1266 CONGRESSIONAL PROCEEDINGS. 
Cincinnati, may be instanced in this connection. It frequently hap- 
pens that the Army and Navy are called upon to fit out expeditions — 
for special purposes which require much care in preparation and are 
worthy of illustration ina national museum. It would have been a 
public benefit if the various special devices which the Navy Depart-— 
ment was compelled to provide for the expedition for the relief of 
the Greely Arctic party could have been placed in some national 
repository. 
- When the expedition under the command of Commodore Schley 
returned from. the successful execution of the work intrusted to it 
the novel and useful appliances and supplies which were then accumu- 
lated were scattered among the different bureaus of the Department, 
there being no other way of disposing of them, and many things which 
could and should have been preserved as models of what were then 
produced for use in any possible contingency of the same sort in the 
future were lost sight of. : 
The statements furnished from the War and Navy Departments in 
response to the resolution mentioned show that the Government is 
possessed of a very large number of war trophies, none of which seem 
to have been: kept at Washington. The largest single collection is 
that of the flags captured during the Mexican and earlier wars, which 
is at the Naval Academy. If these trophies are to be exhibited they 
should be made accessible to the largest possible number of visitors, 
and this can only be done by placing them in the proposed military 
and naval museum. The same may be said of the guns and swords 
captured in foreign wars which are now at Annapolis. 
There are a considerable number of Revolutionary trophies at the 
Military Academy at West Point, including the great chain stretched 
across the Hudson River, which should be transferred wholly or in 
part tothe National Museum. Neither the Naval nor Military Academy 
should be deprived of all the interesting trophies deposited with them, 
but a sufficiently interesting portion will be left with them if most of 
their collections of that kind are transferred {6 the proposed national 
museum. ‘The reports show valuable historical relics at Frankfort 
Arsenal, Allegheny Arsenal, the National Armory, Governors’ Island, 
Rock Island Arsenal, Madison Barracks, Fort Pickens, Norfolk Navy- 
Yard, the Naval Home at Philadelphia, Mare Island Navy-Yard, and 
other points, which could be much better cared for ina central national 
museum than if allowed to remain scattered at the different posts and 
stations in the Army and Navy. 
From the information furnished in the reply of the Secretary of 
War to the resolution of inquiry concerning the material available for 
the proposed museum, it appears that there will be no difficulty in 
supplying at once a complete collection of army uniforms, beginning 
with those used by the ‘‘ Continentals” and including all the changes 
