REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 31 



values shall be paid to the owner or owners, and the United States 

 shall be deemed to have a valid title to said lands. 



" That the said commission is hereby authorized to call upon the 

 Superintendent of the Coast and Geodetic Survey or the Director of the 

 Geological Survey to make such surveys as may be necessary to carry 

 into effect the provisions of tbis section ; and the said officers are 

 hereby authorized and required to make such surveys under the direc- 

 tion of said commission." 



The amendment of Senator Edmunds was understood to be offered 

 in a spirit entirely f riendly to the interests of this Institution, but it 

 differs from that reported from the Committee on Public Buildings and 

 Grounds, in omitting the name of the Regents, in placing the appro- 

 priation under those for the District, in removing from the Commis- 

 sion the power to lay out the land, and in extending the limits within 

 which they had choice, to the military road, in this, as in other respects, 

 resembling the limits of the larger scheme of the national park, as 

 generally proposed. On the 28th of February the Edmunds amendment 

 passed substantially as above given, and by the President's approval 

 of the District bill, became a law on March 2.* 



In view of the fact that the zoological park will probably in any case 

 be the ultimate place of deposit for the living collections now under 

 the charge of the Regents, and that their secretary is named as one of 

 the commissioners for effecting the purchase, it seems proper to add a 

 brief statement of the work done by the commission, which, after per- 

 sonally and carefully inspecting the whole course of the stream from 

 Massachusetts avenue to Military road, about 4 miles above the city, 

 found no district so desirable for the single purpose of a zoological 

 park as that lying between Woodley Lane aud Klingle Bridge, and des- 

 ignated in the original bill of Senator Morrill; and the commissioners 

 liave proceeded to condemn a tract of 166 acres of the remarkably varied 

 and picturesque country whose character is described in the secretary's 

 letter to the chairman of the Committee on Public Buildings and 

 Grounds already cited. 



The condemnation is not complete without the President's approval, 

 which had not been given at the date of the completion of the fiscal 



"Extracts from the Congressional Record. Mr. Breckinridge, of Kentucky, states, 

 u I append the report of the Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds that the 

 record may show the exact object in view. There is absolute protection from job- 

 bery in the fact that this is to be under the supervision of the Smithsonian Insti- 

 tution." Mr. Dibble says in the same debate, "We are proud of the Smithsonian, 

 and the Smithsonian has already, by gift, not purchase, the nucleus of a collection, 

 and I am informed by the Secretary of the Smithsonian that this place furnishes the 

 right kind of locatiou for the propagation and perpetuation of these rapidly disap- 

 pearing species of American animals, while at the same time it will serve the pur- 

 poses of a public park." Mr. Dibble continued, "I am informed that the inquiries, 

 estimates, and offers indicate that the 120 acres which is included in the design now 

 in front of the reporter's desk [referring to a large map showing that part of the 

 creek between Woodley Lane and Klingle road, which the Morrill bill placed under 

 the care of the Regents] can be purchased for something less than $200,000, etc." 



