Teie Citv and Its Public Museums: Whai- ihe Citv Snoui.i> 

 Do FOR Statf.n Island 



Hon. Herman A. Metz 



Comptroller of the City of New York 



Ladies and Gentlemen: 



I am asked to speak to you of the museums of New York and their 

 relations to the City and of the City's duty to then^, and especially 

 what the City should do for Staten Island in this connection; but as 

 comptroller of the City I prefer to call your attention to what the City 

 has already done for its museums and leave you to infer what it ought 

 to do for Staten Island. 



These museums have recently come to my notice in considering, as 

 a member of the Board of Estimate, the budget for 1907, when they re- 

 quested for maintenance for next year $840,100.99 as against $670,000 

 appropriated for the purpose for 1906. The names of these institu- 

 tions, with the appropriations for their maintenance for 1906 and their 

 requests for 1907, are as follows: 



Appropriated Requests Increase 



1906 1907 over 1906 



Brooklyn Institute of Arts and 



Sciences . . . $ 80,000.00 $ 95,000.00 $ 15,000.00 

 American Museum of Natural 



History . . . 175,000.00 205,650.00 30,650.00 



Metropolitan Museum of Art 145,000.00 242,718.99 97,718.99 



New York Zoological Park . 145,000.00 i54.572.oo 9.572.00 

 New York Zoological Society 



for Aquarium . . 45,000.00 45,000.00 



New York Botanical Garden 80,000.00 97,160.00 17,160.00 



$670,000.00 $840,100.99 $170,100.99 

 The interest on the corporate stock issued for the construction of 

 buildings and other betterments in their behalf is between three hun- 

 dred and fifty and four hundred thousand dollars annually, which ad- 

 ded to maintenance appropriations of about $800,000 makes the goodly 

 sum of about one million two hundred thousand dollars contributed by 

 the tax-payers annually for this purpose. 



It is proper to mention the other side of this matter, which is the 



