92 



KEPOKT ON EXCHANGES. 



the 1st of March, and of the work performed, Mr. N. P. Scudder, the 

 assistant iu charge reports as follows : 



"Elsven thousand parcels have been distributed in the United States 

 and Canada. Of these I have classed as individuals 2,323, because they 

 were addressed to individuals, though a very large portion were proba- 

 bly intended for societies, public libraries, &c, and have doubtless been 

 turned over to their proper destination by the persons to whom they 

 were addressed. The remaining S,G77 parcels have been sent to the in- 

 stitutions, &c, for which they were intended, 8,450 being distributed in 

 the United States and 227 in Canada. 



" During the year several improvements have been introduced in the 

 method of keeping the records of the domestic exchanges. One of these 

 is a card catalogue of addresses. The address of the society or individual 

 is taken from returned receipts and the date of the signing of the receipt 

 is noted. If any address is doubtful or incomplete, the following blank 

 is sent to the party for full information : 



Name 



Street and No. 



P. O. box 



City or to\vn_ 



County 



State 



(over.) 



"By this method the address of the party is obtained directly and 

 the date is noted. 



" Another improvement has been introduced at your suggestion, i. <?., 

 a card ledger of all the parcels sent out. A sample card is inclosed (it 

 is unnecessary to reproduce this sample card, being in general the same 

 form as adopted for the foreign exchange and illustrated in the report 

 for 1882). By means of this ledger a glance will show what hits been 

 sent to any institution or individual. The ledger has been carried back 

 to the beginning of the year 1883." 



Government Exchange Division. — This portion of the service is still de- 

 pendent for the performance of the necessary work on the force of the 

 foreign exchange branch, though its constant increase would justify the 

 employment of one assistant, and, though not quite to the exclusion of 

 any other duties, he might be utilized in general office work when not 

 employed in receiving, distributing, recording, cataloguing, or transmit- 

 ting these exchanges and assuming all the necessary correspondence 

 connected with this branch. Thus far the work in this department has 



