24 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 



THE SMITHSONIAN INTERNATIONAL EXCHANGE SERVICE. 



In making arrangements for the distribution of its early publications 

 the Smithsonian Institution was led to establish relations with foreign 

 scientific societies and libraries, which have proved of very great value 

 in giving effect to one of the principal aims of its founder, "the diffu- 

 sion of knowledge." 



In England and Germany, with which the most active exchange of 

 scientific literature has always been maintained, it has been found 

 necessary to establish special agents, who devote a large part of 

 their time to the Institution's interests. 



There thus exists a channel of communication between this and for- 

 eign countries by means of which societies or individuals engaged in 

 the promotion of scientific work can exchange publications practically 

 without expense. 



The extent of the service is best illustrated, though yet imperfectly, 

 by the accompanying map of the world, which conveys an idea of how 

 the more than 24,000 correspondents of the exchange service are dis- 

 tributed. Upon such a small scale the precise statistical distribution 

 can not, of course, be shown. 



The Smithsonian exchange service, which at first was mainly for the 

 distribution of scientific publications, underwent an important change 

 when it became the agency for the United States Government in the 

 exchange of its parliamentary documents for similar documents of for- 

 eign Governments, and though Congress now makes annually an appro- 

 priation for carrying out the provisions of a treaty formally entered into 

 by our Government to maintain a bureau for " the free transmission of 

 the works exchanged," these appropriations have never been sufficient 

 to meet the entire expense involved, and the service is only kept up by 

 continuing to rely upon the generosity of many of the ocean steamship 

 lines, which in the early days of its existence granted to the Institu- 

 tion the privilege of free transportation in recognition of its disinter- 

 ested and important scientific work. 



The important change to which I refer lies in the fact that so large 

 a proportion r of the books carried now consists of Government publi- 

 cations, such, for instance, as the Congressional Record and reports; 

 indeed, in the transmission of such documents alone the Institution 

 has in past years expended of its own private fund over $38,000, 2 for 

 which it has never been reimbursed. 



The appropriation for the past year having been restored to its former 

 amount of $17,000, and slightly increased amounts having been made 

 available to certain Government bureaus for the distribution of their 



1 The exchange of Government documents is about 70 per cent of the entire 

 exchange work. 



2 See Report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution, 1890, p. 18. 



