74 ANNUAL EEPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1916. 



In connection with the above statistics, attention should be called 

 to the fact that many returns for publications sent abroad reach 

 their destinations direct by mail and not through the Exchange 

 Service. 



Of the 1,758 boxes used in forwarding exchanges to foreign 

 agencies for distribution, 319 contained full sets of United States 

 official documents for authorized depositories, and 1,439 were filled 

 with departmental and other publications for depositories of partial 

 sets and for miscellaneous correspondents. The total number of 

 boxes sent abroad during 1916 was 105 more than the preceding year. 



As referred to last year, the interruption to transportation facili- 

 ties caused by the European war made it necessary for the Inter- 

 national Exchange Service in August, 1914, to suspend the shipment 

 of consignments to Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Germany, Hungary, 

 Montenegro, Eoumania, Russia, Serbia, and Turkey. With the ex- 

 ception of Germany, exchange relations with these countries are still 

 suspended. It has been possible to arrange for the sending of several 

 consignments to Germany through the American consul general at 

 Rotterdam, but the Institution has not yet undertaken the regular 

 transmission of boxes to that country. One shipment has been re- 

 ceived from Germany, and the Institution, through the Department 

 of State, has arranged with the British Government for the sending 

 of consignments from Germany to this country at bimonthly in- 

 tervals. 



In May, 1915, as mentioned in the last report, the Institution en- 

 deavored to arrange with the Commission of International Exchanges 

 at Petrograd for the resumption of shipments to Russia by way of 

 Archangel, but the commission then expressed a desire to postpone 

 the renewal of operations until after the close of the war. The 

 commission now writes that it has been found possible to resume 

 the forwarding of consignments either by way of Vladivostok, Rus- 

 sia, or Bergen, Norway. The Institution has signified its preference 

 for the latter route, at the same time asking if shipments can be 

 forwarded to Russia through the same port. 



Through the burning at sea of the steamship Mount Eagle^ box 

 125, containing publications from various governmental and scien- 

 tific establishments in this country for distribution in Korea, was 

 destroyed. Owing to a similar accident to the steamship Athenai, 

 box 231, for Greece, was lost. In almost every instance the Insti- 

 tution was able to procure from the senders duplicate copies of the 

 lost publications, which were duly forwarded to their destinations. 

 In this connection it should be stated that the destruction of the 

 above-mentioned vessels was not due to the war. Thus far only two 

 exchange packages — each containing 12 publications — ^have been lost 



