ie 
FIFTIETH CONGRESS, 1887-1889. 1221 
in the State of New York, their associates and successors, are hereby created a body 
corporate and politic, by the name of the American Historical Association, for the 
promotion of historical studies, the collection and preservation of historical manu- 
scripts, and for kindred purposes in the interest of American history and of history 
in America. Said association is authorized to hold real and personal estate in the 
District of Columbia to an amount not exceeding $500,000, to adopt a constitution 
and to make by-laws. Said association shall have its principal office at Washington, 
in the District of Columbia, and shall hold its annual meetings in such places as the 
said incorporators shall determine. Said association shall report annually to the 
Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution concerning its proceedings and the condition 
of historical study in America. Said Secretary shall communicate to Congress the 
whole of such reports, or such portion thereof as he shall see fit. The Regents of 
the Smithsonian Institution are authorized to permit said association to deposit its 
collections, manuscripts, books, pamphlets, and other material for history in the 
Smithsonian Institution or in the National Museum, at their discretion, upon such 
conditions and under such rules as they shall prescribe. 
‘Mr. G. F. Hoar. That bill is in substance a bill which has already 
passed the Senate. The American Historical Association is a very 
important body, a meeting of which is to be held in this city in the 
course of two or three weeks, and I should like the leave of the Senator 
who has the tariff bill in charge to allow it to pass at this time. 
The President pro tempore (Mr. J. J. Inaauus). It will be read at 
length for information. 
The bill was read at length. 
Mr. G. F. Epmunps. Has that bill been reported from a committee 
of the Senate ? 
Mr. Hoar. That bill is in substance the same as a bill reported from 
the Library Committee which has ‘passed the Senate. The House bill 
has come here, the only difference being that the House thought fit to 
limit the place of allowing ownership of the real estate to the District 
-of Columbia, while the Senate bill allows them to hold it anywhere. 
Mr. Epmunps. I see that the first meeting is to be held in the Dis- 
trict of Columbia, and after that wherever the stockholders choose to 
meet, which raises to my mind a pretty serious question as to how far 
the power of Congress may go into the States to create corporations 
all over the country; and I should wish, unless there is some very 
immediate and urgent reason to the contrary, that the bill should go 
to a committee. 
Mr. Hoar. There is an immediate and urgent reason which I stated, 
and that is that the American Historical Association is one of the most 
important learned bodies in the country, composed, as the Senator will 
see from the names of the corporators, of very distinguished scholars. 
I know a good deal about the gentlemen composing it. Their plan is 
to have their meetings in different parts of the country, just as the 
American Institute [ Association] for the Advancement of Science have, 
but their headquarters and their collections are to be deposited in the 
District of Columbia, and their first meeting is to be held here. 
