24 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 



Fifty years ago, when this work was first commenced, entirely at 

 the charge of the Institution, an arrangement was made through the 

 generosity of certain steamship lines by which transport could be had 

 gratuitously. This arrangement has been, to a great extent, necessarily 

 continued, and, although conditions have entirely changed, the Institu- 

 tion is still compelled to carry matters of international interest and 

 importance by slow steamers because where the service is gratuitously 

 given no choice can be exercised. It is a mistaken economy to think 

 it for the advantage of the Government, which now spends so many 

 thousands of dollars on this work, to yet fail to meet the vital con- 

 ditions of business success — reasonable dispatch — because it would 

 involve the expenditure of some $3,000 additional annually. 



At the present time it is unhappily true that different bureaus of the 

 Government which have the right to make use of this method prefer to 

 spend more money and to send their publications at their own cost and 

 trouble, usually through the mails, only because they can deliver them 

 more promptly than those who would gladly make it a special boast 

 that they were the promptest and most expeditious, as well as the 

 cheapest, of Government dispatches. 



Where ocean freight is charged it is computed by the cubic foot, and 

 the average rate that is demanded by the fast steamers from New York 

 to European ports may be placed at 20 cents; but while the above esti- 

 mate is made upon the calculation that all shipments could be made at 

 the ton-measurement rate, quite two-thirds of them would measure 

 under a ton, and would come under the rate of what is known as 

 "minimum bill of lading charge," which is never less than $5 for each 

 shipment. This makes a total of about $2,000 from Washington to 

 various ports of debarkation throughout the world; and this, be it dis- 

 tinctly observed, is without ordinarily using the express either from 

 Washington to the port of shipment on this side or from the foreign 

 port of destination to the final address on the other. 



It would doubtless be somewhat quicker if the express were used, 

 but the gain between Washington and New York in time would be less 

 than a day, and the cost on this part of the transit would be multiplied 

 nearly fourfold, so that if I look at the matter as though the interests 

 of an ordinary business were in question I do not feel that the expendi- 

 ture under these conditions for an express freight between Washington 

 and New York would be justified; and since it is as a business invest- 

 ment that I am asking Congress to consider this small appropriation, I 

 do not advise that it shall include the cost of the land express to be 

 used as an ordinary means. 



It is to be understood, then, that under this estimate land transpor- 

 tation is still supposed to be, as a rule, by freight trains, both in this 

 country and in Europe. As the Institution has little to do with for- 

 warding exchanges from European ports to their ultimate destinations, 

 it is impossible to state definitely what the cost would be of improve- 

 ments which would bring in all desirable expedition to this part of the 



