REPORT OF THE SECRETARY 81 
tained therein may be available for use as soon after publication 
as practicable. 
The publications forming the full series, therefore, instead of being 
held three months until a sufficient number accumulates to fill a large 
packing box, will be shipped in small boxes at monthly intervals. 
Furthermore, arrangements have been made with the Public Printer 
to have the publications supplied either in paper covers or depart- 
mental binding instead of withholding them to be bound as a part of 
the special congressional series, this latter practice often delaying the 
delivery of the documents to the Institution for many months. 
Several letters of appreciation of this action on the part of the 
Institution have been received. As an example of the tone of these 
letters there is quoted below a portion of one received from the 
Library of the League of Nations at Geneva: 
I am very glad indeed that steps have been taken to expedite the delivery of 
these documents. They are of the greatest value to us, and it is important 
for us to get them as soon as possible after issue. 
The following references to certain resolutions and acts of 
Congress concerning the International Exchange Service are made 
here as a matter of record: 
Resolution approved March 2, 1867 (Stat. XIV, 573), setting aside 50 copies 
of each United States official document for exchange with foreign govern- 
ments through the agency of the Smithsonian Institution. 
Printing act approved March 2, 1901 (Stat. XX XI, 1464), increasing to 100 
the number of copies of documents for the use of the Library of Congress 
and for international exchanges, this number being increased to 125 by act 
of March 3, 1925 (Stat. XLIII, 1106). 
Resolution approved March 4, 1909 (Stat. XXXV, 1169), setting aside 100 
copies of the daily issue of the Congressional Record for exchange, through 
the Smithsonian Institution, to the legislative chambers of such foreign 
governments as may agree to send to the United States current copies of their 
Parliamentary Record or like publication. The act of March 3, 1925, in- 
creased to 125 the number of Congressional Records provided for this purpose. 
Tn accordance with the terms of the first Brussels convention, sets 
of United States official documents are forwarded through the 
Exchange Service to 101 foreign depositories. The governments re- 
ceiving these documents send to the United States, in return, copies 
of their own publications, which are deposited in the Library of 
Congress. By the terms of the second convention, copies of the 
daily Congressional Record are forwarded by the Institution directly 
by mail to foreign parliaments, those bodies sending in return copies 
of their own proceedings. In accordance with the latter convention, 
75 copies of the Congressional Record are now being transmitted 
abroad, a statement concerning which will be found on a subsequent 
page of this report. 
