26 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1913. 



void should the George Washington Memorial Association fail to comply with 

 the provisions thereof which are conditions precedent to the authorization herein 

 granted. 



Said building may, among other purposes, be used for inaugural receptions 

 and special public meetings authorized by Congress. 



Congress may alter, amend, add to, or repeal any of the provisions of this 

 section. 



The need in Washington of such a structure as here authorized has 

 been urged on many occasions in public meetings throughout the 

 country. The Regents of the Smithsonian Institution have .expressed 

 their willingness to administer it when completed. It will be a gath- 

 ing place and headquarters for patriotic, scientific, medical, and other 

 organizations interested in promoting the welfare of the American 

 people and the development of the country in science, literature, 

 and art. 



Plans for the building are being made, and it is hoped that the 

 work of construction will begin within the time limit set by the law. 



THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



The operations .of the National Museum are discussed with such 

 detail by Assistant Secretary Rathbun in the appendix to the present 

 report that I need here refer only to some of the more important 

 features of the year. 



The completion of the natural history building, with its spacious 

 well-lighted halls, has made it feasible to vastly improve the extensive 

 exhibits of the departments of anthropology, biology, and geology 

 installed therein; while objects pertaining to the industrial arts and 

 to American history are now given ample exhibition room in the 

 older building. 



In the zoological halls o'f the new building are exhibited a number 

 of groups of animals which are noteworthy examples of the art of 

 taxidermy, some of these groups being made up of specimens received 

 from the Smithsonian African expedition under Col. Roosevelt. 

 And likewise in the halls devoted to anthropological exhibits are 

 shown a number of racial groups of mankind, including several 

 representing Indians of various tribes engaged in their native games 

 and mechanical occupations, which seem particularly attractive to 

 visitors. 



The department of arts and industries for many years had been 

 checked in its development by what seemed to.be the more urgent 

 demand for space for 'natural history exhibits. Many large and 

 interesting collections illustrative of the industrial arts, acquired 

 by the Museum during the last 30 years, had therefore necessarily 

 been held in storage, but the transfer of objects of natural history 

 to the new building has now released large halls for the installation 



