REPORT OP THE SECRETARY 77 



FOREIGN DEPOSITORIES OF UNITED STATES GOVERNMENTAL DOCUMENTS 



In accordance with the terms of a convention conchided at Brus- 

 sels March 15, 1886, and under authority granted by Congress in 

 resolutions approved March 2, 1867, and March 2, 1901, 58 full sets 

 of United States official documents and 40 partial sets are now sent 

 through the exchange service regularly to depositories abroad. This 

 is a reduction of one full set from last year and an addition of two 

 partial sets. New Zealand requested that a partial set be sent to 

 the General Assembly Library instead of a full set. The Stadt- 

 bibliothek of the Free City of Danzig was added to the list of 

 those receiving partial sets. The number of full and partial sets 

 of governmental documents forwarded to foreign depositories there- 

 fore is 98. The total number provided by law for this purpose 

 and for the use of the Library of Congress has been increased by 

 act of Congress approved March 3, 1925, from 100 to 125. 



The convention referred to above, which was the first of two con- 

 ventions concluded at Brussels March 15, 1886, and is referred to 

 as Convention A, provides for the international exchange of offi- 

 cial documents and scientific and literary publications. The sec- 

 ond convention, referred to as Convention B, provides for the 

 interparliamentary exchange of the official journal as well as of the 

 parliamentary annals and documents. Convention A was rati- 

 fied by the United States, Belgium, Brazil, Italy, Portugal, Serbia, 

 (now Yugoslavia), Spain, and Switzerland. Convention B was rati- 

 fied by the same countries except Switzerland. Since the ratifica- 

 tion of the Brussels conventions the following countries have signi- 

 fied their adherence thereto in the order in which they are listed : 



1. Uruguay — both conventions, 1889. 



2. Argentine Republic — convention A, 1889. 



3. Paraguay — convention A, 1889. 



4. Czechoslovakia — both conventions, 1919. 



5. Poland — convention A, 1920 ; convention B, 1921. 



6. Roumania — both conventions, 1923. 



7. Hungary — both conventions, 1923. 



8. Dominican Republic — both conventions, 1923. 



9. Latvia — both conventions, 1924. 



10. Free City of Danzig — both conventions, 1924. 



It therefore will be seen that 18 countries have thus far joined 

 the Brussels conventions of 1886. In order to give consideration 

 to the question of having a larger number of countries adhere to 

 the exchange conventions, the committee on intellectual cooperation 

 of the League of Nations called together at Geneva in the summer 

 of 1924 a committee of experts on the international exchange of 

 publications, a brief report of which is given elsewhere. 



