REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 49 



the minds of Smithsouiau correspondouts the system of accoiiuting for the material, 

 often of cousiderahle value, that passes through the exchange office. 



Under the name of each individual or society sending or receiving a package 

 through the exchange bureau, an account of all such packages is kept, with the date 

 of transmission and of acknowledgment. It was found possible to abbreviate some- 

 what the records made upon the cards used for the purpose, and a much smaller card 

 was brought into use on January 1, 1892, thereby greatly facilitating the work of 

 the record room. A further saving was effected by giving the "invoice unmbers" 

 only for the packages upon the receipt cards transmitted with the packages, as a 

 means of identification. Attention is called by a printed notice upon the outside of 

 the package to this invoice number, which must be carefully compared with that 

 upon the receipt card, and tlie latter is to be returned promptly. All these receipts 

 are carefully arranged and filed. 



Only by such abbreviation of the records was it possible to carry the exchange 

 work through the year in the face of a curtailed appropriation by Congress. The 

 clerical force was reduced by dropi^ing three clerks and two packers from the roll, 

 though at the end of the year, when the deficiency approjiriation became available, 

 a part of the force was temporarily restored, to be again reduced when the fiscal year 

 closed. 



Notwitlistanding these reductions 4,036 more packages were handled during 1892- 

 '93 than in the previous year, and at the end of June only 73 packages remained on 

 hand. 



I take much pleasure in bearing witness to the efficiency of the employes in the 

 exchange office and in expressing appreciation of their efforts to keep up with the 

 added volume of work in spite of the unavoidable reduction in the force to handle 

 it, and I beg leave to call to your notice the careful attention to the interests of the 

 Institution ou the part of its special agents abroad, Dr. Felix Flugel, inLeijizig, and 

 Messrs. William Wesley & Son, in London. 



Grateful acknowledgments are also due to the following transportation compa- 

 nies and others for their continued liberality in granting the privilege of free freight 

 or in otherwise assisting in the transmission of exchange parcels and boxes, while 

 to other firms thanks are due for reduced rates of transportation in consideration of 

 the disinterested services of the Institution in the diifusion of knowledge. 



LIST OF SHIPPING AGENTS AND CONSULS TO WHOM THE EXCHANGE SERVICE IS 

 INDEBTED FOR SPECIAL COURTESIES. 



d'Almeirim, Baron, Royal Portuguese consul-general. New York. 



American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, Boston. 



Anchor Steamship Line (Henderson & Bro., agents), New York. 



Atlas Steamship Comjiany (Pim, Forwood & Co.), New York. 



Bailey, H. B., & Co., New York. 



Bors, C, consul-general for Sweden and Norway, New York. 



Boulton, Bliss & Dallett, New York. 



Calderon, Climaco, consul-general for Colombia, New York. 



Cameron, R. W., & Co., New York. 



Baltazzi, X., consul-general for Turkey, New York. 



Compagnie Generale Transatlantique (A. Forget, agent). New York. 



Cunard Royal Mail Steamship Comjiany (Vernon H. Brown & Co., agents). New 



York. 

 Espriella, Justo R. de la, consul-general for Chile, New York. 

 Hamburg- American Packet Company (R. J. Cortis, manager), New York. 

 Hensel, Bruckmann & Lorbacher, New York. 

 Mantez, Jose, consul-general for Uruguay, New York. 

 Munoz y Espriella, New York. 

 SM 93 4 



