52 KEPORT OF THE ACTING SECRETARY. 



for employees in tlie Exchanges to present to the clerk in charge of property 

 approved requisitions for such stationery and supplies as they may require 

 in the discharge of their duties. A room has been specially fitted up with 

 shelves and bins for keeping the stock on hand. 



On account of the possible danger from fire, extensive changes and improve- 

 ments are now being made in the electric wires which furnish light for the 

 exchange rooms, in accordance with the recommendations of a committee 

 appointed by yourself. This work was only begun in the latter part of June, 

 and is not yet finished. 



It may be added here that, as a further precaution, all exchange packing 

 boxes have been removed from the halls of the Smithsonian building to a 

 warehouse outside of the Institution. There are, therefore, now kept on 

 hand here only a sufficient number of boxes for the immediate needs of the 

 service. Other precautions have been taken, such as the purchasing of new 

 hose and metallic receptacles for paper and other waste material. 



So far as reported to the Institution, in only one instance during the past 

 year has a case of exchanges gone astray. This case was addressed to the 

 La Plata Museum, and was shipped from New York in due course, but upon 

 arrival of the steamer at the port of Buenos Ayres it was missing from the 

 ship's cargo. The forwarding agents in New York are now endeavoring to 

 trace this consignment. 



While two shipments of international exchanges were subject to general 

 average charges, one consigned to Sweden and the other to South Australia, 

 the damage to the cargoes of the vessels did not extend to the exchange cases, 

 and they were forwarded without much delay to their destinations. The 

 general average amounts involved were small and the distributing agencies 

 were good enough to meet them. 



During the past year a numlier of imclaimed packages of books from abroad, 

 addressed to certain Government offices and individuals in this country, were 

 sold at public auction at several of the United States custom-houses, more 

 especially at the port of entry at Georgetown. These packages were not 

 addi'essed to the Smithsonian Institution proper, but as some of them were 

 sent to the United States Government as exchanges, this Institution, so far as 

 possible, recovered the packages and forwarded them to their Intended I'ecip- 

 ients. In each instance the sender was fully written regarding tlie proper 

 manner of transmitting exchanges to this country. Had these consignments, 

 instead of being addressed directly to Washington, been sent through the regu- 

 lar exchange channels of the countries from which they emanated, there would 

 have been no difficulty in their prompt and safe arrival at their destinations. 

 Packages of exchanges which are forwarded through the authorized exchange 

 agencies are addressed to the Smithsonian Institution in care of the collector 

 of customs at the port of New Yorlv, where they are entered fi'ee of duty and 

 forwarded at once to the Institution for distribution through the International 

 Exchanges. 



In order to prevent a recurrence of the sale of such material, so far as the 

 Smithsonian Institution and the Library of Congress are concerned, the Insti- 

 tution addressed a letter to the Secretary of the Treasury asking that similar 

 instructions to those given the collector of customs at New York in 1862 and 

 repeated in 1897 be also issued to all the custom-houses in the United States. 

 I am gratified to say that a reply was received stating that instructions to 

 this effect would at once be given to the collectors of all the principal ports. 

 The collectors have also been directed to send to tlie Smithsonian Institution, 

 as soou as printed, catalogues of all auction sales in the future. A close 



