- 3 - 
When the report came to the legal part, the President 
said that he thought this unjustified; that Mr, Freer was an 
honorable man and meant to do what he said he would do; that 
he would take his ?/ord in lieu of the formal legal statement; 
just as he would take Senator Henderson f s word; that he knew 
Mr, Freer to he a man of honorable purpose, Mr, Justice 
Holmes concurred in this view, but admitted, in reply to an 
inquiry from Senator Henderson, that the letter was not in 
legal form. He stated, however, that If Mr. Freer would simply 
add to the letter ,f I covenant to make" such a bequest, and add 
his seal to hi® signature and have his signature witnessed, 
this would make a binding contract. 
After the .reading of the report was finished, the 
President was emphatic in his statement that the gift ought 
to be accepted, with conditions or without them. Senator 
Henderson pointed out that the Smithsonian did not have suf¬ 
ficient funds to maintain the building, and therefore, could 
not promise to do it. 
The President said that the promise of the Smithsonian 
now would be as good as the promise of Mr. Freer; both would 
be in the future. 
Senator Henderson continued to debate the matter, and 
the President finally inquired whether Mr. Freer had presented 
the alternative of giving it to the Government and I said 
that he had. 
