64 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1913. 



As was somewhat fully explained in last year's report, the dis- 

 parity between the number of packages dispatched and those re- 

 ceived in behalf of the Government is not so great as indicated by 

 these figures. Packages sent abroad usually contain only a single 

 publication each, while those received in return often comprise many 

 volumes. In the case of publications received in exchange for par- 

 liamentary documents and some others the term " package " is applied 

 to large boxes containing a hundred or more jDublications. No lists 

 of these are made in the Exchange Office, as the boxes are forwarded 

 to their destinations unopened. It is also a fact that many returns 

 for publications sent abroad reach their destinations direct by mail 

 and not through the Exchange Service. 



Many governmental and scientific establishments and individuals^ 

 both in this country and abroad, have sought the aid of the Interna- 

 tional Exchange Service during the year in procuring, as gifts or 

 exchanges, certain especially desired publications. The correspond- 

 ence which this work entails upon the Exchange Service is consider- 

 able and is growing in volume from year to year. Sometimes infor- 

 mation collected by this Government, but not to be found in pub- 

 lished reports, is requested. In these instances the various govern- 

 mental bureaus furnish the desired data in typewritten form. As 

 an example of a request of this kind received during the year, a case 

 may be mentioned in which valuable statistics concerning blister 

 copper were supplied by the Bureau of the Census and the Bureau 

 of Mines for transmission to the high commissioner of the Common- 

 wealth of Australia for the use of his home Government. Another 

 request of this character which was complied with was one received 

 through the Department of State from the minister of public works 

 and mines of New Zealand for publications containing the laws and 

 regulations with respect to the boring, mining, and storage of petro- 

 leum in the United States, In this instance, while the Bureau of 

 Mines was in a position to furnish information on the mining of 

 petroleum on Indian reservations, it was necessary for the Institution 

 to write to the principal States having laws on the subject in question 

 in order to obtain the desired data. It may, however, be added in 

 this connection that the Bureau of Mines is engaged in collecting, 

 arranging, and annotating all the laws, both National and State, 

 relating to all branches of mining, including the petroleum industry, 

 and that a copy of this work, when issued, will be furnished the 

 Institution for presentation to the minister of public works. 



The Department of State, in referring a communication from the 

 librarian of the Brazilian Press Association at Rio de Janeiro request- 

 ing aid in the establishment of a library in that city to be composed 

 entirely of the works of American writers, stated that while the 

 department itself had no facilities for obtaining such publications it 



