34 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 



and much danger to the public and many accidents to the animals en- 

 sued in consequence. The deer and antelope were annoyed and injured 

 by (logs, the flock of valuable Angora goats was nearly destroyed by 

 being poisoned by visitors with laurel {Kalm'ia latifolia), and many 

 other injuries were inflicted on the animals, while the administration 

 was in anxiety lest some grave accidents, such as were almost to be 

 expected under these circumstances, sliould occur amoug the crowds of 

 visitors, embracing not only adults, but children, of the latter of whom 

 there were often many hundreds present and unprotected. 



Tlijit tliis niixiety was not unwarranted was shown on the night of 

 May 24, when a grizzly bear, during the absence of the single watch- 

 man, scrambled up the ahnost perpendicular cliff' in the rear of t]\^i 

 yards and escaped from the park. After fruitless attemjits to capture 

 him, and the injury of one of the employes whom he wouuded, orders 

 were reluctantly given to shoot him. 



The following letter, setting forth the urgent needs of the park, was 

 addressed to the Secretary of the Treasury on January 23 : 



Smithsonian Institution, 

 Washington, J). 0., January 33, 1892. 



Sir: 1 beg leave to invite your attention to the estimates under the 

 Smithsonian Instituticm for the fiscal year ending rTune 30, 1893, duly 

 submitted to you October 7, 1891, and to the modified form in which 

 these estimates were transmitted to Congress, whereby it w(udd seem 

 to be reciuumended that no increase be made over the amounts appro- 

 priated for the current year. 



While feeling that all the amounts asked for by the Institution have 

 been only such as are ade(piate with the strictest economy, I have to 

 ask your especial attention to the tluee items for the National ZocUogi- 

 cal iPark, /. e., Improvements, Ikiildings, and Maintenance. Disasters 

 from floods and like contingencies for which no juovision w^as made by 

 Congress in the appropriations for the i)resent year emphasize the 

 necessity of securing the full amount estimated undei- the headings 

 Improvements and Buildings, while there exists exceptional necessity 

 in the item for Maintenance, which is essentially for the food and care 

 of living animals. 



The approi)riations made by the act of March 3, 1891, for " nuiin- 

 tenance" during the i)resent fiscal year (for which .$35,000 was asked), 

 was $17,000, but the sum of $5,122.71 from the appropriation of April 

 30, 1890, w^as available and has been used for this purpose; and even 

 with this addition it has been necessary to ask fi)r a deficiency ap])ro- 

 l)riation of $4,431, chiefly to cover expenditures which w^ere found to 

 be absolutely necessary to prevent loss to the Government. 



The mininuim ex i>en(li tares for the present year under this item will 

 therefore be $22,(;22.71; the expenses for the first six months being 

 $14,209.73, or at the rate of $28,539.40 per annum. I trust, therefore, 

 that it is made sufficiently clear that witli an appropriation of $17,500 

 it will be impossible to properly care for an<l feed tlie animals now on 

 hand. 



Tliepast exjienditures would have been still larger but that the work 

 on the accounts fin- the Treasury lias in part been done gratuitously by 

 the Institution, which has also supplie<l free of cost office rooms, as weU 



