Appendix III. 



REPORT ON THE OPERATIONS OF THE INTERNATIONAL EXCHANGE 

 SERVICE FOR THE YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 1900. 



Sir: I have the honor to Hubmit the following re]iort upon the operations of tlie 

 International Exchange Service for the year ending June 30, 1900. 



About seven years ago extensive improvements were made in the basement of the 

 eastern wing of the Smithsonian Building, and five comnuinicating rooms were 

 arranged expressly for the use of the J]xchange Service and havesince been so occupied. 

 The general equi])mentof these offices consists of sorting and folding tables; bins for 

 the geographical classification of exchanges contributed in the United States for distri- 

 bution abroad; book cases for directories of the principal cities of the world, college 

 year books, and other publications for ready reference; filing cases for index cata- 

 logues and cases for correspondence, exchange ledger accounts, and receipt cards for 

 exchange packages, both foreign and domestic; necessary desks with customary 

 equipments, a typewriter, copying press, etc. The property acquired during the 

 year has consisted almost exclusively of boxes, packing materials, stationery, and 

 other expendable supplies, the cost of which was $1,322. 



The space originally assigned to the International Exchanges has not since been 

 enlarged, although the work of late has materially increased. The duties of the serv- 

 ice require the constant handling of heavy boxes and packages, necessitating frequent 

 repairs to the floors, walls, and furniture, the expense of which is invariably borne 

 by the Smithsonian Institution and not from the Congressional a])propriations for 

 the support of the Exchange Service. 



Losses of exchanges occurred during the year l)y the burning and subsecjuent sink- 

 ing of the steamship Putria, of the Hamburg-American Line, off the English coast on 

 November 4, 1899, while en route from New York to Hamburg, the consiginnent 

 consisting of three cases for Russia, three for Sweden, three for Austria, and one for 

 Hungary. All contained miscellaneous publications for correspondents in those 

 countries. Two cases of miscellaneous exchanges for Switzerland and one case of 

 United States Government publications destined for the Bibliotheque Federale, Bern, 

 were destroyed by fire while on the docks of the North German Lloyd Steamship 

 Company at Hoboken, N. J., on June 30, 1900. All available dui^licate i)ublications 

 to replace those destroyed by the burning of the steamship Fairia were forwarded to 

 the original addresses, and an attempt will be made to secure duplicates of those 

 burned on the Hoboken docks. It is assumed that there will be no difficulty in 

 procuring all contributions by individuals and societies, but a special act of Congress 

 may be necessary in order to obtain the Congressional documents, inasnnu^h as their 

 distribution is specific and no provision is made for replacing duplicates when 

 losses occur in the manner above mentioned. 



The comparative statements which follow in this report show in the aggregate a 

 marked increase in the extent of transmissions during the year ending June 30, 1900, 

 over those of the previous twelve months. The number of correspondents has been 

 increased during the year by 2,982, and now aggregates 33,951. Of this number, 

 7,721 are in the United States. Fifteen thousand seven hundred and twenty-eight 

 packages, or 92,108 pounds in weight, represent the increase in transmissions during 

 the past year. This is equivalent to 16 per cent and 29 per cent, respectively. During 



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