1234 CONGRESSIONAL PROCEEDINGS. 
for a watchman. Finally the National Museum Building was finished, 
and in 1885 you stopped the appropriation. Since that time the Fish 
Commission, the National Museum, and the Smithsonian Institution 
have been in unauthorized, and, as I say, in illegal possession of the 
building. There has been no authority of law; there has been no 
appropriation to continue even the watchman. 
Q. Was not that Armory Building used duri ing the war by the Gov- 
- ernment for governmental purposes/—A. Yes, sir. 
By Mr. Brcx: 
Q. It is on Government ground?—A. Yes, sir. 
By the CHarrMan: 
Q. Was not the Fish Commission there before 1875’? —A. Not before 
1876. There was no appropriation before 1876 for any use of the 
building other than for the District militia. 
Q. Tell us where we shall send the Fish Commission.—A. That is 
not a fair question to ask me. 
Q. Why not?—A. It is used by the Commission merely as a place 
of storage. It is merely a question of storing their material. 
Q. They have fish there?—A. Yes, sir. Until you extend the 
National Museum the building belongs to us by law, and the Secretary 
of War made a formal demand on them to surrender. We have no 
place to put our things. Therefore the Secretary of War directed 
me to submit the matter to your committee. I can see the difficulty 
of finding a suitable place for the Fish Commission. In fact, that place 
is very suitable for their purposes, because they can have and do have 
a side track to the railroad. I present our legal right to the building; 
but until you legislate for them, to put their Commission in a suitable 
place, we are perfectly willing to look around for a place. We have 
in our possession between $40,000 and $50,000 worth of Government 
property. 
Q. Where is your armory now/—A. We have none. We have to 
pay out of our pockets for the temporary care of the property. You 
turn over to me $30,000 or more of Government property to protect 
and I have to pay out of my own pocket for its preservation, as I am 
responsible for it. The only solution, it seems to me, is this: That’ 
until a place can be provided for the Fish Commission permanently some 
arrangement should be made for us. You should make an appropria- 
tion to enable the Secretary of War to temporarily rent a building 
for the purposes the law designates. It is not a matter of new legis- 
lation; it is not a matter subject to any points of order. It is a mat- 
ter of obedience to law. We have possession of Government property 
and pay for its preservation out of our own pockets. 
Q. You want it for the purpose of storing arms?—A. Not simply 
for storing, but for the purposes of drill, as this building was designed 
for a regular armory, in which Government property is kept in the 
