TWENTY-NINTH CONGRESS, 1845-47. 407 



most useful and interesting object of pursuit. He wished 

 to provide for the use of those who became students lands 

 and buildings, with a view to enable them to engage in 

 practical agriculture. 



He was not disposed, at this time, to go into the subject 

 fully, but he submitted that the best mode of carrying out 

 the objects of the donor, was, to promote agricultural knowl- 

 edge. 



Mr. Owen had a few words to say in reply to the gentle- 

 man from Ohio, [Mr. Sawyer,] who had urged that the rate 

 of interest should be five instead of six per cent. He would 

 ask the committee generally, whether, in regard to a per- 

 fect gratuity — a fund for public objects to which this Gov- 

 ernment had not contributed one cent — we ought not to be 

 willing to pay as large an interest as we were ordinarily 

 obliged to pay on loans ? Ought we not to yield something 

 to the object of the bequest ? 



It must also be considered that, by this bill, much expense 

 was saved to the Government. Should this plan be carried 

 out, it would save all the expenses attending the preserva- 

 tion of the collections of the Exploring Expedition. These 

 could not be taken care of without considerable expense. 

 It would also be recollected, that it was a part of General 

 Washington's plan in laying out this city, to extend the 

 public grounds from the Capitol to the President's House. 

 These grounds embraced more than one hundred acres, and 

 should they be embellished and improved, according to the 

 original design, the expense would be very great. All 

 these expenses were to be defrayed by the Smithsonian 

 Institution. All that was asked was the ordinary interest 

 of six per cent., which the Government had recently been 

 obliged to pay. 



In regard to the ninth section of the bill, he would be 

 glad if the objections of the gentleman from Ohio should 

 prove to be good, and that there should be such an overflow 

 of applications for admission into the institution as to ren- 

 der any restrictions necessary. He apprehended that there 

 would be no necessity for such restrictions, for we did not 

 propose, as at the West Point Academy, to pay any ex- 

 penses of the students. In case of such a rush for admis- 

 sion as the gentleman anticipated, he would admit that the 

 students ought to be divided among all the States and Ter- 

 ritories, He would agree to vote for the amendment, but 

 he apprehended that the chief difficulty would be in getting 

 a sutticient number of persons to come. 



Mr. D. P. King said he had proposed such a modificatioa 



