FIFTY-FIRST CONGRESS, 1889-1891. 1347 
_ The bill (S. 2284) was passed. 
February 15, 1890—House. 
Referred to Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds. 
February 19, 1890—House. 
Mr. Samurt Diesie, from Committee on Public Buildings and 
Grounds, submitted report (H. 305) to accompany bill (S. 2284): 
The Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds, to which was 
referred a bill (S. 2284) for the organization, improvement, and main- 
tenance of the National Zoological Park, has had the same under con- 
sideration, and reports as follows: 
In accordance with the act of March 2, 1889, a commission, for the 
establishment of a Zoological Park, consisting of the Secretary of the 
Interior, the President of the Board of Commissioners of the District 
of Columbia, and the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, has 
purchased at prices approved by the President, along Rock Creek, 
within the locality designated in the act, 131 acres of land, and has 
instituted proceedings in court for condemnation of 343 acres, which, 
with a small area already owned by the Government, constitutes a body 
of land containing about 166% acres, admirably adapted for the pur- 
pose, and which will be acquired within the limit of cost fixed by 
Congress. 
The Smithsonian Institution has already in its custody a consider- 
able collection of living animals, embracing buffaloes, grizzly bears, 
elks, the puma, and many others, some of them representatives of rare 
and disappearing species, and the object of this bill is to authorize the 
Regents of the Smithsonian Institution to prepare the park for the uses 
for which it has been acquired, and to support and care for the animals 
during the next fiscal year. 
The amount of $92,000 provided in the bill is based on itemized esti- 
mates furnished by the Secretary of the Smithsonian, and appears to 
be a reasonable sum for these purposes. 
The report of the proceedings of the Commission (House Misc. Doe. 
No. 72), dated January 16, 1890, exhibits the successful inauguration 
of this enterprise, and shows the need of the legislation proposed in 
the bill. 
A letter from the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution to the 
chairman of this committee, dated February 18, 1890, accompanies this 
_report for the further information of the House, and the itemized esti- 
mates of the proposed expenditure are attached hereto as an exhibit.’ 
Your committee recommends that the bill do pass. 
ZOOLOGICAL PARK CoMMISSION, 
OFFICE IN THE SMITHSONIAN BUILDING, 
Washington, February 18, 1890. 
Str: I desire to state to your committee the reasons why it is desirable, and even 
necessary, that Senate bill No. 2284, ‘‘for the organization, improvement, and main- 
tenance of the National Zoological Park,’’ should be passed at an early date. 
‘See February 10, 1890—Senate. 
