FOETIETH CONGEESS, 1867-1869. 673 



The erection and maintenance of so large and expensive an edifice, involving an 

 outlay of $450,000, and the charge of the Government museum have j) roved a griev- 

 ous burden on the Institution, increasing from year to year, which, had not its 

 effects been counteracted by a judicious management of the funds, would have par- 

 alyzed the legitimate operations of the establishment and frustrated the evident 

 intention of Smithson. 



It is true that Congress, at the time the specimens were transferred to the Institu- 

 tion, granted an appropriation of |4,000 for their care and preservation, that being 

 the equivalent of the estimated cost of the maintenance of these collections in the 

 Patent Office, where they had previously been exhibited. But this sum,' from the 

 rise in prices and the expansion of the museum by the specimens obtained from 

 about fifty exploring expeditions ordered by Congress, scarcely more than defrays, 

 at the present time, one-third of the annual expense. In this estimate no account 

 is taken of the rent of the part of the building devoted to the museum of the Gov- 

 ernment, which at a moderate estimate would be $20,000 per annum. 



Besides the large expenditure which has already been made on the building, at 

 least $50,000 more will be required to finish the large hall in the second story, 

 necessary for the full display of the specimens of the Government. But the Regents 

 do not think it judicious further to embarrass the active operations for several years 

 to come by devoting a large part of the income to this object, and have, therefore, 

 concluded to allow this room to remain unfinished until other means are provided 

 for completing it. 



It is not by its castellated building nor the exhibition of the museum of the Gov- 

 ernment that the Institution has achieved its present reputation, nor by the collec- 

 tion and display of material objects of any kind that it has vindicated the intelli- 

 gence and good faith of the Government in the administration of the trust. It- is by 

 its explorations, its researches, its publications, its distribution of specimens, and its 

 exchanges, constituting it an active, living organization, that it has rendered itself 

 favorably known in every part of the civilized world, has made contributions to 

 almost every branch of science, and brought more than ever before into immediate 

 and friendly relations the Old and the New Worlds. 



A central museum for a complete representation of the products of America, with 

 such foreign specimens as may be required for comparison and generalization, is of 

 great importance, particularly as a means of developing and illustrating our indus- 

 trial resources, as well as of facilitating the study of the relations of our geology, 

 mineralogy, flora, and fauna to those of the Old World. But the benefit of such an 

 establishment is principally confined to this country, and does not partake of the 

 cosmopolitan character of an institution such as Smithson intended to found, and 

 therefore ought not to be supported from his bequest. 



The Board of Regents are confident that upon a full consideration of the case your 

 honorable body will grant an adequate support for the collections of the Government, 

 and also an appropriation for finishing the repairs of the building, and eventually, 

 when the financial condition of the country will permit, for the independent main- 

 tenance of a national museum. 



It may not be improper, in addition to what has been said, to recall the fact 

 that the Smithsonian Institution has transferred, without cost, to the library of 

 Congress one of the most valuable and complete collections of the transactions of 

 scientific and learned societies and serial publications in existence, consisting of at 

 least 50,000 works, which, with the annual continuation of the same series, must 

 render Washington a center of scientific knowledge and the library itself worthy of 

 the nation; and that it has also presented to the Government its valuable collection 

 of specimens of art illustrating the history of engraving from the earliest periods. It 

 is prepared to render a similar service to a national museum by the exchanges from 



H. Doc, 732 43 



