H2 Report of the President 



deserted all over the United States and the vacancies often 

 filled by men and women ill-fitted by nature and training for 

 the most important function of our Government. Education 

 as "the most important subject which we as a people can be 

 engaged in" was the opening thought of Abraham Lincoln's 

 first public speech. 



In The American Museum of Natural History this crisis 

 must be met first by the erection of a building adequate to 

 give our exhibitions their full educational value, second, 

 through the encouragement and training of a rising generation 

 of teachers and pupils in all the branches which fall within our 

 special province. To accomplish this result throughout the 

 country and within the Museum, it is absolutely essential to 

 double the appropriations hitherto made for education. We 

 have doubled expenditures in every other activity of life; we 

 must prepare to double expenditures for education. 



Respectfully submitted, 



Henry Fairfield Osborn, 



President. 



