APPENDIX 3. 



EEPORT ON THE INTERNATIONAL EXCHANGES. 



Sir : I have the honor to submit the following report on the opera- 

 tions of the International Exchange Service during the fiscal year 

 ending June 30, 1919 : 



The institution submitted to Congress an estimate of $35,000 for 

 carrying on the service during the year. This amount was granted. 

 In addition, Congress, at the request of the institution, reappro- 

 priated the unexpended balance of the 1918 appropriation, amount- 

 ing to $712.90. together with the additional sum of $903.68, for pay- 

 ment of liabilities incurred in the maintenance of the service during 

 the current fiscal year over and above the amount of the regular 

 congressional appropriation. Congress also made the usual allot- 

 ment of $200 for printing and binding. The repayments from de- 

 partmental and other establishments aggregated $1,808.87, making 

 the total available resources for carrying on the system of exchanges 

 during the fiscal year 1919, $38,625.45. 



During the year 1919 the total number of packages handled was 

 270,860 — an increase over the number for the preceding year of 

 3,914. The weight of these packages was 291,918 pounds — a gain 

 of 109,093 pounds. This large increase in w^eight as compared with 

 the small increase in the number of packages is accounted for, in 

 part, by the consignments received for transmission to establish- 

 ments in France and Belgium whose libraries were destroyed during 

 the war, and, in part, by the accumulations of United States patent 

 specifications received for Great Britain, Belgium, and the northern 

 neutrals. The former were forwarded in boxes unopened, each box 

 being counted as one package only, and the latter consisted entirely 

 of heavy packages. 



The publications sent and received by the exchange service are 

 classified under three heads: (1) "Parliamentary documents"; (2) 

 "Departmental documents"; (3) "Miscellaneous scientific and liter- 

 ary publications." 



The term " parliamentary documents," as here used, refers to pub- 

 lications set aside by act of Congress for exchange with foreign gov- 

 ernments, and includes not only documents printed by order of either 

 House of Congress, but also copies of each publication issued by any 

 department, bureau, commission, or officer of the Government. The 

 Governments to which this class of publications are forwarded send 

 to this country in exchange copies of their own official documents 

 for deposit in the Library of Congress. 

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