REPORT OF ASSISTANT SECRETARY. 19 



tions, but the small annual appropriation given for this purpose is 

 inadequate even to provide the current literature on the necessary 

 subjects, though the freest use be made of the Library of Congress. 



There is still another subject to which it is desirable that reference 

 should be made — the extension of the hours of opening the buildings 

 to the public so as to include Sundays and evenings. A change in this 

 direction would be of inestimable value to the working people as well 

 as to visitors to the capital, and the extra expense would be small. 



The writer desires to call attention in this connection to the part 

 now being taken by the Museum, in conjunction with the parent insti- 

 tution and its other bureaus, at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition. 

 The Museum has had a long experience in matters of this kind, begin- 

 ning with Philadelphia in 1876, and it is therefore to be expected that 

 some improvement would be shown at each succeeding exposition. 

 The display at the St. Louis Fair now in progress is more noteworthy 

 than anything that has preceded it, both in the novelty of the objects 

 exhibited and in the perfection and attractiveness of the installation, 

 which have already elicited much praise- 



