Appendix III. 



REPORT ON THE OPERATIONS OF THE INTERNATIONAL EXCHANGE 

 SERVICE FOR THE YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 1899. 



I have the honor to present lierewith the report upon the operations of the Inter- 

 national Exchange Service for the year ending June 30, 1899. 



This service continues to occupy the several rooms in the eastern basement of the 

 Smithsonian Institution which were prepared for its use about six years ago. As 

 the work conducted is chiefly clerical in character, these quarters are fitted up as 

 business offices, being furnished with the requisite desks, sorting tables and bins, 

 book shelves, filing cases for letters, invoices and receipt cards, typewriter, maps, 

 directories, etc. The property acquired during the year has consisted mainly of 

 expendable materials used in the shipment of exchanges and in connection with the 

 office work, such as packing boxes, lumber and hardware, wrapping paper, twine, 

 and stationery. All structural repairs are made by the Smithsonian Institution, but 

 a small amount from the Exchange appropriation was expended for improving the 

 facilities for handling packages and for other necessary minor changes. 



The onljr losses to be recorded for the year were of two shipments of exchanges. 

 One consisted of a case of United States Government documents destined for Uruguay, 

 damaged by the foundering of the steamship Bellova; the other of five cases of mis- 

 cellaneous exchanges which were lost by the sinking of the steamer La Bourgogne 

 through collision with the ship Cromartyshire on July 4, 1898. It has, fortmiately, 

 been possible to obtain and forward duplicates of nearly all the publications so 

 destroyed. 



As to the extent of the operations of the service during the past twelve months, it 

 may be said that the total number of packages from all sources received and shipped 

 aggregated 97,835, being 13,627 in excess of the number handled the year ])efore, an 

 increase of 16.18 per cent. The total weight of the shipments for 1899 was 317,883 

 pounds, an increase of 5.4 per cent as compared with 1898. Of the number of pack- 

 ages named, 58,640 were dispatched abroad from domestic sources, while 39,195 were 

 received from abroad. Departments and bureaus of the United States Government 

 furnished 33,001 of the former and received 16,554 of the latter. 



A small increase in the appropriation permitted certain much-desired improve- 

 ments to be made in connection with ocean transportation, wherel^y greater dispatch 

 in forwarding and more frequent shipments were rendered possible. Much still 

 remains to be accomplished in this direction, however, before the service can be 

 expected to reach the standard of efficiency expected of it, and at which the Insti- 

 tution has always aimed. It is pleasing, therefore, to note a second increase in the 

 appropriation, to become available on July 1, 1899, which will afford the means for 

 still further advancement along the lines in question. 



The number of separate shipments made during 1899 was 567, as against 219 for 

 1898. The additional laljor which this involved Mas entirely performed by the reg- 

 ular force of clerks and packers, though not without its being severely overtaxed at 

 times. 



Through the cooperation of the American minister to Athens exchange relations 

 with Greece, which had been suspended since the outbreak of the Greco-Turkish 



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