NATIONAL MUSETTM BUILDINGS. 277 



On January 28, 1891, in view of the possibility of the passage h} 

 Conjj-ress of a bill for a new building-, the Regents — 



Resolved, That the executive comuiittee of the Board of Regents, or a uiajorit>- 

 thereof, and the Secretary be, and they are hereby, authorized and empowered to 

 act for and in the name of the Board of Regents in carrying into effect the provisicms 

 of any act of Congress that may l)e passetl providing foi' the erection of a new build- 

 ing for the United States National Museum. 



In the Fifty-second Congress a bill identical with that su))mitted at 

 the beginning of the previous Congress passed the Senate on April 11, 

 1892, but in the House it went no further than the Committee on 

 Public Buildings and Grounds. In the Fift3'-third Congress the same 

 measure was again introduced, but failed of action. 



In all the reports of the Secretar}^ from 1892 down, attention was 

 called to this ever-pressing subject. The exhibition space in l)oth 

 buildings was overfilled. Small specimens could be crowded in here 

 and thei"e, but extensive changes meant that old collections must be 

 sent to storage for the benefit of something more important or of a 

 better class of preparations. Extra stoi-erooms and workrooms were 

 imperative, but they could only be provided by renting outside quar- 

 ters, with the full understanding that such structures were unsafe, and 

 that collections to the value of hundreds of thousands of dollars might 

 any day be destroyed through the merest accident. Year after 3^ear 

 the extent and value of the material thus unsafely housed has been 

 rapidly increasing, and the conditions prevailing have also influenced 

 disadvantageously many owners of \ aluable and rare specimens, the 

 donation or loan of which could easil}^ have been effected were there a 

 safe phice for their installation. It is known that the Museum has 

 been deprived of many large and important accessions from this cause 

 alone. 



These circumstances have been explained time and again, but while 

 the ai'guments presented have excited much interest and have secured 

 the influence of strong and devoted friends, they have never, until 

 within the past two years, obtained the recognition they merit. 



The building of galleries in the Museum building, begun in 1897, 

 has afforded slight relief, but the total extent of these additions has 

 increased Init little the former area of the two ])uildings, and in no 

 wa}^ lessened the need of a new one. 



In the Fifty-fourth ('ongress Senator Morrill made his tinal effort 

 toward securing the appropriation so much desired by introducing in 

 the Senate, on December 10, 189,5, bill No. 698, which differed but 

 slightly in wording from former measures, except that tiie cost was 

 reduced fi-om $r)00,0(lO to $2.5( ),()()(). It was as follows: 



Thatfor an additicmal fire{)n)(il' Idiilding for the use of the National Museum, 300 

 feet square, with two stories and a Wascnicnt, to beerected wndiT tiic direction of the 



