Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-07-26
THE NATIONAL MUSEUM.
How 1t Will Be a Gamer Through the
Worlds Fair.
Exhibits That May BE Deposited There
The Gov ernment's Work for the Fair-A
Talk With Mr.. w. H. Holmes.

Talk With Mr.. w. H. Holmes,
The great National Museum which has
proved to be one of the most valuable as
well as interesting of all Washington's
scientific institutions, may be said to have
had it's inception as a result of the centen-
NAL exposition. The first suggestions as to
its establishment. in fact. were made
through the columns of The Star. The fact
that so much Of general interest had been
brought together for exhibition at Phila-
delphia and that was in danger of beconi-
ing separated and lost as a complete col
lection gave rise to the happy idea that it
would be well to keep as much as possible
Of 1t as whole for permanent exhibition
or public museum. The idea was of course
well received, and as a result Washington
now has the National Museum, an institu-
ton of which the nation has every reason
to feel proud.
Now the all important question has
arisen as to how much the museum and
the other scientific branches of the govern
ment will be the better off for what has
been done at the worlds fair at Chicago.
There is undoubtedly a tremendous amount
erly be in place at the National Museum.
II only 1t could be obtained. They ray that
Chicago has an Idea that she is goins to
keep all this there, as well as the es hibits
that have been made by the different de-
partments of the government. But then
even Chicago gets left once in a while.
MIR. Holmes View of 1t.
Mr.. w. H. Holmes. Of the bureau of eth
nology, who has but just returned from
Chicago, where he has spent the better part
Of three months at work in connection with
the government exhibits. was asked by a
Star reporter last evening how much he
thought Washington would be the gamer
permanently by the worlds fair.
Not as much as We all might hope"
sad he he Is to ssys "a am afraid such
there that we would all like to see come to
Washington, and undoubtedly a great deal
will come in the way Of smaller and COM
paratively inexpensive displays, which will
be left in this country or donated to the
government. Still, there is great deal
there that will not be SO easy to obtain and
that will require more than little expend-
iture of money II We hope to get them
here. This would come more properly. Of
course. within the jurisdiction Of Prof. G.
Brown Goode. who is at the head of the
museum. but he is now in Washington. and
Is unfortunately not well at the present
matter. however. and as there is still
plenty of time l feel satisfied that coucert-
ed action will be taken looking to the per-
manent enriching of the National Museum.
Apart, however, from these collections
and exhibits. which may or may not be Sc
cured by the government. Washington will
be the gamer by all the special exhibits
that have been prepared by the different
departments. and which will. Of course, lie
brought back here. For instance. all the
branches of the Smithsonian and the m,i-
scum have on exhibition in the government
building at Chicago special displays that
were prepared with particular care for this
occasion, but will prove to be valuable nd
ditions to what there already Is here. As
case IN point. the bureau of ethnology has
there a series OF groups that show in n
wonderfully satisfactory manner the man.
ners and customs Of the natives of this
country.
The Ethnologica1 Group.
IT believe that some time ago The Star
had story about the making of these
groups. Well, although the series Is not
quite completed yet It proves to be most
attractive exhibit. The groups. as stated
in The Star at that time are composed of
part of Indians. and show the red men at
work and at play. They are making bas-
kets. molding pottery, drawing pictures on
vivid pictures of life and customs that will
become even more valuable as time passes
on and the Indian passes away with it a
mounted figure OF cowboy with MI of
his .regalia and accouterments also gives a
view of a phase Of life that is rapidly dis
appearing even from, from the far west or
known for his researches among the IN
dams, has devoted a great deal of time and
still in Chicago putting on a few finishing
| touches. and is expected to remain to finish
up group of Navajo silver workers and
one OF two other groups that have been
shipped to Chicago but which can hardly
be completed before several weeks more
"Oh. yes. the fair is wonderful sight,
educational Institution II one chooses to
| look at it in that light Naturally every
thing cannot be expected to be just right
and occasionally there are bad breaks as
for example, that trouble with the Russian
exhibitors which resulted in their covering
their displays and to With
could have been and should have been
avoided: The Coiumbina guards. too. can
hardly be called an unqualified success, but
one Of the worst and most serious breaks
they made was when they arrested one Of
the government exhibits.
How an Exhibit Was Arrested.
"You see 1t was this way. In connection
with the chronological exhibit Prof. Putnam
had a number Of Indians there. among
them a band of about twenty from the far
northwest, who for the most part were un-
used to civilization and unable to speak
English at all One OF them was an old
chap at least seventy years of age who
could not speak word of English. 1t hap
pened that the Columbian guards had been
ordered to look out for seven trampS who
had stolen to Chicago on freight train and
somehow or other had made their way into
the fair grounds; The guards a arrested t,S SIX
find anywhere But they did find that old
Indian sitting down by the shore Of the la
goon collecting some trash that was of in
they could ever have mistaken an elderly
Indian in his native garb for member of
the genus tramp Is something that passes
ordinary comprehension, but that is just
what they seem to have done.
"They arrested the old gentleman, called
a patrol wagon and hustled him off to a
station house in the city without anybody
knowing about it, He was brought up in
court charged with being a tramp or va
grant, but as there was nothing to be prov
ed against him he was allowed to go out of
court. He did not talk the language and
| had no way of making himself understood
nor had he any idea how to get back to the
| fair grounds The natural result was that
he did not get back and when l left Chi
cago nothing had been heard of him, and
| and that poor old Indian was as effectually
| lost in the big city as a white man could
ever .be in the mountains"
Torpedo and Submarine Gun Tests.
Capt. Sampson, chief of the naval ord