14 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 



Report of the expenditures to he made to Congress. — The House Com- 

 mittee on Appropriations proposed a clause in the sundry civil bill for 

 the next fiscal year wbich was agreed to by Congress and forms part of 

 the act (No. 307), which is as follows: 



That the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution shall submit to 

 Congress at its next session a detailed statement of the expenditures of 

 the fiscal year 188S, under appropriations for " International Exchanges," 

 "North American Ethnology," and the "National Museum," and annu- 

 ally thereafter a detailed siatement of exi)enditures under said ai)pro- 

 priations shall be submitted to Congress at the beginning of each reg- 

 ular session thereof. 



BUILDINGS. 



Among other matters discussed at the last meeting of the Eegents 

 was the erection of a new Museum building. On this occasion the Ee- 

 gents tacitly re-afitirmed their resolution of 188:5, recommending to Con- 

 gress the enlargement of the National Museum by the erection of afire- 

 proof building on the southwest corner of the Smithsonian reserv^ation, 

 similar in style to the present National Museum ; but on viewing the 

 sketch plans, which had been prepared subsequently to the resolution, 

 so as to include offices for the Geological Survey, they added an ex- 

 pression of their opinioii that the new building should be planned ex- 

 clusively for Museum purposes. 



It was not at first intended to take action in this matter during the 

 present year, but the overcrowded condition of the building, on account 

 of which not only the current work but the proper development of the 

 collections is greatly impeded, seemed to render immediate action nec- 

 essary. A still more urgent need appeared to be the unsatisfactory 

 sanitary condition of the new Museum building. A committee, consist- 

 ing of Dr. J. II. Kidder, chairman, Dr. James M. Flint, U. S. Navy, and 

 Mr. J. E. Watkins, was appointed on April 14 to make a careful study 

 of the water supply, ventilation, and drainage, and iu May submitted 

 a preliminary report, from which it appeared that an alarming amount 

 of sickness and mortality has been manifest among the employes since 

 1881 — a mortality which can not be attributed to the location of the 

 building, which has sometimes been pronounced unsanitary, since there 

 has been no corresponding percentage of ill health iu the old Smithson- 

 ian building adjoining. The number of days lost by employes on ac- 

 count of sickness iu 1886 was 796; iu 1887,875; and in 1888, up to May 

 10, 213, by far the largest part of this loss of time being attributed on 

 the books of the Museum to miasmatic diseases. The committee states 

 that there is no reasonable doubt that some, if not all, of the ten deaths 

 since 1881 were hastened or induced by the unwholesome condition of 

 this building. The committee suggested repairs and modifications of 

 considerable extent, including the construction of continuous cellars 

 under each of the four sides of the building, which, in addition to the 

 other necessary expenses, would cost in the neighborhood of $40,000. 



