28 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 



for the exhibit at the World's Columbian Exposition. This authority 

 was opportune, as objects of that character are becoming scarce and 

 costly and jirobably could not, after a few montljs, be secured for pres- 

 ervation in a permanent collection. A similar work of preservation, 

 also authorized by law, was executed in the restoration of the ruin of 

 Casa Grande, in Arizona. 



Mention of these special operations does not imply that the re- 

 searclies into the religions, customs, history and other ethnologic data 

 of the Indian tribes were omitted during the year. Details respecting 

 all the work of the Bureau will be found in the report of its director, 

 given in the Appendix. 



NATIONAL ZOOLOGICAL PARK. 



The insufficiency of the appropriations for the maintenance of the 

 National Zoological Park was pointed out in the report for the year 

 ending June 30,1891, and experience amply supports the opinions there 

 expressed. It does not seem superfluous to repeat the following passage 

 from this last report : 



"The primary object for which Congress was asked to establish a 

 National Zoological Park was to secure the preservation of those Amer- 

 ican animals that are already nearly extinct, and this object it was 

 thought would be best secured by the establishment of a large inclosure 

 in which such animals could be kept in a seclusion as nearly as possible 

 like that of their native haunts. It was believed that, except for initial 

 expenses for buildings and roads for the public, this could be done with 

 an outlay comi^a rati vely small, probably not exceeding $50,000 a year; 

 for, after the necessaiy land was once acquired and fenced in, smaller 

 inclosures and paddocks could be set off and inexpensive barns erected 

 at about this yearly charge. 



It was, in the nature of things, inevitable that some provision should 

 be made for the convenience of a curious and interested jniblic, as well 

 as for the care and well being of animals unaccustomed to the i)res- 

 ence of man. For the tirst of these it was intended to set aside a con- 

 siderable area, on which the principal buildings should be placed and 

 to which shonld be taken, as was expedient, such of the animals as 

 might interest the public, the larger ])ortion of the park being still 

 considered as a natural preserve where animals need be disturbed by 

 no unusual surroundings, and where it was hoped they might, after 

 the time necessary for their acclimation, breed their young. 



The maintenance of a park devoted ta these purposes, that is, pri- 

 marily to useful and scientific ends, and secondly to recreation, seemed 

 to those interested in its success a legitimate tax upon national re- 

 sources, but when Congress decided that one-half of the necessary 

 expenses should be raised by local taxation it seemed only fit that the 

 tax-payers should be heard in their wish to liave prominence given to 

 the feature that principally interested them, and their chief interest was 

 natnrally in the park as a place of recreation. That this was recog- 

 nized by a considerable body in Congress became evident from the sub- 

 sequent debates. 



The moral right of the people of the District to ask consideration of 



