REPOET OF THE SECRETARY 79 



It was stated in the last report that the Government of Rumania 

 had been approached with a view to the reopening of exchange re- 

 lations with that country, and further that the Institution had ar- 

 ranged directly with the Institutul Meteorologic Central, at Buk- 

 harest, to take charge of the forwarding and distributing of exchange 

 consignments. During the past year a communication has been re- 

 ceived through the Department of State from the Government of 

 Rumania to the effect that the above-mentioned institute had been 

 designated as the official Rumanian Exchange Bureau. A note was 

 received from Rumania, through the Belgian Government, stating 

 that under date of June 5, 1923, the Rumanian Government had 

 declared its adherence to the Brussels Conventions of 1886, pro- 

 viding for the exchange of official documents and scientific and lit- 

 erary publications and the immediate exchange of the official journal. 

 For a number of years the exchange of official documents has been 

 conducted with Rumania, although that country has only recently 

 given its formal adherence to the conventions. 



The conditions in Russia and Turkey have not yet improved 

 sufficiently to warrant the Institution in taking steps to establish 

 official exchange bureaus in those countries. The Institution has, 

 however, arranged with the American Friends Service Committee 

 to forward to Russia the large accumulations of scientific and literary 

 publications for correspondents in that country. Two consignments, 

 comprising a total of 70 boxes, have thus far been forwarded to 

 Russia in this way. The Academy of Sciences in Petrograd is act- 

 ing as the distributing agency. 



There were shipped abroad during the year 2,223 boxes, being a 

 decrease of 995 from the number for the preceding 12 months. This 

 decrease in the number of boxes forwarded abroad, in comparison 

 with the number shipped during the previous year, is due partly 

 to the smaller size of many of the publications, to which reference 

 has already been made, and partly to the fact that the number of 

 boxes sent abroad last year was the largest in the history of the 

 service, the usual number being about 2,400 annually. Moreover, 

 packages for certain countries were sent direct to their destination by 

 mail, owing to the fact that a sufficient number had not accumulated 

 to make box shipments when the regular monthly consignments 

 would have been forwarded. About 40,000 packages were forwarded 

 in this manner during the year. 



Of the total number of boxes sent abroad 214 contained full sets 

 of United States official documents for foreign depositories and 2,009 

 included departmental and other publications for the depositories 

 of partial sets and for miscellaneous correspondents. 



