BEPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 57 



these efforts have resulted in the clearing of a number of consignments for the 

 Smithsonian Institution and the Library of Congress which might otherwise 

 have miscarried. Whenever, during the visits to the custom-house, any ex- 

 change consignment addressed to a scientific establishment has been found 

 unclaimed, steps have been taken to notify the proper persons regarding the 

 matter. In such cases the sender has been informed of the channels through 

 which exchanges should be forwarded to insure their prompt and safe 

 delivery. 



Complaints of delays in the transmission of exchanges are becoming fewer 

 each year. Every endeavor has been made to improve the service so that the 

 cause of complaint may be entirely eliminated, and each complaint is care- 

 fully traced in order that the cause of delay may be ascertained. It should be 

 stated, however, that, with the exception of the countries in which the Institu- 

 tion has paid agents, the responsibility of the Institution for outgoing shipments 

 necessarily ceases after they have been shipped, as the distribution in foreign 

 countries is conducted by the government bureaus of the respective countries, 

 over which -the Smithsonian Institution, of course, has no control. In special 

 cases, and usually upon the request of government establishments where the 

 publications are of such a nature that their value largely depends upon the 

 promptest possible delivery, and to addresses in countries to which shipments 

 are very infrequent, packages are now sent by mail. 



It has been the established rule to make shipments in boxes of standard size, 

 bearing a weight of about 200 pounds each, and not to make a transmission 

 to any country until a sufficient number of publications to fill at least one such 

 box had accumulated. This has caused no delay in shipments to any of the 

 larger countries, but has rendered them less frequent to those places with 

 which the exchange is not very considerable. It is proposed during the coming 

 year to employ smaller cases for such countries, thus making more frequent 

 shipments possible. 



Regarding the charge made by the consuls of certain South and Central 

 American countries for certifying bills of lading, it is a pleasure to state that 

 in nearly every instance the consuls have consented to waive such fees in the 

 future. 



Within recent years Hawaii, Porto Rico, and the Philippine Islands came 

 under the jurisdiction of the United States. Prior to this they had been sub- 

 ject to foreign jurisdiction and thus came within the purview of the exchange 

 service, but under the existing circumstances it appeared that this construc- 

 tion must be abandoned, and the Institution has discontinued the acceptance of 

 packages from domestic sources for these territories, since exchanges with them 

 no longer come within the designation "international." 



Special attention continues to be given to increasing the office collection of 

 directories and other books of addresses. 



In the last report reference was made to the steps that were being taken 

 through the Department of State to have the Government of the Argentine 

 Republic designate one office to assume charge of the distribution of exchanges 

 in that country, in order that the practice of sending to five different establish- 

 ments might be discontinued. In response to the communication of the Depart- 

 ment of State, the Argentine minister of foreign affairs stated that a section 

 of exchanges was already established under the direction of the National 

 Library of Buenos Aires, and requested that future consignments be sent in 

 care of that library. Transmissions to Argentina have accordingly been made 

 in this manner since January, 1907. 



As was reported last year, all transmissions to Bulgaria were temporarily 

 suspended owing to the death of Dr. Paul Leverkiihn, who attended to the 



