REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 23 



ning July 1st, eiphteeu hundred and eighty- , the sum of 



dollars, to be paid by the Secretary of the Treasury out of any moneys 

 in the Treasury not otherwise ap|)roi)riated, and expended under the 

 direction of the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. 



Capron collection of Japanese icorJcs of art. — A bill appropriating 

 $14,675, introduced by the Hon. Daniel W. Voorbees on December 4, 

 1889, was referred to the Committee on the Library, was reported favor- 

 ably, and passed the Senate on March 29, 1890. It was also, on May 

 19, 1890, reported favorably by the House Committee, but was not 

 reached on the calendar at the close of the year. 



The World- s Columbian Exposition^ Chicago, 1892. — The act of Con- 

 gress approved April 25, 1890, which provides for celebrating the four 

 hundredth anniversary of the discovery of America by Christopher 

 Columbus, by holding an international exhibition of arts, industries, 

 manufactures, and the product of the soil, mine, and sea in the city of 

 Chicago, states in section IG : 



That there shall be exhibited at said exposition by the Government 

 of the United States, from its Executive Departments, the Smithsonian 

 Institution, the United States Fish Commission, and the National 

 Museum, such articles and materials as illustrate the function and 

 administrative faculty of the Government in time of peace and its 

 resources as a war power, tending to demonstrate the nature of our insti- 

 tutions and their adaptation to the wants of the people ; and to secure 

 a complete and harmonious arrangement of such a Government ex- 

 hibit, a board shall be created to be charged with the selection, prep- 

 aration, arrangement, safe-keeping, and exhibition of such articles 

 and materials as the heads of the several Departments and the direc- 

 tors of the Smithsonian Institution and National Museum may respect- 

 ively decide shall be embraced in said Government exhibit. The Pres 

 ident may also designate additional articles for exhibition. Such board 

 shall be composed of one person to be named by the head of each 

 Executive Department, and one by the directors of the Smithsonian 

 Institution and National Museum, and one by the Fish Commission, such 

 selection to be approved by the President of the United States. The 

 President shall name the chairman of said board, and the board itself 

 shall select such other officers as it may deem necessary. 



Under the authority conveyed by this act I have designated as the 

 representative upon this board of the Smithsonian Institution and Na- 

 tional Museum, the assistant secretary of the Institution, Dr. G. Brown 

 Goode, who has already devoted considerable time to the subject of the 

 proposed exposition in addition to his other official duties. 



In connection with this requirement that an exhibit shall be made 

 by the National Museum, I beg leav^e to recur to the fact that it has 

 been the experience in connection with previous expositions on a smaller 

 scale, that the routine work of the Institution is seriously interfered 

 with by thus throwing upon its regular employes the great burden in- 

 volved in the preparation, packing, and displaying of Museum mate- 

 rial without adequate assistance by an increased appropriation during 

 this time of unusual effort. The impairment of specimens by frequent 

 transportation should also be borne in mind, and in justice to our per- 



