REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 



Disiursevients . 



57 



From Con- 

 gressional 



appro- 

 priations. 



Repayments. 



Salaries and comiyensation of employes 



Salaries of foreign agents 



Freight 



Packing boxes 



Printing, stationery, postage, etc 



$11, 638. 49 



1, 500. 00 



993. 67 



443.41 



407. 44 



14, 988. 01 



$142. 00 



1,113.06 

 222. 50 

 316. 53 



1, 794. 09 



Bills for the transportation of exchanges have been rendered to all Government 

 Bnreaus receiving or sending publications during the year, except in a few instances 

 where the amount was trifling. The total received from such sources was $1,771.53, 

 as mentioned above. 



It may not be superfluous to repeat the statement made in previous years, that this 

 method of meeting the expenses of the Exchange Bureau is extremely unsatisfactory 

 l)oth to the Smithsonian Institution and to the Government Bureaus that have occa- 

 sion to make use of the service, and I again recommend that a sulScient appropriation 

 be procured to cover the entire cost of the exchanges, thereby enabling it to under- 

 stand at a glance the exact amount appropriated for such purposes. At present the 

 appropriation is distributed through all the principal appropriation bills of the 

 Government. 



In order to effect the desired change, that is, to collect in a single item the entire 

 appropi'iation for international exchanges and at the same time to make allowances for 

 the payment of ocean freight, the sum oi $27,500 was asked for, for the fiscal year 

 1889-90 based upon the detailed statements submitted in my last report. The amount 

 finally appropriated was iflG.OOO, the same as that for the year preceding. 



CORRESPONDENTS. 



The number of correspondents now upon onr books is 16,002, divided into societies 

 and institutions, iudividuals, foreign and domestic, as follows: 



A comparison with similar figures for last year shows a net increase of 2,872. 



INTERNATIONAL EXCHANGE OF OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS. 



The exchange of official documents between the Government of the United States 

 and that of foreign countries has been carried on through the intermediary of the 

 Smithsonian Institution, though this exchange has only been ])laced upon a defi- 

 nite diplomatic footing since January 15, 1839, the date upon which the convention 

 signed at Brussels on March 15, 1886, was proclaimed by the President of the United 

 States. This convention, the text of which was given in full in Dr. Kidder's report on 

 exchanges for the year 1887-'88, provided that there should be established in each of 



