repOet of the secretary. 



47 



Transactions of the Bureau of International Exchanges, etc. — Continued. 



For tlie purpose of comparison tlie following table represents the number of pack- 

 ages of exchanges transmitted, and the increase in the number of recipients each 

 year from 1891 to 1897 : 



1890-91. 



Number of packages received 90, 006 



Weight of packages received | 237, 012 



Ledger accounts : 



Foreign societies i 5, 981 



Foreign individuals ! 7, 072 



Domestic societies ■ 1, .588 



Domestic individuals ' 4 , 207 



Packages to domestic addresses 29, 047 



Cases slii^jped abroad 1 962 



1891-92. 



1892-93. 1893-94. 



97,027 101,063 [ 97,969 

 226, .517 200,928 23.5,028 



1896-97. 



81, 162 



247, 444 



9,414 

 12,013 



2,445 



4,130 

 23, 619 



3,300 



EXPENSES. 



The expense of the exchange system is provided for in part by direct apxiropria- 

 tion l)y Congress to the Smithsonian Institution, and in part by the various Executive 

 Departments of the United States Government, which in most instances pay 5 cents 

 per pound for the transportation of their exchanges, both outgoing and incoming. 

 This charge was exacted by the Regents before the United States Government made 

 any appropriation Avhatever for exchanges, and since appropriations have been made 

 the exchange system has T)een taxed to such an extent that it has never been possible 

 to relinquish the practice of making this charge, which, during the past year, has 

 realized an income amounting to $3,334.33. 



The Congressional appropriation made to the Institution in support of tlie exchange 

 system for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1897, read as follows : 



"For expenses of the system of international exchanges between the United States 

 and foreign countries under the direction of the Smithsonian Institution, including 

 salaries or compensation of all necessary employees, nineteen thousand dollars." 



The following statement represents the receipts and expenditures on account of 

 the system of international exchanges Ibr the yeaT jiieceding .(uly 1, 1897. 



