1176 CONGRESSIONAL PROCEEDINGS. 
The Smithsonian Institution has not customarily received with favor the proposi- 
tions continually made it to place different local or national interests under its charge; 
but the very special reasons which seem in this case to enable it to at once secure a 
home and city of refuge for the vanishing races of the continent, and a place for the 
health and recreation of the inhabitants of the city and citizens of the United States, 
together with an opportunity for the carrying out an enterprise of national scientific 
value, and the formation of what, as regards its site at least, is the finest zoological 
garden in existence—all these considerations have moved it to see in this an oppor- 
tunity to carry out its legitimate work, ‘‘the increase and diffusion of knowledge 
among men.”’ 
When, therefore, Senator Beck made the understanding that the Smithsonian 
Institution would accept the charge of such a park the primary condition on which 
he would undertake to recommend it to Congress, the Secretary fe authorized to say 
that he believed it probable that the proposition would be favorably viewed by the 
Regents, and the matter once brought before Congress, he has not disguised his own 
interest in the success of the measure. 
The bill brought in by Mr. Breckinridge in the House (and by Senator Morrill in 
the Senate) appropriates $200,000 for the purchase of not less than 100 acres of land. 
The land actually most desired for the zoological park covers about 120 acres, being 
precisely that portion of the Rock Creek valley which will be soonest destroyed, as 
regards its picturesque and attractive features, by the laying out of streets and lots. 
Nevertheless, and largely owing to the very fact that the picturesqueness of the local- 
ity implies the existence of rocks, precipices, and valleys, which it would cost much 
to level and fill in, this land can still be obtained at rates which, considering its 
neighborhood to the city, are remarkably cheap. The most thorough examination 
that I have been ableto make, the testimony of various real-estate experts and others, 
have satisfied me that the purchase may and will be completed for somewhat less than 
the sum named in the appropriation, even leaving a small margin for the erection of 
a preliminary shelter for the animals. 
I beg most respectfully to urge upon the attention of the committee the fact that it 
is at once the strength and weakness of this measure that, so far as is known, it isan 
entirely disinterested one, the real-estate holders in the vicinity being generally 
indifferent or opposed to it, for reasons which can be explained, if desired, and that 
it is*being thus pressed upon Congress by those who have the measure at heart 
because anything that is done must be done soon. It is probable that within a year 
or two more the good fortune which has kept this singularly interesting spot intact, 
while the growing city is encircling it, will protect it no longer. It is not the mere 
space on the map which is to be secured, but natural advantages which have no rela- 
tion to the number of acres, and which can not be restored if once destroyed, since it 
is not in the power of Congress itself by any expenditure of money to recreate a rock 
or a tree. 
Iam, very respectfully, yours, 
8. P. Lanewey, Secretary. 
Hon. Samvurt Drssxe, 
House of Representatives. 
Committed to Committee of the Whole. 
February 27, 1889—House. 
In considering the District of Columbia bill for 1890, Mr. Judson 
C. Clements submitted a conference report: 
The next and last item involving any expenditure of money is an 
appropriation of $200,000 for a zoological park, proposed to be pur- 
chased through the instrumentality of a commission provided for in 
