I also earnestly commend the request of the Regents of the
Smithsonian Institution that an adequate appropriation be made for
the establishment and conduct of a national museum under their
supervision.

The question of providing for the preservation and growth of the
Library of Congress is also one of national importance. As the
depository of all copyright publications and records, this library has
outgrown the provisions for its accommodation; and the erection, on
such site as the judgment of Congress may approve, of a fireproof
library building, to preserve the treasures and enlarge the usefulness
of this valuable collection, is recommended. I recommend also such
legislation as will render available and efficient for the purposes
of instruction, so far as is consistent with the public service, the
cabinets or museums of invention, of surgery, of education, and
of agriculture, and other collections the property of the National
Government.

The capital of the nation should be something more than a mere
political center. We should avail ourselves of all the opportunities
which Providence has here placed at our command to promote the general
intelligence of the people and increase the conditions most favorable
to the success and perpetuity of our institutions.

R.B. HAYES.