REPOET OF THE SECRETAEY. 85 



tlie included highways, to be added to and become a part of the National 

 Zoological Park. The proceedings for the condemnation of said land shall be 

 instituted by the Secretary of the Treasury under and in accordance with the 

 terras and provisions of subchapter one of chapter fifteen of the Code of Law 

 for the District of Columbia. 



As the act required that the proceedings be instituted by the Secre- 

 tary of the Treasury, the attention of that official was called to the 

 matter in a letter from the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 

 dated June 28, 1913. A special survey and plat of the land required 

 was necessary, but this plat was not forwarded to the Department of 

 Justice until ISToyember 5, 1913. Other delays ensued; the title of 

 the various OAvners of the land had to be investigated, and it was not 

 until March 11, 1914, that the district court ordered a jur}^ to be 

 summoned. A hearing was set for April 10, 1914, and a final hearing 

 of the case was heard by the jury on July 2 following. The verdict 

 of the jury was not filed until December 11, 1914. The hearing of 

 objections to the verdict much delayed a final conclusion, especially 

 as the time of the court was almost wholly occupied by a contest in 

 an important will case. It was not until June 28, 1915, over two 

 years from the passage of the appropriation act, that the court con- 

 firmed the verdict as regards the awards for damages for the land 

 to be taken. The benefits assessed against the neighboring property 

 were set aside b}' this and by a subsequent decision of January 28, 

 1916. The decree of the court fixed the amount required for the 

 purchase of the land at $194,438.08. The cost of the proceedings for 

 condemnation was $2,203.35. 



The great delay caused by these legal proceedings occasioned an- 

 other complication. The appropriation made by the act of June 23, 

 1913, was not a continuing one, but lapsed at the end of one year. 

 Consequently after June 30, 1915, there was nothing available to de- 

 fray the purchase of the land. 



An item for an additional appropriation and for a reappropria- 

 tion of the original sum appropriated by the act of June 23, 1913, 

 was submitted to the first and second sessions of the Sixty-fourth 

 Congress, but was not favorably considered. 



It is greatly to be regretted that this appropriation failed, as it 

 is exceedingly desirable that the land in question be obtained for 

 park purposes before it is too late. A frontage on Connecticut Ave- 

 nue at this point is most important, because the principal entrance to 

 the park will probably be here for all time, and it is essential that 

 the control of the land be in the hands of park authorities. 



IMPORTANT NEEDS. 



Grading and filing. — The work of grading and filling, commenced 

 last year, should be continued. The further cutting away of the 



65133°— SM 1917 7 



