| Show merica erica's S Big I INSTITUTION APPOINTED t SUMAN BLEMAN DID WORK an ian Left Fortune Fortunen hlin n ni Scientists to to sue e Experiments t NEARLY TO TAKE IT I r Accomplishments of it 1 t Place moE ions 5 Research at t Washington l ri iii Is Ie the first Of f Mr r. r on this gene gen sen by work of the great en- en e United states ot of the phio phi phi- res erch h- h hand and applied tine can afford not noti No o American articles will i tb h things these will ten tell about w Mr of Washington gle ir IT DERla J. J HASKIN l i scarcely realizes its great if IS to those men and women os their wealth have hate set aside It tte h incomes es from which are h ji research r M and philanthropic another Little kind or one IU in ink are supported toce who k ik rk by bj these thee funds aro arc pushing g I bounds budI of knowledge and I die dis- jAW sa Mir truths troths and new I V atri ht ay are e harnessed for the an and i to 10 w work rk t it bas haj happened a thousand t it t the scie ci dentist tit has received S e for bi his pains and the tho lt It lidie ridicule le for his Ift r u ut i t Ic fc j t 1111 tee he lcm of iU its cry e ogle angle and ald makes 1 M Pt IO proe i t C 5 existing i theories s con the world laughs at his hisk hi yet yeti tb word k k tad and makes maks so much fun funi it his bie death before i t k p principles De ho be worked out Hy applied n port Lin in qu quest st st. of the truth s six six- oio ix and aud be is hees called cled a a wizard sensational al stories are writ writ- it be bo is s all al but dinin din die i in is il bi his laborious work of ve to the human buman race raco rao the thel l I 5 which must accrue ru rough understanding of ono of natures nature's ns laws eats et Go On OD with all aU this bi generous men con con- Kt aside funds for for- research t Bd determined e scientists contO con con- t tO with mth tireless enal en- en al dues clues Jue of nature which to promise new lessons and new Continued on pane page paJe 2 DISAPPOINTED C Continued i from pa page e 1 benefits to mankind whilo while other ether bene bone factora- factora seek factors to make ako their lessons lessons' available ava to mankind at lar large e. e Hundreds Hun of institutions large and nd small are works working ng along alone alon these lines and it itis Itis is the purpose of this series series of arti artl des cles to tell about some of them In rin the endowed institutions Lions of the United Sf tes' tes that t have added BO eo vastly t to human knowledge and human well well- being the Smithson ian anti institution deserves first place loco both oth by reason of tho the vast ast bone benefits is it has conferred on mankind and because because be be- cause of its priority in the field fold of such sueh institutions It is a remarkable remarkable blo story that must bo ho told of the tho Smithsonian institution It came into its present existence through conditions which make it al almost al al- most seem that its establishment was ivas foreordained George Washington once bad had an idea of V t a a groat national university at nt Washington on and Joel Tuel B Barlow BarTow later planned an fl institution embracing the Washington ton idea and some somo others of his own But the tho whole hol project t remained no nomore nomore nomore more than an idea until James Jamos Smith Smith- Smithson son a disappointed and disheartened nobleman the illegitimate son eon of the toe duke duko of Northumberland came to tomake tomake tomake make his llis will How It Game Oame About lie JIe drew that thai instrument in 8 18 and in it he be willed all his prot property to his nephew Henry Tames James Hungerford Hunger Hunger- Hungerford ford providing that it should go to o ohis il illegitimate ii- ii his children whether le legitimate or le legitimate but containing ing in a ju further r If it that ithe clause claus in which it was stated he died without issue or if his chit chil children dren died under th the a age e of 21 or intestate in intestate in in- testate then tho whole of his bis proper proper- to small annuity to a a. subject a ty to the faithful servant ant should go 20 to United States States' to found at Washing ton under the name of ot the SmithsonIan Smithsonian Smith Smut institution an establishment for the increase and diffusion of or knowledge c amon among amone mon men moor Smithson di died d in 1829 and his nephew died six fix years later at Pisa Pha thereafter thereafter thereafter there there- leaving lea no heirs Immediately after a law firm advised the American Amen Ameri can legation in London of tho exist exist- existence ence of the bequest to the tho United States Statts as re residuary le legatee atee This information in n formation was communicated to Pr President President sl dent Jackson who nho declared ho he had bad no authority to receive the tho money and referred the matter to congress The ne necessary authorization was recommended bv by both the senate and house jouse 8 committee e but was ws W not passed b by jy the tho two hu houses c until after a bitter debate debater One member of the senate asserted assorted as- as sorted that if an institution of the tho kind cind were desired ho he would prefer r that hat it be established with government government govern govern- oni go ment funds and that con congress re s should p not nott t. t pander to the paltry vanity anity of an IndivIdual He asserted that if this bequest were accepted Ie every o ery whippersnapper whip whip- a vagabond abond that had bad been traducing our country mi might ht think roper proper to have his hig name distinguished in n the same way John C. C Calhoun un the eminent South Carolinian also was bitterly opposed to o presents of the kind from anyone He le said ald that time he be every er passed through the rotunda of the capitol it made him mad to see the French statue of Jefferson not only because it was as no no more like Jefferson than ho he was but because ho he felt it involved a species ies of meanness which ho he could not describe J 0 l He JIe s said id it carried carrica with it the tho tacit admission that the United States States' was too oo stingy to purchase c one worthy orthy of he the man and of the nation Ho also aleo thought ht that the reception of t the c fund would be unconstitutional Thomas H. H Benton shared sh the ion Ion on of Calhoun and ann announced himself as 35 desiring that the con congress should repeal repeal re- re peal eal the thc act authorizing the president to o sue for Cor tho fund f in the En English courts I Later ater John C. C Calhoun declared that he be b had heard a gentleman say that ot of all tho the curses that had descended upon Philadelphia the greatest was waR the Girard donation Here gore we are to commoner with half a million and no one knows how I much more will win be added h hd hA pW a s exclaimed med Lost In t. t All AU sorts sort of arguments were put u up against t the tho acceptance of 01 tho the bequest est even after the president h had bo boat bean n em empowered em em- powered to se secure ure it Senator Benton declared that ho ob objected to it because aus ausit it would place the united States government goy gov Jn in tho the light ht of bein being a moneyed moneyed mon mono eyed power After the money was re reo received oo Mi there thore were suggestions bv by the thousands ds as to how to use it H. i Nearly everybody thou thought ht it ou ought ht to be use used to found fount a a. great wed university and the early debates dobat in con congress indicate e that it was was thoro thorn re regarded as given for that pur purpose ono I When tho tiro legacy became available the various securities were converted con into gold fold old sovereigns so and aud shipped to the Philadelphia mint wh whore where e etho t tho they oy were ware converted into American n money Tho money was invested in bonds of Arkansas but in 1846 that state do- do faulted and the United States made it good paying 6 Por per cent interest on the Arkansas owed at tho the time of default Andrew Johnson opposed tho the United States making good tho loss 1058 Ho said Bald said that the mono money had been invested in good faith an and that tho the national government gov gov government ov was not in duty bound to restore re reo restore store it H. lIe He announced that anyway ho he would like to see seo a a. young youn man educated educated edu edu- at the Smithsonian institution and brought up in all an the extras fiance gance ance folly toBy aristocracy and corruption corruption tion of Washington on co o out into the country and t teach ach little boys and girls how to read and write Ho He announced that he would send the whole bequest back baek t to England A dozen different methods of utilizing ing the Smithsonian Smithonian b bequest were pro pro- posed Ono was for th the tho founding of ot otan an astronomical observatory Some Home of Its Achievements Another was for a a. sort of national farm Another was was for a bi big normal school S Still IJ another was for a bi big lecture university Jefferson Davis is thought ht that would be bo the ideal way ay to use uso the money There were prolonged cd debates debate and that tho the institution established in its ib present form iri in 1846 has been the out growth h of f all ii the conglomeration o of dean that were presented in the tho and nd is is' almost as remarkable as some lome of the great groat Cat work that baa hae been done dPn V When v n one considers tho the many objections that were raised to o t the G creation creation cre cre- I of tho the Smithsonian institution i he is forcibly reminded of 8 some of the objections now low boin being ur urged ed in congress con con- gress against tho the Rockefeller er founds tion It is interesting to note briefly what tho u Smithsonian has hns A accomplished in the ho less lees than seventy years ears of its ex ex- It wee was here that at Joseph Hon Hen rv d dealing aUn with the pure puro science of electrical ph phenomena laid tho upon which Morse built his I tole- tole telegraph graph graph aph and Bell Ben his telephone It was horo here ore also that was born the science of meteorology y with the innumerable benefits it has conferred on mankind t It wa was here that the be beginnings s of ot tho the science of fish culture wore made which has baa meant eo so much to the integ rity city of the worlds world's fish supply It was hate ho that that remarkable instrument the tho with which tho the secrets of ot tho rho sun are being laid bare baro to the astrophysicist was S first r t devised I It was wan here that the foundations foundation of aeronautics s wore laid and from whence the pure science of Langley ey was converted into t the applied science of the Wrights with the aeroplane as the result Solving E Earthquake Problem Nor is i it c content to rest on its lau lau- All An the time timo it is Ss mapping out new fields of ot activity in tho world of research It is persuaded for instance that earthquakes earthquake have laws of occurrence and it U believes that b by a proper system tem tern of observation th those llo laws can be i ascertained and ind interpreted d so that in I the tho future they ma may be a forecasted Ma Magnificent in its simple ch charter r for the tho increase and diffusion of knowledge among men the tho Smithsonian Smithsonian Smith Smith- with its limited income of 58 a year year- has hM literally wrought ht won won- ders With it its act activities ibes as a II guide the possibilities of the great reat research endowments that have been and are ue being made are aro beyond appraisement Some of them already ady have shown hown results re reo re- re suits that au augur a remarkable future and tho story of their achievements constitute constitutes a bright right page paiZe in the history of science |
