REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 57 
these efforts have resulted in the clearing of a number of consignments for the 
Smithsonian Institution and the Library of Congress which might otherwise 
have miscarried. Whenever, during the visits to the custom-house, any ex- 
change consignment addressed to a scientific establishment has been found 
unclaimed, steps have been taken to notify the proper persons regarding the 
matter. In such cases the sender has been informed of the channels through 
which exchanges should be forwarded to insure their prompt and safe 
delivery. 
Complaints of delays in the transmission of exchanges are becoming fewer 
each year. Every endeavor has been made to improve the service so that the 
eause of complaint may be entirely eliminated, and each complaint is care- 
fully traced in order that the cause of delay may be ascertained. It should be 
stated, however, that, with the exception of the countries in which the Institu- 
tion has paid agents, the responsibility of the Institution for outgoing shipments 
necessarily ceases after they have been shipped, as the distribution in foreign 
countries is conducted by the government bureaus of the respective countries, 
over which the Smithsonian Institution, of course, has no control. In special 
eases, and usually upon the request of government establishments where the 
publications are of such a nature that their value largely depends upon the 
promptest possible delivery, and to addresses in countries to which shipments 
are very infrequent, packages are now sent by mail. 
It has been the established rule to make shipments in boxes of standard size, 
bearing a weight of about 200 pounds each, and not to make a transmission 
to any country until a sufficient number of publications to fill at least one such 
box had accumulated. This has caused no delay in shipments to any of the 
larger countries, but has rendered them less frequent to those places with 
which the exchange is not very considerable. It is proposed during the coming 
year to employ smaller cases for such countries, thus making more frequent 
shipments possible. 
Regarding the charge made by the consuls of certain South and Central 
American countries for certifying bills of lading, it is a pleasure to state that 
in nearly every instance the consuls have consented to waive such fees in the 
future. 
Within recent years Hawaii, Porto Rico, and the Philippine Islands came 
under the jurisdiction of the United States. Prior to this they had been sub- 
ject to foreign jurisdiction and thus came within the purview of the exchange 
service, but under the existing circumstances it appeared that this construc- 
tion must be abandoned, and the Institution has discontinued the acceptance of 
packages from domestic sources for these territories, since exchanges with them 
no longer come within the designation “international.” 
Special attention continues to be given to increasing the office collection of 
directories and other books of addresses. 
In the last report reference was made to the steps that were being taken 
through the Department of State to have the Government of the Argentine 
Republic designate one office to assume charge of the distribution of exchanges 
in that country, in order that the practice of sending to five different establish- 
ments might be discontinued. In response to the communication of the Depart- 
ment of State, the Argentine minister of foreign affairs stated that a section 
of exchanges was already established under the direction of the National 
Library of Buenos Aires, and requested that future consignments be sent in 
eare of that library. Transmissions to Argentina have accordingly been made 
in this manner since January, 1907. 
As was reported last year, all transmissions to Bulgaria were temporarily 
suspended owing to the death of Dr. Paul Leverkiihn, who attended to the 
