REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 31 



INTERNATIONAL EXCHANGES. 



The free interchang-e of Government and .scientitic publications 

 between this country and the governments and learned societies of 

 other lands has grown to be one of the most important functions of 

 the Smithsonian Institution. Great nimibers of books arc annually 

 transmitted abroad and great (|uantities are received in exchange each 

 3^ear, the quantity handled during the past fiscal year aggregating 

 113,5(53 packages, weighing 109,991 pounds, an increase in weight of 

 more than one-fourth over the previous year. 



These exchanges are in no sense of a commercial nature, for no 

 publications for sale are allowed transmission. More than one-half of 

 the exchanges consist of Government documents, while the other half 

 are publications exchanged between learned societies and men through- 

 out the world. The International Exchange Bureau has salaried resident 

 agents in London, Leipzig, and Budapest, and a large number of agents 

 in various parts of the world who lend their services gratuitously. The 

 correspondents who more or less regularly exchange publications 

 through the Smithsonian Institution now aggregate 33,951, of which 

 7,721 are in the United States and the rest in foreign lands, extending 

 even to the remotest corners of the world. 



The expenses of the Exchange Service were for thirty years met 

 entirely from the income of the Smithsonian Institution, but when 

 public documents began to form so large a part of the transmissions 

 as to become an unbearable drain on its resources. Congress began to 

 make appropriations for the work, and the entire service, through 

 international treaties, has since become chiefly (though not entirely) 

 dependent on annual appropriations by Congress. 



Publications from societies in this country intended for trans- 

 mission abroad must be delivered at the Institution free of expense, 

 and they are transmitted to foreign societies or individuals without 

 charge. Packages received from abroad are distributed in this 

 country under frank by registered mail. 



The liberal policy of the United States Government in providing for 

 the service is not, however, reciprocated abroad except by a few of 

 the smaller countries. Great Britain, German}', and Austria have 

 never, while continuing the exchange service, subscribed to the 

 Brussels treaty,^ while France and Russia have contributed very mea- 



^The treaty concluded at Brussels, March 15, 1886, ratified by the President of the 

 United States July 19, 1888, and of which ratifications were exchanged January 14, 

 1889, consists of ten articles, in which it is stipulated that there shall be establislied 

 in each of the contracting States a bureau charged with the duty of exchanges, which 

 shall embrace the official documents, parliamentary and administrative, which are 

 published in the country of their origin, and works executed by order and at the 

 expense of the Government; each bureau shall cause to be printed a list of the publi- 



