900 eONGEESSIONAL PEOCEEDINGS. 



I may add that, owing to the want of sufficient funds to enable the 

 Smithsonian Institution to carry out fully the system of exchanges, a 

 large amount of la])or and expense has been imposed upon this Depart- 

 ment in sending to various countries of Europe the publications of 

 this Government. The calls upon this Department to perform services 

 of this character are growing more and more numerous and more and 

 more burdensome continually. 



I am, sir, your obedient servant, 



J. C Bancroft Davis, 



Actmg Secretary. 



Tlic Sill !tLson/an Institution to the State Departnient. 



Smithsonian Institution, March i^, 188°2. 

 Hon. F. T. Frelinghuysen, 



Secretary of State, 



Sir: The letter from the Department of State of December 27 last, 

 in reference to the future prosecution by the Smithsonian Institution 

 of its system of international exchanges under the direction of the 

 State Department, was duly received, but the reply has been deferred 

 until a statement of all the circumstances connected with the initiation 

 and carrying on of this work to the present time could be prepared. 

 This statement I now have the honor to submit for your consideration. 



The statement in question is prefaced by an account of the attempts 

 made prior to 1850 in the direction of a system of exchange, both in 

 the United States and elsewhere, and it also presents points of the 

 history of the concerted effort toward an international system started 

 in Europe in 1875, and now in operation with fair prospects of success. 



From the document referred to it will also be seen that the Smith- 

 sonian Institution has for many years carried on, single-handed and 

 alone, so far as outside pecuniary aid is concerned, the most extensive 

 system of exchange ever attempted. Originating in the transmission 

 of the publications of the Institution, the Smithsonian exchange next 

 included the publications of various learned societies of the United 

 States; subsequently the exchanges of the Government bureaus in 

 Washington, and finally the international exchanges between the 

 Congress of the United States and foreign governments. The cost 

 to the Smithsonian fund of the maintenance of this system now 

 amounts to about $10,000 a year, an expenditure the Institution is 

 entirely unable to continue, and it becomes necessary, therefore, that 

 operations in this department should hereafter be more confined to 

 the immediate interests of the Institution, unless Congress shall 

 vouchsafe its assistance. 



Aid in connection with the exchange system is requested on the fol- 

 lowing grounds: 



(1) The expenses of the exchanges by the Smithsonian Institution 



