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54
and cooperation with native scholars.
Taking up the subject of excavation I assured him that permission had been hoped for by your Committee in Washington, but that I was instructed to make it clear that nothing of the sort would be undertaken without the official consent of the Chinese government and the good will of the people of the district where it was proposed. The President replied that such consent and good will would be most certainly forthcoming where our plans did not include the disturbance of the graves of ancestors of existing families.
When he inquired whether it was part of our plan to establish a museum, I improved the opportunity to say that we had hoped to find a movement in this direction on foot among the Chinese, adding that it would be much more proper for the government to undertake it than for outsiders. Further I pointed out that if we could not make purchases a museum must be dependent for its exhibits and material for study on Chinese collectors and the results of our own excavation. I said that if the government decided to found such an institution, it would be the pleasant duty of the American School to cooperate in ways agreeable to the Chinese.  After this the talk became personal, the interview lasting for three quarters of an hour and ending with the President's asking Dr. Ku to escort us over the park and p^[[a]]laces.  
I give the interview at length in order to bring out the fact that the President is distinctly in favor of our plans, and that while he is not an art critic or an arch^[[a]]eologist he readily understood what our activities must be and showed a desire to further them.