896 CONGRESSIONAL PROCEEDINGS. 



The Secretary of State has little to add to the very clear exposition 

 made by Professor Baird of the rapid growth of the operations of the 

 exchange bureau of the Smithsonian, and to his statements of the 

 utility of still further extending them. He has been for some time 

 convinced that an arrangement like that proposed would not only 

 bring the system of diplomatic and literary exchanges of this country 

 into harmonious relations with the like international exchange bureaus 

 in other countries, but would greatly enlarge the beneficial results 

 obtained under the present system of private enterprise, besides re- 

 lieving the several executive departments of the labor and expense of 

 effecting their own foreign exchanges, by concentrating the work in 

 one properly equipped and competent bureau. His opinions in this 

 regard are shared by other members of the Government, as will be 

 seen on perusal of the annexed letter from the Secretary of the Inte- 

 rior in response to an inquiry lately addressed to him. Should the 

 President decide to recommend the latter to the consideration of Con- 

 gress, the Secretary of State has the honor to advise that an appropri- 

 ation of $10,000 be asked for the coming fiscal year, in order that the 

 proposed plan may have a fair chance to demonstrate its necessity and 

 its benefits. It is probable that the scattered expenses under the 

 present system of separate exchanges aggregate a larger amount than 

 that which he suggests as the limit of a serviceable appropriation. 



Respectfully submitted. 



FKED'K T. FRELINGHUYSEN. 



DEPARTMENT OF STATE, 



Washington, April 11, 1882. 



(See History of the Smithsonian Exchanges, by George H. Boehmer, 

 in Smithsonian Report for 1881, or Smithsonian publication No. 477, 

 1882.) 



The Smithsonian Institution to the State Department. 



SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, October 23, 1880. 

 Hon. WILLIAM M. EVARTS, 



Secretary of State. 



SIR: A geographical congress of nations, with delegates from the 

 principal governments of the world, was held at Paris in the summer 

 of 1875, and among the representatives was one from the United States 

 of America. 



One of the results of the deliberations of the congress was a recom- 

 mendation of the adoption of a uniform system of exchanging the lit- 



