THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION.

REMARKS MADE IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,
MARCH 1, 1869.

MR. GARFIELD was six times appointed a Regent of the Smithsonian Institution, in 1865, 1868, 1870, 1872, 1878, and 1879. He is on record as having attended ten different meetings of the Board, in as many different years. He also carefully watched over the interests of the Institution in the House of Representatives. March 1, 1869, the following item in the Miscellaneous Appropriation Bill was reached : "For the preservation of the collections of the exploring and surveying expeditions of the government, $4,000."

Upon this Mr. Garfield made the following remarks.

R. CHAIRMAN,-I move to amend this paragraph by

MR. striking out four thousand dollars and inserting ten

thousand dollars. And I wish briefly to call the attention of the Committee of the Whole to the facts upon which I base my motion.

In 1846, when the Smithsonian Institution was founded, the government of the United States, by a law of Congress, transferred to that Institution all the articles belonging to the Museum which the government then owned. At that time it was costing four thousand dollars a year to take care of and preserve those articles. Since then a great number of exploring expeditions have been sent out by the government, and large additions have been made to the Museum; and the actual cost of keeping and taking care of the articles which the government now owns amounts to more than ten thousand dollars a year. Having imposed this duty upon the Smithsonian Institution, it is wrong for the government to ask that Institution to

pay six thousand dollars out of its own fund, - donated by a foreigner to the cause of science in this country- for the care, preservation, and custody of government property, to say nothing of the use of the building for that purpose.

MR. MAYNARD. What are the items of the expenditure for that purpose? It certainly is not all for personal supervision.

Only so far as the Board of Regents have to employ persons to take care of these things and see that they are properly guarded.

I have here a memorial of the Board of Regents, of which I am a member. It is signed by the Chancellor of the Institution, Chief Justice Chase, and by the Secretary of the Institution, Professor Henry. Accompanying that is a detailed statement of the expenses of the National Museum for the year 1868. I ask the attention of members to these papers. It will be seen that the total expense of the Museum for the year is $13,480.38. In addition to the foregoing, $125,000 has been expended since the fire in 1865 on that part of the building required for the accommodation of the Museum, the interest on which, at six per cent, would be $7,500 annually.

The bequest to found this Institution was made by a foreigner who never visited the United States. He bequeathed his fortune with unreserved confidence to our government for the advancement of science, to which he had devoted his own life. The sacredness of the trust is enhanced by the fact that it was accepted after the death of him by whom it was confided. The only indications of his intentions which we possess are expressed in the terms of his will. It therefore became of the first importance that the import of these terms should be critically analyzed, and the logical inference from them faithfully observed. The whole is contained in these few and explicit words: "To found at Washington, under the name of the Smithsonian Institution, an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men." These terms have a strict import, and are susceptible of statement in two definite propositions.

First. The bequest is for the benefit of mankind; it is not to be confined to one country or to one race, but is for all men of all complexions.

1 The memorial and the statement of the expenses of the Museum for the year 1368 are found in the Congressional Globe for March 1, 1869, p. 1763.

Second. The objects of the Institution are, first, to increase, and, secondly, to diffuse knowledge among men; and these objects should not be confounded with each other.

Smithson's will makes no restriction to any kind of knowledge: hence, every branch of science capable of advancement is entitled to a share of attention.

Though the terms of the will are explicit, and convey precise ideas to those who are acquainted with their technical significance, yet to the public generally they might seem to admit of a greater latitude of construction than has been put upon them. It is, therefore, not surprising that at the beginning improper conceptions of the nature of the bequest should have been entertained; or that Congress, in the act of organization, should direct the prosecution of objects incompatible with the strict interpretation of the will, or that it should impose burdens upon the Institution tending materially to lessen its usefulness. The principal of these burdens was the direction to provide a building on an ample scale to accommodate the collections of the government, consisting of all the specimens of nature and art then in the city of Washington belonging to the government, or that might thereafter become the property of the government by exchange or otherwise.

Though the majority of the Board of Regents did not consider. the expenditure on this object of a large amount of the income in accordance with the will of Smithson, they could not refuse to obey the injunction of Congress; hence they proceeded to erect an extensive building and to take charge of the Museum of the government. The cost of this building, which at first was $325,000, has been increased to $450,000 by the repair of damages caused by the fire, the whole of which has been defrayed from the annual income. Notwithstanding this burden, the Institution has achieved a reputation as wide as the civilized world, has advanced almost every branch of knowledge, and has presented books and specimens to hundreds of institutions and societies in this country and abroad.

It is not a mere statistical establishment, as many may suppose, supporting a corps of men whose only duty is the exhibition of the articles of a show museum; but a living, active organization, that has, by its publications, researches, explorations, distribution of specimens, and exchanges, vindicated the intelligence and good faith of the government in administering

a fund intended for the good of the whole community of civilized men. It has at the same time collected a library, principally of the transactions and proceedings of learned societies, consisting of fifty thousand volumes; also a collection of engravings illustrative of the early history and progress of the art, both of which it has transferred to the library of Congress. It is not alone the present value of the books which it has placed in the possession of the government, but also that of the perpetual continuation of the several series contained therein. From its first organization until the present time, the Institution has continued to render important service to the government by examining and reporting on scientific questions pertaining to the operations of the different departments; and it is not too much to say that, in this way, particularly during the war, it has saved the United States many millions of dollars.

Let me say one word more before leaving this subject. As I have shown, the real purpose of the gift of Smithson, which the Board of Regents have tried to promote as well as they could, was to extend and circulate scientific information; and the management of the Institution has always resisted the tendency to keep up and increase this Museum at the expense of the fund. Recently the Institution has given over to the library of Congress a collection of fifty thousand volumes, constituting probably the most perfect scientific library in the world. But we are still charged as an Institution with the cost of this rapidly increasing Museum. Now, the Regents would be glad if Congress would take this Museum off their hands, and provide otherwise for its care. It is a charge imposed upon the Institution by law, a charge which it never sought and is not desirous to retain. At the time when this Museum was first placed in the custody of the Institution, it cost but four thousand dollars a year to keep it in the Patent-Office. Now its care costs three times that amount. I hope, therefore, that the committee will vote ten thousand dollars for this purpose, instead of four thousand.

THE MEDICAL AND SURGICAL HISTORY

OF THE REBELLION.

REMARKS MADE IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,
MARCH 2, 1869.

THE following remarks were made upon a joint resolution to print at the government printing-house five thousand copies of the First Part of the Medical and Surgical History of the Rebellion, compiled by the Surgeon-General, and five thousand copies of the Medical Statistics of the Provost-Marshal's Bureau.

MR

R. SPEAKER, -I desire to occupy the floor for a few moments, and then I will yield to the gentleman from Massachusetts.1 I hope the mere question as to what committee of the House this bill ought to go to will not divert the minds. of members from the merits of the bill itself. I am quite as willing that my friend, the chairman of the Committee on Printing, shall have charge of it as any other gentleman, only I want the House to act upon the bill, and I took charge of it only because it is so directly related to the war and the army as to come properly into the hands of the Committee on Military Affairs.

As to the cost of the printing, I have here a communication from the public printer, as reported in the debate in the Senate, in which he says:

"The medical and surgical history of the war will be composed of three parts. The first part contains two volumes of nine hundred pages each, and is now ready for the printer. The engravings for it have been obtained under an appropriation made by Congress, and are now in the 2 Mr. Laflin.

1 Mr. Butler.