CONGRESSIONAL PROCEEDINGS. 



Mr. MASON. Against their will. 



Mr. FESSENDEN. And against their will. They did not 

 ask it. It was a burden we Imposed upon them ; and having 

 sent it there, we have made an appropriation, heretofore, 

 merely of enough to preserve what was necessary to be pre- 

 served, and to pay the salary of a person who was to take 

 charge of it, fix the room and take care of it $4,000, I 

 think, each year; and it was found, on a careful examina- 

 tion (I was on the committee when it was first made) to be 

 a reasonable provision. 



Now, sir, there is a very large number of these duplicates, 

 and it is proposed that those also shall be arranged by these 

 persons ; and after they are arranged, and it is found dis- 

 tinctly what is best to keep, the rest shall be distributed 

 amongst the institutions of the country. It is not for the 

 benefit of the Smithsonian Institution, but for the benefit of 

 the institutions of the country. We called on them to do 

 the work; and gentlemen get up here and argue that we 

 should compel them to do the work and not pay them for 

 the labor, and compel them also to pay their own expenses. 

 It is simply providing a mode by which we may carry out 

 our own objects and our own purposes through their 

 agency. The labor that they have given to this work, and 

 the services they render, are altogether gratuitous; and cer- 

 tainly they ought not to be abused for doing what we asked 

 them to do with reference to matters which we have placed 

 under their control, without their requesting us to do it. 

 That is the simple fact about this matter. It has nothing to 

 do with the institution. 



Now, sir, as to the Smithsonian Institution itself, what it 

 has done for science, and what it is doing for science. I have 

 no doubt that it is doing much; how much, I do not know. 

 I confess the same ignorance that has been confessed by my 

 friend from New Hampshire, with the addition that I feel 

 ashamed I do not know more about it. I ought to know 

 more about it. I have only to leave my other avocations, 

 which prevent me from knowing what I want to know. It 

 is my own fault. 



Mr. DOUGLAS. I desire to add but a word to what has 

 been so well said by the Senator from Maine. This burden 

 was imposed upon the Smithsonian Institution, not only with- 

 out their request but against their wish. These objects were 

 collected by the exploring expeditions, and deposited in the 

 Patent Office. They were kept there and preserved as ob- 

 jects of great curiosity and great interest, until they occu- 



