876 CONGRESSIONAL PROCEEDINGS. 



of foreign books, the particular work which he hicks. To 

 save him the trouble and expense of so doing, the friends 

 of the mammoth library scheme propose — what? That we 

 should begin by expending half a million of dollars, which 

 would " go far towards the purchase of as good a library as 

 Europe can boast;" that " such a step taken, we should 

 never leave the work unfinished ;'"' and that, when finished, 

 it would " rival anything civilization has ever had to 

 show." 



It is prudent, before we enter this rivalship, to count its 

 cost. Without seeking to reach the seven hundred thousand 

 volumes of the Parisan library, let us suppose we try for 

 the half million of volumes that form the boast of Munich, 

 or till up the shelves of the Bodleian. Our librarian informs 

 me that the present Congressional library (certainly not one 

 of the most expensive) has cost upwards of three dollars a 

 volume; its binding alone has averaged over a dollar a vol- 

 ume. The same works could be purchased now, it is true, 

 much more cheaply; but, on the other hand, the rare old 

 books and curious manuscripts necessary to complete a 

 library of the largest class would raise the average. Assum- 

 ing, then, the above rate, a rival of the Munich library 

 would cost us a million and a half of dollars ; its binding alone 

 would amount to a sum equal to the entire Smithsonian 

 fund, as originally remitted to us from England. 



And thus, not only the entire legacy which we have 

 promised to expend so that it shall increase and difluse 

 knowledge among men, is to be squandered in this idle and 

 bootless rivalry, but thousands on thousands must be added 

 to finish the work from what source to be derived, let its 

 advocates inform us. And when we have spent thrice the 

 amount of Smithson's original bequest on the project, we 

 shall have the satisfaction of believing that we ma}^ possi- 

 bly have saved to some worthy scholar a hundred, or per- 

 chance a few hundred dollars, which otherwise he must 

 have spent to obtain from Europe half a dozen valuable 

 works of reference ! 



But there are other reasons urged for this appropriation 

 of the Smithsonian fund. 



" There is something to point to, if you should be asked to account for it 

 unexpectedly; and something to point to if a traveler should taunt you 

 with the collections which he has seen abroad, and which gild and recom- 

 mend the absolutisms of Vienna or St. Petersburg." — Senator Choate^s 

 Speech, as above. 



This purchasing of a reply to some silly traveler's idle 

 taunts, at a cost of a million and a half of dollars, includ- 



