774 CONGRESSIONAL PROCEEDINGS. 



up in tho (.•ondition in which they wereoriginall}' transferred from Phil- 

 adelphia, some 4,000 boxes oT packages in all, and subject to various- 

 forms of deterioration and injur3^ 



The museum halls of the Smithsonian Institution prior to the Phil- 

 adelphia exhibition were filled almost to their utmost capacit}' , and 

 but a very small proportion of the collections either prepared on pur- 

 pose for exhibition at Philadelphia or obtained thei-e are displa3'ed 

 in them at the present time. Besides the 20,000 square feet of floor 

 covered with packages in the Armory building the entire basement of 

 the Smithsonian building is filled with other packages, representing 

 nearly an equal amount, and quite as important in an educational 

 point of view to the people of the United States. 



The collections in the Smithsonian building now open to the public 

 occupy about 30,000 square feet of floor space. It is quite within 

 bounds to estimate that the articles stored away will require for their 

 satisfactory exhibition between three and four times that area, even 

 allowing for a great reduction of the objects by the elimination and 

 distribution of the duplicate specimens. There is no provision w^hat- 

 ever at present for the display of these articles, and unless Congress 

 furnishes the means this magnificent property of the people will go to 

 decay and destruction in the course of time, the animal products being 

 destroyed rapidly by insects and many objects of a mineral or metal- 

 lurgical character by rust. 



As every day of delay in arranging and exhibiting this collection is 

 accompanied with the question of erecting a suitable building for its 

 accommodation and has occupied the attention of the Smithsonian 

 Institution, a plan has been devised which, it is believed, will furnish 

 the facilities required in the shortest possible interval of time and at 

 the minimum of expense. 



To erect an edifice of the necessary magnitude, in the style of archi- 

 tecture heretofore adopted by the Government for its use in Washing- 

 ton, would involve an expenditure of many millions of dollars, and it 

 could not be completed and available for occupation in a shorter period 

 than from five to eight years. Nevertheless, on a simple plan origi- 

 nall}^ suggested by General Meigs, a building somewhat similar in char- 

 acter to those erected for the National Exposition, 300 feet square, or 

 having an area of 90,000 square feet — something over two acres — per- 

 fectly fireproof, amply lighted, andproperl}^ adapted for all its objects, 

 can be constructed for about $250,000, and can be ready for occupation 

 within ten months, or at most a year, from the time of its connnence- 

 ment. 



By the plan contemplated everything would be on one floor, without 

 any stairways or second story, no cellar or fireproof floor being re- 

 quired. The single floor of the building to be of concrete, and thus 



