REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 77 



It should be stated here that the disparity in the above figures be- 

 tween the number of packages sent and those received is accounted 

 for in part by the fact that packages transmitted abroad often con- 

 tain only one publication, while those received in return frequently 

 comprise many volumes. In some instances, especially in the case of 

 publications received in exchange for parliamentary documents, the 

 term " package " is applied to large boxes containing many separate 

 publications. Furthermore, many returns for publications sent 

 abroad reach their destinations in this country through the mails and 

 not through the exchange service. 



I stated last year that the steps taken by the Institution looking to 

 the reopening of exchanges with Kumania and the establishment of 

 relations with the newly formed Government of Jugoslavia had not 

 led to a successful result. The Governments of both those countries 

 expressed a desire to have the shipment of international exchanges 

 resumed as soon as conditions would permit, but nothing further was 

 heard from either of them. An offer made during the latter part of 

 the year by the Institutul Meteorologic Central, Bukharest, and the 

 Academie Eoyale Serbe des Sciences et des Arts, Belgrade, to serve 

 as agencies for their respective countries was therefore accepted hj 

 the Institution, and a shipment of 26 boxes was made to the former 

 and 69 to the latter. The exchange agency in Rumania was formerly 

 the Academia Romana and in Serbia the Ministere des Affaires 

 Etrangeres. 



During the year exchange relations have been established with the 

 newly formed Governments of Esthonia, Far Eastern Republic, 

 Latvia, Lithuania, and Ukrainia. 



The conditions in Russia and Turkey have not yet improved suffi- 

 ciently to warrant the Institution in taking steps to renew the ex- 

 change of publications between those countries and the United States. 



The Institution requested several New York forwarding agents to 

 submit rates for handling and forwarding exchange consignments 

 abroad, the rates to take effect on July 1, 1922. The proposal sub- 

 mitted by the present agents, Messrs. Da vies, Turner & Co., 39 Pearl 

 Street, ISTew York Citj^, was found to be the lowest, and shipments 

 will therefore continue to be sent to foreign countries through that 

 firm. 



There were shipped abroad during the year 3,215 boxes, being an 

 increase of 463 over the number for the preceding 12 months. This is 

 the largest number of boxes forwarded through the exchange service 

 in one year and is due in great measure to the opening of exchange 

 relations with Jugoslavia and several of the independent Russian 

 States, the packages for those countries having accumulated at the 

 Institution for several years. The number of boxes shipped was fur- 

 16984—22 6 



