Appendix III. 



REPORT ON THE OPERATIONS OF THE 



SERVICE. 



INTERNATIONAL EXCHANGE 



Sir: I have the honor to submit the following report of the operations of the Inter- 

 national Exchange Service during the year ending June 30, 1903. 



The work required of this branch of the Smith- I9O3 



sonian Institution is more essentially of a business 

 nature than that of any of its dependencies. The 

 duties of the Exchange Service consist chiefly of 

 transporting publications from Washington to all 

 foreign lands, however remote, and of receiving 

 publications from other countries, recording, and 

 forwarding them by registered mail to their respec- 

 tive addresses in the United States. 



The requirements of the service necessitate the 

 handling of many packages, a large number of 

 which consist of heavy boxes. This fact renders it 

 necessary that the work should be conducted on the 

 ground floor, for which reason the south basement 

 of the Institution was remodeled ten years ago for 

 the express use of the Exchange Service and the 

 five rooms thus provided have since been applied 

 to its uses. These rooms have been furnished with 

 assorting tables, bins, record filing cases, and such 

 other office appliances as are necessary for the use of 

 clerks and other assistants. 



Although several delays have occurred in the 

 delivery of parcels to addresses in other countries, 

 none of them has been due to negligence on the 

 part of the Institution. In some instances delay 

 was due to natural causes, and hence was unavoid- 

 able; but in the greater number of instances the 

 delay in delivery was by reason of the fact that 

 insufficient means are provided in some countries 

 for conducting their respective exchange bureaus in 

 a manner to insure prompt delivery of parcels for- 

 warded in their care. 



So far as reported, in only on-e instance during 

 the year has any damage occurred to exchanges in 

 transit, and even in this case it is believed that the 

 injury was only slight. In January, 1903, the 

 steamship La Savoie, of the Compagnie Generale 

 Transatlantique, while making a voyage from New 

 York to Havre, shipped water during a gale, and 

 a consignment of 13 cases for French correspondents 

 becoming wet a part of the contents was slightly 

 damaged. It may be regarded as (]uite remarkable 

 that only one accident of this character should have occurred, although several hun- 

 dred shipments were made during the year. 



SM 1903 4 ' 49 



Fig. 1.— Diagram illustrating: the 

 height of packing bo.xes. rt-sting with 

 their largest siirl"a('es one upon another, 

 which were used in forwarding ex- 

 changes from tlie United States to for- 

 eign countries during the year 1903 as 

 compared with tlu' height of the Wash- 

 ington Moniuncnt. Meiirht of boxes, 

 3,858 feet ; height of Monument, 55.5 feet. 



