REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 35 



Wbeu Congress was asked to appropriate funds for this park it was 

 for a simi^ler and larger purpose than that of the present establisliment, 

 since it was meant to found it rather in national than in local interests 

 and largely in view of the fact that many Korth American animals, 

 constituting a part of the national wealth and formerly occupying a 

 large portion of its domain, were threatened with speedy extinction. 



The actual extinction of the buffalo, of which herds consisting of 

 literally millions of individuals roamed the i^rairies less than a genera- 

 tion ago, is a subject of knowledge and comment throughout the world. 

 The beaver, the wapiti, the moose, and many other species useful to 

 man, which within the memory of those now living had their haunts 

 and were found in abundance east of the Mississippi, are each year 

 becoming more and more rare. It was urged upon Congress that 

 unless steps were speedily taken to preserve the remaining few, and 

 to bring them under observation, these races must perish, as other 

 extinct species have done, and that with the disappearance of the last 

 individual all hoi^e of their renewal would be lost. 



The reservation of the Yellowstone National Park as a great game 

 preserve had been a first and very imi^ortant movement toward their 

 I)reservatiou, but the very immensity of the reservation threatened to 

 defeat the plan, for as regards the rarer animals, these naturally kept 

 to the wilder and more remote regions of the park, where they could 

 not be i^rotected from the marauding hunter, nor (what is not unimport- 

 ant) be observed by the naturalist. To retard their extinction (since 

 so long as a single pair exists and bears offspring the. renewal of the 

 race in countless individuals is at least possible), and to provide oppor- 

 tunity for their careful stndy, was the intention of those who first advo- 

 vocated the establishment of a preserve near Washington large enough 

 to keep the animals as close to natural conditions as is possible, and 

 yet not so large but that they could always be protected and under 

 observation. 



The Smithsonian Institution had for some years received frequent 

 gifts of animals, bat no suitable accommodations existed, and it seemed 

 desirable that some provision should be made for the numerous speci- 

 mens which came by donations or from Government reservations, and 

 which were of necessity killed for scientific study or given away to 

 zoological gardens in other cities. 



Tlie act of Congress making provision for a park, entailed responsi- 

 bilities of a different character from those first contemplated, for instead 

 of creating a purely national institution for a national ])urpose, one-half 

 of the cost of purchase and maintenance was placed upon the tax- 

 payers of the District. The indirect but quite evident tendency of 

 this local taxation was to divert a large share of the appropriation to 

 meet the demands of the local taxpayer, and the Eegents of the Smith- 

 sonian, under whom the park was placed, were directed to " administer 

 the park for the advancement of science and the insti'uction and 

 recreation of the people." 



