INCREASED PUBLICITY SECURED.

To secure the widest publicity for such facts is deemed one of the most important of the duties imposed on the Bureau. Much attention has been paid during the year to the establishment of suitable filing methods, mailing lists, and other similar office adjuncts, in order to have available well-correlated and effective working systems. Such methods will make possible the prompt and intelligent dissemination of the bulletins, confidential circulars, reports, and correspondence of the Bureau. With the same purpose in view in sending forth the publications on special topics such as "Packing for Export," "Underpaid Foreign Postage," and "Export Trade Exploitation," letters have been written to many journals and to officers of commercial and manufacturing organizations and transportation lines calling attention to the subjects treated and seeking cooperation in the distribution of such material. That such methods are effective is shown by the fact that of the pamphlets just mentioned more than 10,000 copies have been distributed, several thousand copies having been sold by the Superintendent of Documents as a result of the publicity secured through these special efforts. The success that has been secured, however, has added materially to the volume of work imposed on the Bureau, and recommendation has been made to Congress for additions to the personnel of the Bureau sufficient to meet the increasing demands on the service.

COMMERCIAL AGENTS.

The investigations of the commercial agents of the Bureau have been continued actively, and this service promises to become as important a factor in the effort to promote and foster the manufacturing interests as similar work has become in several foreign manufacturing countries. In accordance with the policy of the Bureau to make the work of commercial agents supplement rather than duplicate the work of consular officers, technical and special experts have been sought, and there have been engaged men with expert knowledge of cotton textiles, machinery and tools, boots and shoes, chemical manufactures, electrical manufactures, and similar interests. Other lines of manufacture and export will be taken up as rapidly as practicable. The interest by manufacturers in the investigations of these commercial agents is growing, and the Bureau is in receipt of many inquiries and suggestions in connection with this work.

No recommendation has been made for any increase over the current appropriation for commercial agents for the coming fiscal year, as it is deemed inadvisable to suggest extending investigations which will impose an additional burden on the editorial division of the Bureau until that branch of the office has been sufficiently

strengthened to permit it to take care of a greater volume of manuscript. Recommendation has been made for suitable salaries in that division to permit the logical growth of the work of the Bureau. The very success of the efforts of the Bureau in interesting manufacturers will tend to hamper and reduce its efficiency unless liberal support is given by providing a well-balanced and competent corps of assistants to carry forward this important work.

EXTENSION OF WORK OF COMMERCIAL AGENTS.

The recent legislation modifying the law in regard to the service of commercial agents, permitting them to extend their investigations to the United States and the insular possessions, is important, and it is certain will materially enhance the usefulness of these agents. This will permit a commercial agent to make effective the results of his researches, not only by written reports, but by direct and personal communication with the commercial associations and manufacturers interested in the subject of his studies, and will also help to provide the Bureau with definite knowledge of domestic conditions related to its work.

PUBLICATIONS.

Twenty-five monographs and pamphlets on miscellaneous trade and tariff subjects were issued during the year; also the usual annual volume of Commercial Relations for 1909, containing 1,035 pages. Four confidential bulletins and 97 confidential circulars were also distributed. The World Trade Directory, for which an appropriation of $6,500 was made, was issued in February, and to July 1, 1911, 2,600 copies at $5 each were sold through the Superintendent of Documents. Over four million copies of the Daily Consular and Trade Reports were distributed during the year. It is deemed that the opportunity is presented to the Bureau to make this daily journal, which is reaching a constantly increasing number of the important manufacturing firms of the country, the medium for the distribution of useful information, not only in regard to foreign trade, but also concerning many matters of strictly domestic interest. Much of the valuable work of the Federal Government for the promotion of commerce and manufacture loses some of its effect through the failure of the interests concerned to receive prompt and specific information in regard to such work, and the Daily Consular and Trade Reports might be developed into an admirable vehicle for publicity along these lines. Its readers are a special class of practical men to whom such information would be of undoubted value. A beginning has already been made by publishing notes of forthcoming publications, special departmental work, and similar matters relating to the various bureaus of the Government, and this service will be

extended as opportunity is presented. It is believed that the special attention which has been paid to the methods of distribution of this and other publications has resulted in a material increase in the practical results of this service.

FOREIGN TARIFFS.

As in the other branches of the office, special efforts have been made during the past year to increase the practical usefulness of the foreign tariff work of the Bureau to the business interests of the United States. Manufacturers and exporters have been invited to register their names and to indicate the articles of merchandise and the countries in which they are most concerned, for the twofold purpose of selecting for immediate treatment in publications the subjects that are shown to be of widest interest and also to facilitate the prompt transmission of notices of recent or impending tariff changes.

The current tariff publications of the Bureau have been kept up to date, and printed supplements are issued whenever the changes become sufficiently numerous to justify that action. In the meantime, multigraphed supplemental circulars containing current information to date are distributed with already published tariff bulletins.

Requests for statements of the duties imposed by foreign countries have been received from manufacturers in much larger numbers than heretofore, and whenever possible the statements requested have been furnished.

Experience has demonstrated that the compilation of reports giving the rates of duty on a group of commodities in various countries is of even greater usefulness than the publication of the complete tariffs of individual countries. The preparation of a report showing the duties on textile manufactures in Latin-American countries is now in progress and a report on metal manufactures in all countries will follow.

An added service was installed during the year by the publication at intervals in pamphlet form of all notices of changes in tariff rates and customs regulations that appear in the Daily Consular and Trade Reports. The necessity for this new bulletin, which has been given the title of "Foreign Tariff Notes," arose through the discontinuance of the publication of the Monthly Consular and Trade Reports, in which formerly items appearing in the Daily and Weekly Consular and Trade Reports were assembled. Three numbers, containing in all 96 pages, giving a brief description of all proposed revisions of foreign tariffs, as well as actual changes in the rates and regulations, were published.

By the act of June 17, 1910, the Bureau was intrusted with the duty of furnishing "information to Congress and the Executive

relative to the customs laws and regulations of foreign countries," and this branch of the work has already assumed considerable proportions.

The library connected with the foreign tariff work, in which can be found official publications of the various governments, reference books, and general works treating of foreign tariffs, has been enlarged until it now contains approximately 2,000 volumes and pamphlets. Access to the library is granted freely to students and business men engaged in researches in the field of foreign customs legislation, and whenever practicable documents and manuscript reports on file are loaned for a limited time to responsible persons.

It is believed that the importance of the work of this Bureau to manufacturers and exporters justifies special interest in its growth and liberal support of its activities by Congress. The Bureau has been thus far, as stated in my report last year, scarcely more than well established. The field to be developed is very large and has great possibilities of useful and profitable service. When these possibilities are fully understood by commercial, industrial, and manufacturing interests, there will no doubt be an insistent demand for an adequate personnel of commercial experts and ample equipment to carry forward the legitimate work of the Bureau for the "fostering, promoting, and developing of the manufacturing industries of the United States."

BUREAU OF STATISTICS.

The Bureau of Statistics, which records the foreign commerce of the United States, together with such information regarding the internal commerce as can be gathered with its limited facilities therefor, has materially increased the detail of its work during the year.

VALUES OF IMPORTS AND EXPORTS.

According to the records of the Bureau, the foreign commerce of the country in the fiscal year 1911 showed a larger total in value of exports than in any earlier year and a larger value of imports than in any year except 1910. The The total value of the exports was $2,049,320,199, an increase of $304,335,479 over 1910 and of $168,469,121 over the former high-record year, 1907. The imports were valued at $1,527,226,105, a reduction of $29,721,325 below the figures of 1910.

The fall in the value of imports occurs in the group "Manufacturers' raw material," and is chiefly due to a reduction in the importation of india rubber, hides and skins, and wool, of which the imports of 1910 were exceptionally heavy, the other classes of raw materials showing larger totals in 1911 in most cases.

The growth in exports is about equally divided between manufactures and manufacturers' materials, the increase in the value of manufactures exported (including manufactures ready for use and those for further use in manufacturing) being $140,538,596 and the increase in manufacturers' raw materials $147,083,249. The growth in exports of raw materials occurs chiefly in cotton, of which the export price was exceptionally high. The increase in manufactures exported occurs in many of the important articles, but especially in manufactures of iron and steel, which amounted to $230,725,352 in value, against $179,133,186 in the preceding year. Manufactures of wood also show a growth of $13,442,148, those of cotton $7,454,821, agricultural implements $7,849,365, and copper $15,080,502.

CHARACTERISTICS OF FOREIGN-TRADE MOVEMENTS.

The foreign commerce of the United States has greatly increased during recent years, and with this increase has also come a marked change in the character of trade movements. Manufactures, which in 1880 formed less than 15 per cent of the exports and in 1890 but about 21 per cent, formed in 1911 over 45 per cent of the greatly increased total, and at certain seasons of the year were more than 60