REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 65 



sent forward to their destinations. At the close of the year one box 

 for Sofia, one for Serbia, and two for Syria, all forwarded from New 

 York July 2, 1914, per steamship Barbarossa^ were held at Bremen, 

 Germany, and four boxes for Pretoria, forwarded from New York 

 July 10, 1914, per steamship Rauenfels^ were held at Bahia, Brazil. 

 With the exception of the latter, these consignments will probably 

 be held until the close of the war. The Institution is endeavoring 

 to have the boxes for the Government Printing Works at Pretoria 

 released and forwarded from Bahia to destination. 



During the year the Institution has obtained for the Library of 

 Congress from the Chinese Government, in exchange for the full 

 series of United States official documents sent to China, a set of the 

 Imperial Institutes of the Ching Dynasty and of the Imperial Kec- 

 ords Relative to the Suppression of Rebellions. These valuable 

 works comprise a total of 684 volumes. Many other foreign govern- 

 mental documents have been obtained through the Exchange Service 

 for the Library of Congress. In special instances, when requested 

 to do so, the Institution has used the facilities of the Exchange 

 Service to procure publications for both foreign and domestic gov- 

 ernmental and scientific establishments. Quite a number of requests 

 of foreign organizations for publications have been received from 

 American consular officers through the Department of State. 



Owing largely to the efforts of Mr. Vittorio Benedetti, recently ap- 

 pointed chief of the Italian office of International Exchanges, the 

 service between Italy and the United States has been very much 

 improved during the year. Mr. Benedetti has presented the Insti- 

 tution with a typewritten copy of an account prepared by him of 

 the origin and development of the International Exchange Service. 

 A translation will be made of this interesting document and placed 

 in the archives of the exchanges for reference. 



The act maldng appropriations for sundry civil expenses of the 

 Government for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1916, included a pro- 

 vision authorizing the Government branches under the direction of 

 the Smithsonian Institution to exchange typewriters, adding ma- 

 chines, and other labor-saving devices in part payment for like ar- 

 ticles. This office exchanged four typewriting machines during the 

 year. 



The multigraph duplicating machine supplied by the Institution, 

 which has been in use in the Exchange Office since 1908, has been 

 replaced by a new machine. This multigraph, with stand, cost 

 $283.50, and was purchased from the appropriation for the Inter- 

 national Exchanges. It has been found to be very useful in the 

 printing not only of circular letters, but of envelopes, labels, and 

 other forms. 



