1688 CONGRESSIONAL PROCEEDINGS. 
OWEN STATUE. 
March 14, 1894—House. 
Mr. ArtHuR H. Taytor, of Indiana, introduced bill (H. 6289) 
for the erection of a statue of the late Robert Dale Owen to be placed 
in the grounds of the Smithsonian Institution. 
Referred to Committee on the Library. 
January 17, 1895—Senate. 
Mr. D. W. VoorHess introduced bill (S. 2600): 
Whereas Robert Dale Owen, then a Representative in Congress from the State of 
Indiana, on the 19th of December, 1845, introduced in the Twenty-ninth Congress a 
bill ‘‘to establish the Smithsonian Institution for the increase and diffusion of knowl- 
edge among men,’’ and in the face of strong opposition secured its substantial 
enactment April 29, 1846; and 
Whereas he was appointed chairman of the first Board of Regents? of said Institu- 
tion and devoted many years of his life to its organization and success: Therefore, 
Be it enacted, etc., That the sum of $20,000, or so much thereof as may be necessary, 
be, and the same is hereby, appropriated, to be paid out of any money in the Treasury 
not otherwise appropriated, for the erection on the grounds of the Smithsonian 
Institution, in the city of Washington, District of Columbia, ‘under the direction of 
the Regents of the said Smithsonian Institution, astatue of the late Robert Dale Owen: 
Provided, however, That the expenditure of said money shall be made under and by 
direction of the Secretary of the Treasury; the sculptor to be designated by a com- 
mission consisting of the chairman of the Joint Committee on the Library of Con- 
gress, the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, and a representative chosen by 
the surviving members of the family of Robert Dale Owen; and said commission 
shall be governed in the choice of a sculptor by the merits of the models which may 
be submitted for their inspection. 
Referred to Committee on the Library. 
OBJECTS OF THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. 
March 19, 1894. 
In answer to numerous inquiries the following supplementary cir- 
cular, descriptive of the general character and work of the Institu- 
tion, and making mention of the Hodgkins fund, was prepared and 
translated into French and German, and through the courtesy of the 
Department of State a number of copies were sent to several of the 
American embassies in Europe for their general use, in answering 
questions concerning the Smithsonian Institution: 
SmirHsONIAN Institution, Washington, , 189—. 
Sir: In answer to your inquiry I am authorized to furnish the following informa- 
tion: 
The Smithsonian Institution was originally constituted by an act of the National 
Legislature, to administer a bequest made to the Government of the United States 
in the early years of the present century. The purpose of the bequest was declared 
to be ‘‘the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men,”’ and its acceptance by 
1Chairman of the Executive Committee not of the Board. 
