Evening star., 1917-09-23
FIFTY YEARS AGO
IN THE STAR

In The Star Of September II. 1857.
in a news item of interest. showing
the development
Tho Smithson;an fifty years ago OF
the Smithsonian In
4nSLlCuLlOn. stttution as one OF
the well-founded establishments at the
National Capital:
"The annual report Of the board OF
regents of the Smithsonian Institution
for the year 1866 has just been pub
lished 1t appears from the statement
of Prof Henry. the secretary, tnat py
judicious investments and the SAFE OF
coin received from England as the
as that Of the annual interest from the
United States, not only have the opera
tions of the institution been main
tained and the reconstruction OF tne
from the government. but the finances
have been improved and are now IN
better condition than at any previous
period. If the petition to congress 70
permit additions to be maoe TO the
principal on the same terms as those
on which the original bequest was re.
ceived in the Treasury of the United
States be granted. namely, allowing
the regents to increase the capltal by
savings, donations and otherwise to
million of dollars. then the extra fund.
at the present market value OF the
stocks in which it is invested. Will be
sufficient to increase the enooWment
from s515,169 to S650,0O0. and still
restoration of the building, provided
the cost of the restoration be limited
to s150,000.
Since the burning Of the upper story
room was situated. the public lectures
have been discontinued. The institu-
tion, however, continues its collections
of papers on various scientific sub
jects. some of which are embodied in
the present report of the regents.
THE transfer of the Smithsonian
library, the secretary says. has tended
to awaken an interest in the Library
of Congress, which cannot fail. under
the energetic superintendent of the
present librarian, Mr.. spofford, in a
few years to render it worthy of the
National Capital. An appropriation OF
100000 was made by Congress to the
purchase of the library of Gen. Peter
America. With these additions. the
Library Of Congress is the largest in
the United States. and the necessity
for a separate building is even already
foreshadowed"
The old Baltimore and Ohio railroad
line between Baltimore and Washing
ton was rather
Strengthening the crooked, especial
ly south of the
~ " v. AlAe. former city, and
early attempts to shorten the time be-
tween the two cities were thwarted by
this condition. In The Star of Septem-
Der IS. 1857. is an item relative to the
Strengthening of the line, promising q
material reduction of the running time:
The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
Company are STRENGTHENING their line
between the Relay House and Baltl-
more. SO as to avoid that long double
curve that winds around by the brick
yards near the Spring Gardens and
turning northward again crosses
Gwynn's falls at the Carrolton viaduct.
These curves are almost like large 5
and add considerably to the length of
the road, while they necessarily impede
the progress of the cars and subject all
the material to unnecessary wear and
tear To avoid this the bend originally
taken to reach the Mount Clair depot,
which was on Pratt street, west, will
be abandoned and the road Strengthened
till it strikes water at Spring Gardens,
then, turning north. it will run di-
rectly into the Camden station. The
distance gained by this operation will
be nearly two miles, and the time
gained. as well by shorter distance as
straighter line, will be some thirty
and will be in working order next
month, when the time between Balti-
more and Washington will be reduced
to sixty minutes"
After the civil war many additions
were made to the ranks of the news