Wiel CONGRESSIONAL PROCEEDINGS. 
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 
Washington, October 27, 1896. 
Srr: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your communi- 
cations of the 16th and 21st instants, inclosing copies of a report of the © 
delegates of this Government to the International Conference on a Cat- 
alogue of Scientific Literature, summoned in London by the British 
Government at the request of the Royal Society in July last, and invit- 
ing an expression of my opinion as to the propriety and feasibility of 
the United States taking part, through the Smithsonian Institution, in 
the proposed work by providing for the continuous cataloguing of 
scientific literature published in the United States, as suggested by the 
delegates, and further requesting an estimate of the probable expense 
attendant thereto. 
I fully concur in the view of the delegates as to the great impor- 
tance of a successful execution of the conclusions of the conference, and 
as to the propriety of this Government taking its share of the proposed 
work by providing for the cataloguing of the scientific publications of 
the United States. This opinion is strengthened by the fact that the 
recommendations made are due to results emanating from the interna- 
tional conference, at which the United States was officially represented, 
and by the further considerations that the benefits to be derived from 
this undertaking are not only great and far-reaching for the scientifie 
progress of America, but also of universal value, and that all the great 
and many of the smaller nations will take part in the work. 
I recognize also the propriety of the suggestion that the Govern- . 
ment should employ the Smithsonian Institution as.an agent in this 
matter, particularly since the Institution, as the delegates have pointed 
out, first suggested this subject in 1855, and since it has been from its 
earliest organization interested in scientific bibliography. 
I should, however, be reluctant to commit the Institution to the 
appearance of soliciting Congress in this matter in any case, or to the 
undertaking of the enterprise, however worthy, unless provision could 
be made for the necessary expenses of the work. After considering the 
subject, it seems to me that the work, if assigned to the Smithsonian 
Institution, would require a person of special qualifications to imme- 
diately assist the Secretary, together with a number of trained clerical 
assistants, and that the salaries for these persons and the expenses | 
incident to the work would require an appropriation of not less than 
$10,000 per annum. 
Expenditures on this appropriation would probably not need to be 
available before the fiscal year commencing July 1, 1899, though it 
would seem to be advisable that if the Government is to cooperate in 
the proposed work there should be some earlier assurance of this. 
Should the views here given meet with your approval, I venture to 
express the hope that the Department of State will bring this matter 
