Future Maintenance Policy 2j 



penses, instead of purchasing books, pictures and works of art ; 

 in the end this means the deprivation of the people. 



The expenditures for the maintenance of the Museum by the 

 people have increased far less rapidly than the expenditures of 

 the City departments: while the per capita cost 

 Comparative of the City government has increased more than 

 Museum 3° P er cent - * n ^ e * ast twenty years, the per capita 



cost of maintenance of the Museum has decreased 

 8 per cent. Inasmuch as the work of the Museum for the edu- 

 cation of the people is in no sense a luxury, it is reasonable 

 to expect that maintenance costs shall increase proportionately 

 with the costs of the City government. In general we may 

 regard the reduction of the maintenance appropriation for the 

 Museum as in reality a reduction of expenditures for educa- 

 tion, and any city with the wealth of New York ought to pro- 

 vide liberally for education. At the present time the taxpayers 

 of the City of New York are paying less than one-third of the 

 annual cost of the American Museum and its work. If the 

 taxpayers really understood the situation, they would support 

 the City government in granting larger maintenance appro- 

 priations. 



The people of the City would take more interest and pride 

 in an institution to which they partly contributed and for which 



they made some sacrifice. Therefore, it should 

 Future be a part of the future policy of the American 



PoHcy 611 " 106 Museum to place the cost of maintenance entirely 



upon the taxpayers of the City of New York and 

 not to continue individual contributions or subscriptions for 

 this purpose. It appears that to continue the administration 

 of the Museum as a thoroughly democratic institution, de- 

 signed for the welfare of all the people, and open free to the 

 public at all times, the people should participate in its support 

 from public funds, and that the maintenance of its school 

 and other educational facilities should not be a matter of pri- 

 vate gift. This is the spirit of the original Charter, of the 

 original Contract and of all subsequent modifications and 

 additions to this Contract. 



