986 CONGRESSIONAL PROCEEDINGS. 



Alaska; and they are made with the sanction of the Signal Office. 

 They were made in connection with the Signal Service. 



Mr. Randall. Within the scope of the Signal Service duty. 



Mr. William M. Springer. Mr. Speaker, in ordinary cases I would 

 object to printing any report of this kind. In the case of Alaska it 

 seems to me almost any valuable information to be had should be 

 printed for circulation among the people. It has come to the knowl- 

 edge of one of the committees of the House that the publications on 

 this subject heretofore have not been reliable; that there were persons 

 in Alaska and elsewhere in the United States interested in giving out 

 incorrect information in regard to that Territory. 



I have been informed by reliable authority that Alaska is destined 

 to be one of the great empire States in the Union in the future, and 

 when the means of securing accurate information is provided I am in 

 favor of printing that information. I met a gentleman who spent the 

 winter there, and he told me he never spent a milder winter in his 

 life; that the climate was almost tropical in its character; that, while 

 he said nothing of bananas growing there or big^sunflowers blooming, 

 he did say that the winter in its mildness was extremely enjoyable. 



Mr. Randall. Does the gentleman from Illinois state that the cli- 

 mate in Alaska is tropical and that sunflowers and bananas ripen there? 



Mr. Springer. I do not know what the report of the conmiittee 

 states in regard to this production, but I do hope the report contains 

 reliable information concerning the Territoiy of Alaska, which has 

 been so much misrepresented. 



Mr. Randall. Does the gentleman say sunflowers bloom there? 



Mr. Springer. It was merely stated that while sunflowers did not 

 bloom there and bananas did not ripen there, nevertheless the winter 

 was a mild one. 



Mr. Randall. I know that oats do not ripen there at all. 



Mr. Springer, I am willing to spend |4,000 for the publication of 

 this report. The fish industry of Alaska is exceedingly important. It 

 is said that a gentleman wishing to cross the mouth of a river in Alaska 

 was unable to do so in his canoe because the salmon were so thick. 



Mr. Ethelbert Barksdale. After this most voluminous exposition 

 of the report, I have no doubt the House is willing to vote. I there- 

 fore demand the previous question. 



The previous question was ordered, and the concurrent resolution 

 was adopted. 



REPORT OF THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. 



January 21, 1886— Senate. 



Mr. Justin S. Morrill introduced a joint resolution (S. 33): 



Resolved by Oie Senate, etc., That hereafter there be printed of the annual reports of 

 the Smithsonian Institution and of the National Museum, in two octavo volumes, 



