1614 CONGRESSIONAL PROCEEDINGS. 
The item of international exchanges between this and other coun- 
tries is an item of some dignity and some character. It is part and 
parcel of treaty stipulations with many governments of the world, 
signed in 1886 by the President, and heretofore carried out in accord- 
ance with the provisions of the statute. I have in my district many 
distinguished professional and scientific men, who for a generation 
have had relations with the Smithsonian Institution, knowing fully its 
value and its worth to the scientific world, as well as to the higher _ 
conditions of general education. I hold in my hand a letter from 
Professor Langley, the head of that Institution, wherein he says to me: 
I can not express to you too emphatically the injury that will result to the public 
interests intrusted to the Smithsonian Institution if the serious reductions contem- 
plated in the bill as now reported shall be effected. The estimates have been made 
with care, not with the idea of asking for sums necessary to accomplish at once all 
that is desired, but to provide for maintaining the present efficiency and adequate 
care of these Government interests upon the most economical basis possible, and 
with but little allowance for natural growth and improvement. The necessary 
expenses are, moreover, retained at a low figure by reason of the fact that a large 
portion of the Smithsonian Institution is occupied by the Government, and at the 
expense of the private funds of the Institution. 
The Smithsonian Institution having established in 1852 an interna- 
tional exchange service for the purpose of facilitating the exchange of 
scientific writings between governmental departments, societies, and 
individuals in different parts of the world, carried on this service for 
many years at the expense of its own private fund, transmitting pub- 
lications of the United States Government as well as those purely sci- 
entific. It is now more formally charged with this duty in carrying 
out the provisions of a treaty ratified by the President of the United 
States in 1886, and is chiefly engaged in transporting purely govern- 
mental and not scientific documents. | 
An appropriation is made by Congress direct to the Smithsonian 
Institution, and a portion of the expense is also met from specific or 
contingent appropriations, paid by various Government bureaus to the 
Institution. This does not cover the entire cost of the service as the 
Institution is under obligations to most of the trans-Atlantic steamship 
companies for the privilege of free freight, accorded in the early his- 
tory of the exchange in recognition of its disinterested services to 
science. 
[From letter of Secretary Langley to Mr. Bingham, under date of April 2, 1892. ] 
[The appropriation for the year 1890-91 was $17,000, the total cost of the service 
$20,400—the pay roll of necessary employees being over $14,000—and this I repeat 
does not allow for the full payment of freight. For the current year, 1891-92, the 
same appropriation of $17,000 was made and the expenses will be restricted to the 
same scale as in previous years. 
The items of expenditure for the year 1890-91 are contained in the following clip- 
ping from the report of the secretary: 
