REPORT OF ASSISTANT SECRETARY. 15 



In proportion <i.s the sirxcture of a f/ovcyitmeiit f/ires J'orce to puhlie 

 opinion^ it should he eiilifihtened. 



jSTo one has yet explained, exeept by eoiijeeture, wliy James Smithsoii 

 selected the United States as the seat of his foandation. He had no 

 acquaintances in. America, nor does he appear to have had any books 

 relating to America except two. Ehees quotes from one of these (Trav- 

 els through North America, by Isaac Weld, secretary of the Royal Soci- 

 ety) a paragraph concerning Washington, then a small town of 5,000 

 inhabitants, in which it is predicted that "the Federal city, as soon 

 as navigation is perfected, will increase most rapidly," and that, at a 

 future day, if the affairs of the United States go on as prosperously 

 as they have done, it will become the grand emporium of the West and 

 rival in magnitude and splendor the cities of the Old World. 



Inspired by a belief in the future greatness of the new nation, realiz- 

 ing that while the needs of England were well met by existing organi- 

 zations, such as would not be likely to spring up for many years in a 

 new, poor, and growing country, he founded in the new England an 

 institution of learning, the civilizing power of which has been of incal- 

 culable value. Who can attempt to say what the condition of the 

 United States would have been today without this bequest? 



Well did President John Quincy Adams say: 



Of all the foimdations of estahlishments for pious or charitable uses 

 which ever signalized the spirit of the age or the comprehensive heneficence 

 of the founder^ none can he named more deserving the approhation of 

 manlxind. 



The most important service by far which the Smithsonian Institution 

 has rendered to the nation has been that extended from year to year 

 since 184G — intangible but none the less appreciable — by its constant 

 cooperation with the (lovernment, public institutions, and individuals 

 in every enterjirise, scientific or educational, which needed advice, 

 support, or aid from its manifold resources. 



There have been, however, material results of its activities, the 

 extent of which can not fail to impress anyone who will look at them. 

 The most important of these are the library and the Museum, which 

 have grown up under its fostering care. 



THE LIBRARY. 



The library has been accumulated without aid Irom the Treasury of 

 the United States. It has, in fact, been the result of an extensive 

 system of exchanges, the publications of the Institution having been 

 used to obtain similar ])ublications from institutions of learning in all 

 parts of the world. 



The value of the books distributed since the Institution was opened 

 must have been nearly $1,000,000, or nearly twice the original bequest 

 of Smithson.^ Many of the publications in each of these series are now 

 out of print. 



' Tliis estimate is based upon the prices which are charged for the books by second- 

 hand dealers, as shown in tlieir sale catalogues. 



