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bered that such institutions are the standards by which the intellectual 

 culture of a nation is measured, and that it is more difficult to raise such 

 standards than even to increase the general wealth of the community, 

 our total will appear small in comparison with the means employed 

 to make money. What do our enterprising merchants think of a mill 

 or a factory costing half a million of dollars or more ? They multiply 

 them all over the country beyond our ability to count them. Is it, 

 then, too much to expect that one great Museum may be erected among 

 us capable of containing a suitable representation of all the objects 

 necessary for a correct appreciation of the plan of Creation — even 

 if it should cost millions ? May we not hope that when the nation 

 celebrates the centennial anniversary of American Independence, such 

 a Museum may be numbered among the recent achievements of the 

 Republic ? 





