54 REPORT OF THE ACTIXG SECRETARY. 



and the same courtesy will, of course, continue to be extended to them in 

 the forwarding of such specimens as they may send to the Institution for 

 correspondents in this country. 



With the exception of packages for correspondents in the county of London 

 and those for all other places in Great Britain weighing 1 pound or less, the 

 agents of the Institution have, in accordance with long-standing instructions, 

 charged for the forwarding of exchanges from London to destination. It 

 seemed proper, however, that if the Institution undertook the delivery of ex- 

 changes at all it should be entirely without cost to the recipients, and in the 

 future all exchanges sent to Great Britain will be delivered to correspondents 

 free of expense. A part of the money which will be saved as a result of the 

 changes referred to in preceding paragraphs of this report will be required 

 for carrying into effect this improvement in the service. This additional charge 

 upon the resources of the International Exchanges will, however, I trust, only 

 be of a temporary nature, as steps have recently been taken to cause the 

 British Government to enter into exchange relations with the United States 

 and establish a bureau of its own. Such a bureau, if established, would take 

 charge of the entire exchange work now conducted by the Smithsonian agency 

 in London, thereby relieving the Institution of the burden of carrying on this 

 work single handed with Great Britain. 



The number of complaints of delays in the transmission of packages is be- 

 coming more and moi'e infrequent. In every such case during the past year 

 special efforts have been made to trace the cause of the delay, with a view to 

 overcoming it in the future if possible. It should be added that delays in the 

 transmission of exchanges do not, as a rule, occur in the service at Washington 

 nor in the offices of its agents in London, Leipzig, or Budapest, but are due prin- 

 cipally to the manner in which some of the exchange bureaus in other countries 

 are conducted — in some instances consignments remaining at such bureaus for 

 a great length of time before their contents are distributed. It may be stated 

 in this connection that there is practically no delay in the distribution of exchanges 

 after their arrival in Washington, packages being immediately recorded and for- 

 warded to their destination by registered mail under the official frank of this 

 Government. 



In forwarding consignments to South and Central American countries it 

 is necessary that bills of lading be certified to by the consuls of the various 

 countries. In view of the nature of the contents of the consignments from the 

 Smithsonian Institution — consisting, as they do, of contributions gratuitously 

 presented and not, therefore, representing a commercial transaction — most of the 

 consuls perform this service free of cost to the Institution, while some make a 

 charge of about $2 in each instance. An effort is being made to have such fees 

 waived. 



Requests from correspondents of the International Exchanges for publications 

 issued by other establishments than the Smithsonian Institution have become 

 so numerous that all such applicants have during the latter part of the year been 

 uniformly requested to apply directly to the source of publication for such books 

 as they may desire. When it is considered that there are over 50,000 corre- 

 spondents of the Exchanges, it will be appreciated that it is quite impossible 

 for the service to undertake the solicitation of contributions. It is furthermore 

 provided in the Brussels exchange convention of 1SS6 that the various bureaus 

 shall not take the initiative to bring about the establishment of exchanges. 



In a recent issue of the circular of rules governing the transmission of ex- 

 changes a note was added that the Institution does not solicit contributions fur 

 its correspondents. 



