REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 33 



This incaus 'slow' freight, and for the most i)art gratuitous, on the 

 ocean. The average tiuje for transmission of a parcel to western Europe 

 is now thirty-six days. By ordinary fastiVeight it (;oidd be reduced to 

 sixteen days. Extraordinary dehiys occur frequently because of the 

 fact that the freight is carried gratuitously. Boxes shipped from Home, 

 for examine, in December last were held in Naples tlirec months by the 

 steam shij) line because its steamer's s])ace was all lilled l)y paying 

 freight. The same thing has occurred fre(iucntly on this side of the 

 ocean. As at present organized, the Smithsonian sends out about one- 

 third of the United States Government publications, and rcxxMves from 

 foreign governments less than one-tenth of their ofiicial i)ubli(;ations, 

 Very much is thus lost which is of great interest and value to our (lov- 

 ernmeut offices. 



Many of the Executive Departments which wish to use the exchange 

 system are obliged to adopt other measures at considerably increased 

 cost. Some of them have si)ecial ai)propriations to defray part of the 

 cost of special transmissions by the Smithsonian. 



The sum estimated for ($27,050), is the result of careful calculation, 

 based upon a com[)arison of the details of the business for several years 

 back, it is the Secretary's opinion that it will far more thau repay it- 

 self by an increased efticiency in the service and by the number of val- 

 uable works which it will bring to Congress aud the Executive Depart- 

 ments of the Government." 



1 am aware that it hardly lies within the power of the Kegeuts as a 

 body to correct the evils I have referred to, but I present this summary 

 and imperfect statement of them, in the hope that those of the Regents 

 who are legislators will perhaps be able and willing, in their individual 

 capacity, to do something to remedy the state of things which 1 have 

 just showu to be actually existing. 



I have represented a wearisome and trying matter very brieliy. For 

 a statement more at large of the actual (condition of the exchanges, I 

 beg to refer to the valuable report made to tlie Secretary by the«curator 

 of exchanges, which will be found in the appendix. 



PrcparaUon of nciv exchawje lists. — In March, 1887, the writer, then 

 Assistant Secretary, acting under the general instructions of the Secre- 

 tary, Professor Baird, with a view to perfecting the collections of the 

 Smithsonian Library so that they might include scicntitic periodicals 

 published throughout the world, where these Avere obtainable by ex- 

 change, undertook to ascertain as far as possible the names of all useful 

 (particularly of all modern) publications which were not on the old 

 Smithsonian lists. 



To do this it was necessary to get information iu:)t existing in print, 

 and as the search for the names of desired publications was necessarily 

 on an extended scale, it seemed proper to enlist as many expert coad- 

 jutors as possible. To this end the princii)al branches of lunuan 

 knowledge to the number of thirty were indexed on as many separate 

 lists. Several co[)ies were nuule of each list, and then it was sought, 

 by sending a co])y of each to an eminent specialist in the branch in 



n. Mis. 142 3 



