FIFTIETH CONGRESS, 1887-1889. 1167 
Mr. D. B. Henprerson, of Iowa. My first impressions were decidedly 
against this measure, for the reason that I entertained some fear that 
it was a real-estate speculation, and I have taken some interest while I 
have been in Congress in endeavoring to keep out legislation in the 
interest of real-estate speculators. When we had the officers of the 
Smithsonian Institution before us in regard to this matter I took pains 
to probe this question carefully, and satisfied myself that instead of 
real-estate men being in favor of this zoological garden they are against 
it. Men owning real estate in that vicinity do not care to have their 
property condemned and the title taken from them and given to the 
Government. 
Condemnation juries do not always give verdicts to suit real-estate 
owners, especially when they have a strong public sentiment back of 
the movement, and favoring reasonable compensation. Let this park 
be established, and real estate will tumble in the vicinity. The specu- 
Jators desire residences built, and not parks for animals. 
The truth is, I found out that the owners of real estate are against 
this movement. They want fancy and fictitious prices for their prop- 
erty, and not prices fixed by a jury of the people. On that point my 
mind is at rest. : 
Now, then, as to the cost of this matter. Mr. Hornaday, of the Smith- 
sonian Institution, who has given this matter a very great deal of 
attention, has urged this matter upon our attention. He is a man of 
established reputation and high character and ability, who is interested 
in the question from high-minded, patriotic motives. He has studied 
the habits of animals of this country, after having first taken an initia- 
tion of between two and three years in the African jungles. He is 
also a close student of the character and habits of our own American 
animals. They of the Smithsonian prepared careful estimates of what 
it would cost to buy this 121 acres, and they estimated that it would 
not exceed $142,000. 
They took the advice of real-estate agents, among them Mr. Fisher, 
whom most gentlemen here know by reputation, and he says it could 
not cost more than $140,000. One hundred and forty-two thousand 
dollars is the outside estimate. I think when the jury get hold of this 
estimate they will cut them out of some of that even. The annual 
cost is estimated by the officers of the Smithsonian Institution at 
$50,000 a year at present. This is to include maintenance, salaries of 
employees, improvements in buildings, for the construction of yards, 
cages, and all that sort of thing. That is a cost that will obtain for a 
few years until this place shall have been established. After that the 
annual cost, it is estimated, will not exceed thirty-five or forty thousand 
dollars. So far as the estimate of the cost is concerned, let me remark 
in passing—-what most gentlemen are familiar with—that the Smith- 
sonian Institute has never involved the Government in a deficit. The 
