Appendix III. 



REPORT ON THE INTERNATIONAL EXCHANGES. 



Sir : I have the honor to submit a report on the operations of the International 

 Exchange Service during the fiscal year ended June 30, 1910. 



There was given in the last reiwrt a list of the countries to which copies of the 

 daily issue of the Congressional Record were forwarded direct by mail in accord- 

 ance with the resolution of the Congress approved March 4, 1909, setting aside a 

 certain number of copies of the Record for exchange, through the agency of the 

 Smithsonian Institution, with the legislative chambers of such foreign govern- 

 ments as might agree to send to the United States, in return, current copies of 

 their parliamentary record or like publication. The governments of Baden, Cape 

 of Good Hoi)e, New Zealand, Transvaal, and Western Australia have since en- 

 tered into this exchange. A complete list of the countries to which the Record 

 is now forwarded is given below. 



Australia. Greece. Roumania. 



Austria. Guatemala. Russia. 



Baden. Honduras. Servia. 



Belgium. Hungary. Spain. 



Brazil. Italy. Switzerland. 



Canada. New South Wales. Transvaal. 



Cape of Good Hope. New Zealand. Uruguay. 



Cuba. Portugal. Western Australia. 



France. Prussia. 



There are therefore at present 26 countries with which the immediate exchange 

 is conducted. To some of these countries, however, two copies of the Congres- 

 sional Record are sent — one to the upper and one to the lower house of parlia- 

 ment — the total number transmitted being 31. The number of copies of the 

 daily issue of the Congressional Record provided for this purpose is 100, the 

 same as the number of copies of official documents set apart for international 

 exchange. The Institution is still in correspondence with other governments 

 regarding this immediate exchange, and the list of those countries participating 

 will no doubt be added to from time to time. 



The number of packages handled during the past year was 221,625 — a decrease 

 from the number for the preceding year of 7,250. The total weight of these 

 packages was 484,084 pounds — a gain of 8,515 pounds. Regarding the falling 

 off in the number of packages handled, attention should be called to the fact that 

 the increase in 1909 was the largest in the history of the service. Had the 

 increase for that year been normal, the total number of packages for 1910 would 

 have shown a gradual increase over the preceding year. The gain in weight may, 

 to a great extent, be taken as an indication that consignments containiug more 

 than one publication were more numerous than during the preceding year. This 

 circumstance is especially true in the case of consignments for the Library of 

 Congress, 38 boxes having been received during the past year for that library 

 and counted as single packages. 



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