FORTY-FOURTH CONGRESS, 1875-77. 753 



Mr. Morrill. Let the bill be read at length. It will 

 take but a moment. 



The President pro tempore. The bill will be read the 

 second time at length. 



The chief clerk read the bill, as follows: 



Be it enacted, ^c. , That for a fire-proof building for the use of the Na- 

 tional Museum, three hundred feet square, to be erected under the direction 

 and supervision of the Regents of the Smithsonian Institution, in accord- 

 ance with the plan of Major General M. C. Meigs, now on file with the 

 Joint Committee of Public Buildings and Grounds, on the southwest corner 

 of the grounds of the Smithsonian Institution, the sum of $250,000 is 

 hereby appropriated out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appro- 

 priated. Said building to be placed west of the Smithsonian Institution, 

 leaving a road-way between it and the latter of not less than thirty feet, 

 with its north front on a line parallel with the north face of the buildings 

 of the Agricultural Department and of the Smithsonian Institution, and 

 all expenditures for the purposes herein mentioned, not including anything 

 for architectural plans, shall be audited by the pMper oflScers of the Treas- 

 ury Department. ^ 



The President pro tempore. The bill will be placed on 

 the calendar. 



February/ 22, 1877. — Mr. Morrill. I ask the Senate to 

 take up a bill that will not take more than three or four 

 minutes in relation to the National Museum. It is rather 

 important that this bill should be acted upon that it may go 

 to the House. The bill is one which has been reported bj 

 the action of the joint committee of the two Houses, that 

 is to say, of the committee of the Senate, and the sub-com- 

 mittee of the House, and meets their unanimous approval. 

 I move that the Senate proceed to the consideration of the 

 bill (S. No. 1252) for the erection of a fire-proof building 

 for the National Museum. 



The motion was agreed to ; and the Senate as in Com- 

 mittee on the Whole, proceeded to consider the bill. 



Mr. Morrill. I shall not occupy any time in an ex- 

 planation of this bill, for I presume every Senator recog- 

 nizes the prime necessity there is for it. The bill is so care- 

 fully guarded that there will be no danger of any further 

 demand upon the Treasury, and I think it will meet the 

 approbation of all who examine it. 



The bill was reported to the Senate without amendment, 

 ordered to be engrossed for a third reading, read the third 

 time, and passed. 



March 1, 1877. — On motion of Mr. Anthony, the House 

 resolution of February 28, to print 10,500 copies of the re- 

 port of the Institution for 1876, was concurred in. 



March 2, 1877. — The Senate having under consideration 

 the Sundry Civil appropriation bill, the next amendment was 

 48 



