REPOKT OF THE SECRETARY. 61 



Institution, iucludiug the l^atioual Museum and the Com mission of Fish 

 and Fisheries, to participate in the Centennial Exposition of the Ohio 

 Valley and Central States, to be held at Cincinnati, Ohio, from July 

 fourth to October seventh, eighteen hundred and eighty-eight," that 

 the President of the United States may, in his discretion make an order 

 directing that any documents, papers, maps not original, books or other 

 exhibits which properly and pertinently relate to the establishment of 

 civil government in the territory northwest of the Ohio Kiver, may bo 

 sent upon an executive order from any of the several Departments in 

 said act named, or from the exhibits now at Cincinnati, and that the 

 appropriation of money in said act to defray the expenses of such ex- 

 hibits, may be made applicable, in so far as the President of the United 

 States may direct, to the payment of the exi)enscs of the care, trans- 

 portation to and return of such exhibits from Marietta. And the same 

 shall be paid from such fund heretofore set apart for each Department 

 as the President may order. Nor shall anything in said act be so con- 

 strued as to prevent the purchase of suitable materials, and the em- 

 ployment of proper persons, to complete or modify series of objects, and 

 classes of specimens, when in the judgment of the head of any Depart- 

 ment such purchase or employment, or both is necessary in the proper 

 preparation and conduct of an exhibit. Nor to authorize the removal 

 from their places of deposit in Washington of any original paper or 

 document or laws or ordinances whatever. 

 Approved, July 16, 1888. 



The Assistant Secretary, Dr. Goode, was appointed representative of 

 the Smithsonian Institution in the preparation of this display, in ac- 

 cordance with the provisions of the act. Preparations for these exhi- 

 bitions were nearly completed at the close of the fiscal year, and some 

 fourteen car-loads of material have been sent by this Institution to 

 Cincinnati. The sum of $50,000 was appropriated for the use of the 

 Smithsonian Institution (including the National Museum and Fish 

 Commission), and $10,000 of this sum was transferred to the Commis- 

 sioner of Fisheries. 



In this connection it may be well to say that, although sympathizing 

 with the efibrt to extend the educational work of the Institution and of 

 the National Museum througliout the country, the growing tendency to 

 withdraw for a considerable portion of each year some of the most in- 

 teresting and valuable parts of the collections, is liable to many objec- 

 tions, — objections which are much stronger now, since the Museum is 

 approaching a final arrangement in classification than some years ago, 

 when the collections were unsettled and unformed. Not only is the 

 work of the entire Museum seriously impaired, but the collections sent 

 out are invariably damaged, some irreparably, some to such a degree 

 that it requires much time and expense to restore them. Furthermore, 

 the standard of local exhibitions is yearly becoming higher, and tlie 

 local managers are no longer satisfied to accept from us the specimens 

 which, in the judgment of the j\Iuseum ollicials, can be spared, but are 

 disposed to insist upon having tlio most valuable and costly objects, 

 which if destroyed would be irreplaceable, and if sent at all are espe- 

 cially liable to damage. In addition to this should be taken into account 



