course for us to pursue is to adopt the report of the committee.

In regard to Professor Coppée, allow me to say that he is a gentleman I have known for years. He is a professor in the university in which I was partly educated, and is without a superior in science or literature in this country. He would be a very worthy successor to Mr. Agassiz.

Am

Mr. MONROE. I must now call the previous question. The SPEAKER. Does the gentleman include amendments? Mr. MONROE. I have given my consent personally. I the proper person to decide that question? The SPEAKER. The only person.

Mr. MONROE. Then I will call for the previous question upon the bill and amendments of the gentleman from Tennessee [Mr. Maynard] and the gentleman from New York, [Mr. Cox.]

The previous question was seconded, and the main question ordered.

The SPEAKER. The gentleman from Tennessee [Mr. Maynard] moves to insert instead of the name of Henry Coppée, of Pennsylvania, the name of Thomas W. Humes, of Tennessee. The gentleman from New York [Mr. Cox] moves, as an amendment to the amendment, to insert instead of the name of Mr. Humes the name of Alexander T. Stewart, of New York. The first question is upon the amendment to the amendment.

The amendment to the amendment was not agreed to. The question recurring on the amendment of Mr. Maynard, it was not agreed to.

The joint resolution was then ordered to be engrossed for a third reading, read the third time, and passed.

Mr. MONROE moved to reconsider the vote by which the joint resolution was passed; and also moved that the motion to reconsider be laid on the table.

The latter motion was agreed to.

May 15, 1874.-Mr. DONNAN, from the Committee on Printing, reported back, with the recommendation that it be concurred in, the following concurrent resolution from the Senate:

Resolved, (the House of Representatives concurring,) That seventy-five hundred additional copies of the report of the Smithsonian Institution, for the year 1873, be printed for the use of the institution: Provided, That the aggregate number of pages of said report shall not exceed four hundred and fifty, and that there be no illustrations except those furnished by the Smithsonian Institution.

Mr. HOLMAN.

Does that resolution propose to give all the copies to the Smithsonian Institution?

Mr. DONNAN. I desire to say to the House that this resolution proposes five thousand less than the usual number of copies; but we make no provision for furnishing any copies to members of Congress. The whole number is for the Smithsonian Institution.

Mr. HOLMAN. It seems to me that there ought to be some copies for members of Congress. I think it would be fair not to increase the number, but to divide it up so that a portion shall be distributed by Senators and members of the House.

Mr. DONNAN. This is a Senate resolution and it was believed inasmuch as members of Congress have no means of distributing the documents that they could obtain such copies as they desired for their own use from the institution.

Mr. HOLMAN. I think it would be better to have a small number provided for members of Congress. Most of us are perfectly willing to send them to our constituents. I think one-third of the number should be furnished for the use of members of Congress. What is the number which the resolution proposes to have printed?

Mr. DONNAN. Seventy-five hundred for distribution by the Smithsonian Institution.

Mr. HOLMAN. Seventy-five hundred all together?

Mr. DONNAN. Yes; and the usual number was twelve thousand.

Mr. HOLMAN. Then I would move to amend the resolution so that three thousand copies shall be furnished to the Senate and House; two thousand for the House, and one thousand for the Senate, and that the remaining forty-five hundred shall be for the institution.

Mr. DONNAN. I have no objection to the House voting on that amendment.

Mr. E. R. HOAR. I did not understand whether the motion of the gentleman from Indiana was to add to the number.

Mr. HOLMAN. No; but to divide the number proposed so as to give a portion to the Senate and to the House.

Mr. E. R. HOAR. I desire to say that this number is only what the Smithsonian Institution desires for distribution according to its systems among the libraries and colleges of the country, and for its exchanges. I do not think it would be proper or wise for the House to take away a part of the ordinary number furnished to this institution, for the purpose of distributing this document to favored constituents of members of the House. If members desire copies for

distribution, I think they should add to and not diminish the regular supply to the institution. I move to amend the amendment so that the number proposed for the House and Senate shall be in addition to the number proposed by the resolution.

The amendment to the amendment was agreed to; and the amendment, as amended, was agreed to.

The resolution, as amended, was concurred in.

Mr. DONNAN moved to reconsider the vote by which the resolution was concurred in; and also moved that the motion to reconsider be laid on the table.

The latter motion was agreed to.

December 11, 1874.-On motion by Mr. HOOPER, the joint resolution appointing George Bancroft a Regent of the Smithsonian Institution, in place of William T. Sherman, resigned, was taken up, and passed.

January 26, 1875.-Annual report, for the year 1874, laid before the House of Representatives, and ordered to be printed.

February 8, 1875.-Mr. HOAR moved to have additional copies of the report of the Smithsonian Institution printed. February 24, 1875.-Mr. DONNAN, from the Committee on Printing, reported the following resolution; which was read, and agreed to:

Resolved, (by the House of Representatives, the Senate concurring,) That 10,500 copies of the report of the Smithsonian Institution, for the year 1874, be printed; 2,000 copies of which shall be for the use of the House of Representatives, 1,000 for the use of the Senate, and 7,500 for the use of the institution: Provided, That the aggregate number of pages of said report shall not exceed 450, and that there shall be no illustrations, except those furnished by the Smithsonian Institution.

March 2, 1875.-Mr. HOAR introduced a bill extending the privileges of the library of Congress to the Regents of the Smithsonian Institution; which was passed.

FORTY-FOURTH CONGRESS.

SENATE, April 13, 1876.

Annual report of the Smithsonian Institution for 1875, laid before the Senate.

Mr. HAMLIN moved that extra copies be printed.

April 20, 1876.-Mr. ANTHONY, from the Committee on Printing, reported the following resolution, which was agreed to:

Resolved, (by the Senate, the House of Representatives concurring,) That 10,500 copies of the report of the Smithsonian Institution, for the year 1875, be printed; 1,000 copies of which shall be for the use of the Senate, 2,000 copies for the use of the House of Representatives, and 7,500 copies for the use of the Smithsonian Institution: Provided, That the aggregate number of pages shall not exceed 450, and that there shall be no illustra tions, except those furnished by the Smithsonian Institution.

January 26, 1877.-The PRESIDENT pro tempore presented a resolution of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution, adopted at a meeting held January 24, 1877, asking an appropriation by Congress for the erection of a suitable building, in connection with the present edifice, for the accommodation of additional collections; which was referred to the Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds.

February 6, 1877.-Mr. STEVENSON. I desire to present a memorial from the Regents of the Smithsonian Institution, which I desire to have read. It will be found to refer to a subject in which the entire country must, I am sure, feel a very deep interest.

It is known to the Senate that the Smithsonian Institution was represented at the late Centennial Exhibition at Philadelphia. At the close of that exposition a number of the foreign powers there represented, and who contributed to that grand national display, at its close generously donated to the Smithsonian Institution most of their articles and products there exhibited. A list of the articles donated and the name of the donors accompany this memorial. Among these gifts will be found an exquisite pair of vases valued at some $17,000.

The motive which prompted these donations to the Smithsonian Institution was unquestionably one of amity and respect entertained by the foreign powers donating them for the Government of the United States. But unquestionably these donors expected that this Government would, through the agency of the Smithsonian Institution, keep these articles thus donated on public exhibition, and in this

way the respective products of each country would become known to the people of our entire country.

The articles donated are valuable, rare, varied, and occupy much space. They are all, I believe, now stored in Philadelphia, for the reason that the Smithsonian Institution has no building in which they can be either exhibited or safely preserved. They must remain, therefore, in boxes, subject to injury and to decay, unless Congress shall take some immediate action toward the erection of a building in all respects suitable for their exhibition and preservation. The capacity of such a building is estimated by competent architects to be four times as large as the Smithsonian building. A plan of such a structure has been already drawn by General Meigs. Its estimated cost will not exceed $200,000.

The regents of the institution by this memorial ask Congress to make at once the necessary appropriation. If it be promptly done, a beautiful and capacious building can be put up and finished by the assembling of Congress in December next. Of course, this memorial should go first to the Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds. The prompt erection of the proposed building is a public necessity, which, I hope, will commend itself to the judgment of that committee-and I trust they will at the earliest moment make a report. I submit that the honor and good faith of our country seems to demand and require prompt and liberal action by Congress. That is all I have now to suggest. Mr. CONKLING. What is the worth of these articles?

Mr. STEVENSON. It is stated in the memorial that the estimated value is a million dollars. I ask that the memorial be now read.

The Secretary read as follows.

To the Senate and House of Representatives of the

United States of America in Congress assembled: The undersigned, Regents of the Smithsonian Institution, beg leave respectfully to lay before you a question which has suddenly arisen, and which can be solved only by your authority.

In the year 1846, on the organization of the Smithsonian Institution "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men," Congress, to the great relief of the Patent Office and other public buildings, devolved upon the regents of that institution the custody of "all objects of art and of foreign and curious research, and all objects of natural history, plants, and geological and mineralogical specimens belonging or hereafter to belong to the United States, which may be in the city of Washington."

In accordance with this enactment the institution has received and carefully preserved all the specimens which have been brought together from more than fifty public exploring expeditions, and has added specimens collected by itself or obtained from foreign museums by exchange, till its present edifice in the beginning of 1876 had become full to overflowing.

By an act bearing date July 31, 1876, additional duties were laid upon the Smithsonian Institution as custodian, and $4,500 were appropriated