REPORr OF THE SECRETARY. 15 



This state of affairs seemed to demaad decided action, and it being 

 absolutely impossible to make any changes in the present building with- 

 out entirely vacating a portion of it for a considerable period of time, 

 the exigency for more accommodation seemed a great deal more urgent 

 than had been at first supposed. 



AYhile it became evident, on study ot the question, that for the ulti- 

 mate needs of the Museum, a building of but one story occupying the 

 same area as the present Museum would be insufficient, the question 

 of immediate action was unexpectedly brought up in May by one of the 

 senior Eegents, a member of the Senate, who, when visitiug the Museum 

 with some friends, noticed its crowded and unsatisfactory condition. 

 Having learned from me of the mortality and sickness of the employes, 

 he inquired as to the feasibility of erecting a new building, and offered 

 to use his influence to procure an appropriation, if 1 could obtain for 

 him a set of sketch plans within a week, time being, as he stated, a very 

 essential condition. After consulting with the chairman of your Exec- 

 utive Committee, I had no hesitation in accepting such an offer, but a 

 difficulty arose from the fact that the sketch plans which had been laid 

 before the Eegents in 1882 were in part for purposes which the Eegents 

 had at their last meeting disapproved, and that hence they could not 

 be used. By great diligence, however, plans for a building to be de- 

 voted exclusively to Museum purposes were prepared within the time 

 mentioned. These were based upon an extensive accumulation of 

 notes and drawings, embodying the record of the best recent work of 

 museiim construction in this country and in Europe, and they were for 

 a building, as far as was consistent with these improvements, like the 

 existing Museum. The report submitted by Senator Morrill, to accom- 

 pany Senate bill 3131, contains the correspondence on which action 

 was taken, and I have discussed the acts therein presented elsewhere 

 under the proper heads.* 



The following bill was introduced by Senator Morrill on June 12, was 

 passed by the Senate on June 20, and at the end of the fiscal year was 

 in the hands of the House Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds: 



A BILL for tlio erection of iui additioual fire-proof building for the use of the National 



Miiseunj. 



Be it enacted by the ISenate and House of RepresentativcH of the Cnited 

 States of America in Congress assembled, Tiuit the sum of five hundred 

 thousand dollars is hereby appropriated, out of any money in the Treas- 

 ury not otherwise api)ropriated, or so much thereof as may be neces- 

 sary, for the erection of a tirei)roof building for the use of the National 

 Museum, to cover three hundred feet square, and to consist of two 

 stories and basement, to be erected under the direction of the Eegents 

 of the Smithsonian Instituti(m, in accordance with the plans now on tile 

 with the Committee on Public Buildings and (rrounds, on the south- 

 western portion of the grounds of the Smitiisonian Institution. Said 

 building to be placed west of the Smithsonian Institution, leaving a 



* iSee museum, etc. 



