FIFTIETH CONGRESS, 1887-1889. 1269 
the Geological Survey, with such modifications as shall be found necessary or advan- 
tageous without materially increasing the cost thereof, and the construction of said 
building shall be in charge of a commission composed of the Supervising Architect 
of the Treasury, the Architect of the Capitol, and the Director of the Geological Sur- 
vey, who shall be authorized to make contracts for the construction thereof, after 
proper advertisements have been made, and to employ the necessary persons; and 
the money appropriated for said building shall be disbursed by the chief disbursing 
clerk of the Geological Survey. 
Src. 2. The sum. of $500,000 is hereby appropriated, out of any moneys in the 
Treasury not otherwise appropriated, for the construction of said building, and the 
cost of said building shall not exceed said amount. 
Sec. 3. It shall be the duty of the said commission carefully to scrutinize the plan 
which may be deemed preferable, and to adopt it only on condition that the entire 
cost of the erection and completion of said building shall not exceed the amount 
specified in this act. 
_ Referred to Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds. 
February 16, 1889 —House. 
My. Samuret Drssie, from Committee on Public Buildings and 
Grounds, submitted report (H. 4089) to accompany bill (H. 11689): 
The Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds, to which was 
referred the bill (H. 11689) for the erection of a public building for 
the use and accommodation of the United States Geological Survey’ 
upon the Government reservation in the city of Washington, D. C., 
has had the same under consideration and respectfully reports as 
follows: 
The United States Geological Survey is at present in rented quarters, 
occupied at an annual rental of $10,000, besides occupying temporarily 
twenty-two rooms in the National Museum; and these rooms are now 
needed for the purposes of the Museum itself. The nature and impor- 
tance of the work with which the Geological Survey is now intrusted, 
and which is of incalculable value to the Government, requires for its 
expeditious and convenient prosecution twice the space now available 
for the purpose; and the location of the building near to the National 
Museum will enable the officers of the Survey to use the Museum as 
a depository of their collections, as now provided by law, and at the 
same time have easy access to them for reference and comparison in 
prosecuting their scientific researches. 
By the outlay of $300,000, recommended by the committee, a build- 
ing can be erected specially adapted to the scientific work of the Survey, 
and one needs only to visit the rooms now occupied by the Survey to 
be satisfied that, in their overcrowded condition, work must necessarily 
be hindered and obstructed for want of sufficient space. 
The committee therefore recommends the passage of the bill, 
amended in the limit of cost by reducing the sect: proposed from 
$500, 000 down to $300,000, as follows: 
In the first line of section 2 strike out the word “five” and insert 
the word ‘‘ three” in lieu thereof. 
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