REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 15 



The total expenses of conductiug- tbe international exchanges, for the 

 last two years, are shown in the following table : 



Expenses of exchanges. 



Fiscal year 



1885-'86. 



Fiscal year 



i88(i-'87. 



By the Institution 

 By appropriation . 



Total cost . . . 



S4,503.80 

 10, 000. 00 



$4,683.11 

 10, 000. 00 



14,503.80 



14, 683. 11 



Insufficiency of the Government Exchanges. — While the system of inter- 

 national exchanges inaugurated by the Smithsonian Institution is in a 

 highly satisfactory condition, the same can not, unfortunately, be said of 

 the system of Government exchanges intrusted to it. Notwithstanding 

 the urgent and repeated efforts made by this Institution, it still fails to 

 receive for foreign distribution a large portion of the United States 

 official publications required for this service by law. Some more effect- 

 ual legislation appears still necessary to secure the operation of existing 

 statutes. 



Still more unsatisfactory has been the condition of receipts from 

 abroad in return for the valuable works actually sent from our G-overn- 

 ment. From the indifference of the agents of foreign Governments in 

 the matter of securing and systematically appropriating their public 

 documents to the service voluntarily undertaken by these Governments, 

 the representation of such documents received by us has been meager 

 in the extreme. The entire receipts from Europe during the past year 

 have been contained in 5 boxes (with some books and pamphlets by 

 mail), as against 163 Government boxes forwarded by the Institution. 

 While it is recalled that when the ofScer in charge of our exchanges 

 was sent abroad in 1884, on a tour of inspection and inquiry, the re- 

 turns from 14 European Governments amounted for that year to 44 

 boxes and 160 packages of books, numbering in all about 7,000 vol- 

 umes, the present inadequacy of foreign reciprocity become^ painfully 

 apparent. I am constrained to here repeat the earnest recommenda- 

 tion made by the diligent librarian of the Congressional Library, di- 

 rected to this matter. In his report for 1885 Mr. Spofford well re- 

 marks : 



" The experience of years has amply proved the impossibility of secur- 

 ing any complete or adequate return from foreign Governments for the 

 full and costly series of American Government publications so long fur- 

 nished them, without direct and persistent effort, through an agency 

 upon the ground furnished with adequate credentials, to attend per- 

 sonally to the whole business. One of the chief benefits of the initial 

 effort already made has been the discovery of the practical obstacles in 

 the way of a thoroughly successful system of exchanges. These, it is 

 believed, could be removed by following up the work with each Govern- 

 ment, while if neglected or left to the very uncertain medium of cor- 



