720 
NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL 
3. That he is informed that packet of books addressed to the said 
institution by the firm of < on or about the day of 
(^were 
191 , seized by the British authorities in the ^ on the S. S 
(parcels post 
fis 
and < now detained by them. The packet bear(s) the number in the list 
of seizures. 
4. That he cannot state with certainty the contents of the said packet. . ; but that he 
believes that include(s) no books not within the above categories. 
5. Wherefore he prays that or such portion as shall be found to be within the 
said categories, shall be released, and delivered to the London agent of the said institution, 
Messrs or to the American Consul at London, to be forwarded to 
said institution. 
Signed 
[Endorsement.] The Library of Congress, 
Washington, D. C, 191 . 
I am satisfied that the within application is genuine and that the volumes covered 
[University 
by it are in fact destined for the use of the \ College named. 
[Public Body 
Librarian of Congress. 
The forms given are for the securing of mail matter held in London and do 
not apply to publications ordered through agents which have been held in 
Rotterdam. Part of this lot has already been shipped to this country, and 
for the remaining 102 cases shipping permits have been granted, and these 
will be forwarded as soon as ships can bring them. It will, therefore, not be 
long before all this material will be in New York, where it will be passed upon 
by a representative of the Department of Justice and a member of the staff 
of the Library of Congress, After that the publications will be delivered to 
those for whom they were intended. 
Regarding the securing of more recent German publications, I quote the 
following from a letter of Dr. Herbert Putnam, Librarian of Congress: 
.... But since the entrance of the United States, there has been no attempt to 
continue this procedure, the only effort made being to secure the release of material already 
seized by the British authorities or detained at Rotterdam. Among our libraries, generally, 
it is assumed, I think, that if not a trading with the enemy act, other considerations would 
necessarily suspend the purchase of books and periodicals from the enemy countries. I 
suppose, however, that there are German and Austrian publications the actual need of which 
by our scientific investigators, even for the work which they are doing in the general defense, 
should be held to outweigh the objections to trading with the enemy. While we were still 
neutral, the British Government offered to secure such publications through its own (H.M.) 
Stationery Office. I suppose that that offer would still hold good, and that an American 
