resolution is before the Senate as in Committee of the Whole and will be read.

Whereas William H. Vanderbilt and Julia Dent Grant have, by deed of trust executed on the 10th day of January, 1885, presented to the United States certain swords, medals, paintings, bronzes, portraits, commissions, and addresses, and objects of value and art presented by various governments in the world to General Ulysses S. Grant, as tokens of their high appreciation of his illustrious character as a soldier and a statesman: Therefore

Be it resolved, etc., That the United States accepts the said property and articles, more fully described in the schedule attached to said deed of trust, to be held by the United States and preserved and protected in the city of Washington for the use and inspection of the people of the United States. And the thanks of Congress are hereby tendered to the said William H. Vanderbilt and Julia Dent Grant for their generous and valuable gift.

Resolved, That the said property and articles are placed under the custody of the Librarian of Congress; and the Secretary of War is hereby directed to receive the same for safe-keeping and custody in the Department of War until they can be transported by the Librarian of Congress to a suitable building to be provided for the use of the Library of Congress.

Passed.

The preamble was agreed to.

DOCUMENTS.

February 9, 1885.

Joint resolution approved for printing and distributing "Descriptive Catalogue of Government Publications," provided two copies for the Smithsonian Institution, and fifty for foreign exchanges.

(Stat., XXIII, p. 517.)

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE (ENTOMOLOGY, ORNITHOLOGY.) February 20, 1885-Senate.

The Senate, as in Committee of the Whole, considered the bill (H. 8030), making appropriation for the Agricultural Department for the year 1886.

Mr. W. MILLER, of New York. I am instructed by the Committee on Agriculture and Forestry to move an amendment, in line 57, to strike out the word "twenty" and insert "thirty;" and also in the same line to strike out "twenty" and insert "thirty;" so as to read:

And other expenses. on the practical work of entomological division, $30,000; in all, $37,900.

The occasion for this increase arises in this wise. In line 51 there has been inserted in this bill a clause including:

And for the promotion of economic ornithology, or the study of the interrelation of birds and agriculture, an investigation of the food, habits, and migration of birds in relation to both insects and plants, and publishing report thereon, for drawings, and for chemicals and traveling and other expenses.

Those words have been put into this bill this year, of course resulting in an increase of the labor of the entomological division and largely increasing its expenditures if it is to do the work that has been assigned to it. The reason for this has come about in this wise: There has been organized in this country an ornithological union, composed of the leading naturalists of this country, extending over the entire country and also over Canada. There has also been organized an international ornithological union, and these unions of the different civilized countries are acting in connection. Some of them have been at work for several years. The unions of the various countries have applied to their respective governments, asking that the governments take up this work to a certain extent that is, the work of the collation of facts and the publications of facts.

These ornithological unions, which are studying the questions designated in these lines, are doing the work voluntarily for the advancement of science and the good of mankind in general. These associations are entirely voluntary, and all their work is done without compensation for love of the cause. They have collected and are collecting large amounts of information upon this subject, which is very valuable and is undoubtedly to be of great value to the agriculturists as a class. They do not feel able to undertake the work of classifying and collating the information which they have obtained or of publishing it for the benefit of the world, and they have asked for the action indicated in the lines which I read.

During the past two years there have been scattered all over the United States more than a thousand gentlemen engaged in making these observations. Circulars were prepared and sent out to all the various stations by the Smithsonian Institution at the request of the Ornithological Union, of course the expense being paid by the Smithsonian Institution, as under the law it had a right to do; but it is not able to go on with the proper publication of these results. A very large amount of information has been obtained. All the light-house keepers in the United States and in Canada have been instructed by the proper department to obtain the information desired; blanks have been furnished them, and they have made regular reports, and these reports have come in in very large numbers.

The Ornithological Union presented some weeks ago to Congress a memorial fully setting forth the work they were doing and what they desired the Government to do in the premises.

This matter was laid before the Department of Agriculture and brought to the attention of the Smithsonian Institution, and Professor Baird joined in recommending this action, and of course an appropriation is needed. The result has been that authority to undertake this investigation and the compilation of the statistics and the data which

can be furnished and will be furnished by this union has been put into this bill, but there has been no increase of the appropriation for the expenditures of the entomological division. Ten thousand dollars was asked for as being the least sum that can properly do this work. When the bill passed the House and the chief of this division, Dr. Riley, discovered it, he came to see me, and not finding me, wrote to me a letter, portions of which I will read, and from which the Senate will see that it is necessary to increase this appropriation somewhat; otherwise the work can not be done at all.

The Presiding Officer (Mr. G. F. EDMUNDS). The question is on agreeing to the amendment proposed by the Senator from New York. The amendment was agreed to.

FORTY-NINTH CONGRESS, 1885-1887.

March 24, 1885-Senate.

APPOINTMENT OF REGENTS

By the Vice-President.

The Vice-President (Mr. THOMAS A. HENDRICKS) appointed Justin S. Morrill to fill the vacancy in the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution occasioned by the expiration of his term of service. The VICE-PRESIDENT appointed Shelby M. Cullom to fill the vacancy in the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution occasioned by the expiration of the term of Nathaniel P. Hill.

January 12, 1886-House.

APPOINTMENT OF REGENTS

By the Speaker.

The Speaker (Mr. JOHN G. CARLISLE) announced the appointment of the following Regents of the Smithsonian Institution: Otho R. Singleton, of Mississippi, William L. Wilson, of West Virginia, William Walter Phelps, of New Jersey.

December 8, 1885-Senate.

APPOINTMENT OF REGENTS

By joint resolution.

Mr. JUSTIN S. MORRILL introduced joint resolution (S. 1):

That the existing vacancies in the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution of the class "other than members of Congress" shall be filled by the reappointment of John Maclean, of New Jersey; Asa Gray, of Massachusetts; Henry Coppée, of Pennsylvania; and the appointment of Montgomery C. Meigs, of the city of Washington, vice William T. Sherman, whose term has expired, and who is no longer a citizen of Washington.

Ordered to lie on the table.

December 10, 1885-Senate.

Mr. J. S. MORRILL called up the joint resolution in relation to the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution.

Mr. MORRILL. I will merely state that this joint resolution is for the reappointment of three of the present Regents, and to supply the vacancy in consequence of the removal of General Sherman from the city, in whose place the name inserted is that of General Meigs. The resolution was then read.

Mr. JOHN J. INGALLS. Has the joint resolution been reported by any committee?

The President pro tempore (Mr. G. F. EDMUNDS). It has not been reported.

Mr. INGALLS. It appears to me that in a matter of this consequence we ought not to be called upon to act on the joint resolution without having the opinion of some committee on the subject. I shall hear with interest what the Senator from Vermont has to say upon the subject, but I am very clear that we should have the opinion of a committee.

Mr. MORRILL. In the first place, I will say that I am not aware of any appropriate committee to which this measure could be referred; and, in the next place, the joint resolution merely provides for the reappointment of three distinguished citizens, of different States, who have already served their term, which has expired, and the other nomination made is that of General Meigs, to supply the place of General Sherman, who is no longer eligible in consequence of having removed from the city of Washington, and the original law requires two to be residents of the city of Washington.

I may say that I was unfortunate in not conversing with the Senator from Kansas, but I conversed with quite a number of other Senators, who agreed that the presentation of the name of General Meigs was an eminently proper one to be made.

Mr. DANIEL W. VOORHEES. May I inquire whether there is any new name suggested in that list with the exception of that of General Meigs?

Mr. MORRILL. That is the only one.

Mr. VOORHEES. So I understood.

The PRESIDENT pro tempore. Is the Chair to understand the Senator from Kansas as moving to refer the joint resolution to a committee? If not, the joint resolution is before the Senate as in Committee of the Whole.

Mr. S. B. MAXEY. As a member of the Board of Regents, I wish to say in reply to the suggestion of the Senator from Kansas that the character of General Meigs is too well known to require the report of any committee of this body, and the reason which actuated me in sus

taining the position taken by the Senator from Vermont, who is also a member of the Board of Regents, was that there is to be some very valuable improvement soon made in the Smithsonian building, and General Meigs is an architect of distinguished reputation and his appointment as a member of the Board of Regents, he living here in Washington, would be eminently proper. I think he ought to go on that board. His well-known character we thought was ample to justify the appointment without a reference to a committee.

The joint resolution was reported to the Senate without amendment. Mr. J. T. MORGAN. I hope that the resolution will pass, although I consider that it is a little hasty for us to act, as the Senator from Kansas has suggested, without the advice of any committee, but I do not wish it to be understood that I vote for it on the ground stated by the Senator from Texas, that of General Meigs's architectural capacity or ability, for if we take the new Pension Office here as a sample of it, and we undertake in advance to refer that to the judgment and taste of the people of the United States, we shall make a very wide mistake. I shall vote for General Meigs because I think he is a scientist, not because I think he is an architect.

Passed.

December 18, 1885-House.

Mr. WILLIAM L. WILSON, of West Virginia, called up joint resolution (S. 1). Adopted.

December 26, 1885.

Resolved, etc., That the existing vacancies in the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution of the class "other than members of Congress" shall be filled by the reappointment of John Maclean, of New Jersey; Asa Gray, of Massachusetts; Henry Coppée, of Pennsylvania; and the appointment of Montgomery C. Meigs, of the city of Washington, vice William T. Sherman, whose term has expired and who is no longer a citizen of Washington.

(Stat., XXIV, 339.)

December 21, 1886-Senate.

Mr. JUSTIN S. MORRILL introduced a joint resolution (S. 90) appointing James B. Angell a member of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution.

Referred to Committee on the Library.

December 21, 1886-Senate.

Mr. WILLIAM J. SEWELL, from Committee on the Library, reported S. 90 favorably.

Resolved, etc., That the existing vacancy in the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution of the class "other than members of Congress" shall be filled by the appointment of James B. Angell, of the State of Michigan, in place of John Maclean, deceased.

Adopted.