forth the 

 history and requirements of the Museum and the steps taken to secure 

 the valua])le collections exhibited at Philadelphia, and closes as follows: 



The collections in the Smithsonian bnildinjj; now open to the public occupy about 

 30,000 square feet of floor space. It is (juite within bounds to estimate that the articles 

 stored away will require for their satisfactory exhibition between three and four 

 times that area, even allowing for a great reduction of the objects by the elimination 

 and distribution of the duplicate specimens. There is no provision whatever at 

 present for the display of these articles, and unless Congress furnishes the means 

 this magnificent property of the people will go to decay and destruction in the course 

 of time, the animal products being destroyed rapidly by insects and many objects of 

 a mineral or metallurgical character by rust. 



As every day of delay in arranging and exhibiting this collection is accompanied 

 with the question of erecting a suitable building for its acconnnodation and has 

 occupied the attention of the Smithsonian Institution, a plan has been devised which, 

 it is believed, will furnish the facilities required in the shortest possible interval of 

 time and at the minimum of expense. 



To erect an edifice of the necessary magnitude, in the style of architecture hereto- 

 fore adopted by the Government for its use in Washington, would involve an 

 expenditure of many millions of dollars, and it could not be completed and available 

 for occupation in a shorter period than from five to eight years. Nevertheless, on a 

 simple plan originally suggested by General Meigs, a l)uil(ling somewhat similar in 

 character to those erected for the National Exposition, 300 feet square, or having an 

 area of 90,000 square feet — something over two acres — perfectly fireproof, amply 

 lighted, and properly adapted for all its objects, can be constructed for about 

 $250,000, and can be ready for occupation within ten months, or at most a year, from 

 the time of its commencement. 



By the plan contemplated everything would be on one floor, without any stairways 

 or second story, no cellar or fireproof floor being reijuired. The single floor of the 

 building to be of concrete, and thus water and vermin proof; the walls and other 

 portions of the building of brick, and the beams, rafters, and framework of the roof 

 of iron, without a particle of wood. 



It is therefore nnich to be desired that the means be fnrnisiied at an early day for 

 the construi'tion of this building, so that the rich material now belonging to the 

 United States Government can be utilized. 



