FIFTY-FIRST CONGRESS, 1889-1891. ' ~~“ TS6s 
Mr. Burrerworru. It isa special plea that my friend can not answer 
satisfactorily even to himself. 
Mr. Coaswreuu. Does not the Government already pay more than 
its share of the expense of this District, and is it not paying the sala- 
ries of a large proportion of the population of the District? 
Mr. Burrerwortu. I have no doubt that the Government to-day 
pays more than its its proper share of the expenses. But what has 
that got to do with this question? How is it decisive of the issue here 
presented? Weare engaged here in dealing with a national project, 
and whether we are paying too much or too little in some other behalf; 
whether we are paying more than our share for other things pertain- 
ing to the administration of the affairs of the District can not or ought 
not to influence our action in this case. 
It is not a very considerable sum, but I submit that if we are going 
to handle this as a national affair, as it is, we shall make a great mis- 
take to saddle it upon the District or to have the District, with its 
peculiar methods, have anything to do with it. 
Nobody questions the wisdom or the propriety of putting this park 
under the control of the Smithsonian Institution. I believe that Insti- 
tution is the only one that ever erected a public building within the 
limits of the appropriation made and in strict accordance with the esti- 
mates. Nobody questions the integrity of the administration of that 
bureau of the Government, and I am delighted that there is one bureau 
that does not come up regularly, with a deficiency, spring and fall. 
Now, to repeat, and then I close. This was a Government enterprise 
in its inception, approved by nearly all the people of this country, 
certainly by all who recognize the wisdom, the fitness, the propriety 
of maintaining a zoological garden where we can not only see speci- 
mens of prehistoric animals, but where the various collections from 
all the earth may be gathered together for the entertainment and 
instruction of the people. 
Yet my brethren here insist that because this park is located in the 
District of Columbia (I would be quite willing to have it located else- 
where, but there is a fitness and propriety in having it here) we should 
charge half the burden upon 200,000 people living in 10 miles square 
of territory, and then, as a necessary result of that fact, surrender in 
part the management of this institution to them, although at the same 
time my friend here criticises the very management to the care and 
custody of which he would commit this national enterprise. 
Il submit that we ought not to hesitate in this matter, but, in keep- 
ing with the progressive enlightenment of the age, recognizing the 
just demands for opportunity for scientific investigation and study, 
the demands of education, we should establish this zoological garden, 
putting it where it properly belongs, under the control of the Smith- 
_ sonian Institution, and that it should be a national, not a District of 
Columbia, enterprise. 
