while a considerable increase also occurred in the exports to Europe the gain in quantity was not sufficient to offset the reduction in value due to the lower export prices in 1912.

CHARACTERISTICS OF IMPORT TRADE.

On the import side the most striking characteristics of the year's trade are a large increase in manufacturers' materials brought into the country and an unusually large quantity of merchandise entering free of duty. The value of crude materials imported for use in manufacturing in the fiscal year 1912 was $555,986,041, against $303,001,868 in 1902, a decade ago; and of manufactures for further use in manufacturing, $293,739,134, against $147,656,292 in 1902, the value of manufacturers' materials imported having thus practically doubled in the decade. Even more striking is the large proportion of the imports which entered free of duty. Of the $1,653,264,934 worth of merchandise imported in the fiscal year, $881,670,830 entered free of duty, against $396,818,871 in 1902, a decade earlier. Thus the value of nondutiable merchandise entering the country has considerably more than doubled during the decade and the share which duty-free merchandise forms of the total has grown from 43.93 per cent in 1902 to 53.33 per cent in 1912. Adding to this total the free merchandise entering from Hawaii and Porto Rico, the grand total of merchandise entering continental United States free of duty aggregated nearly one billion dollars in the fiscal year 1912, and in the current year seems likely to exceed one billion dollars.

The imports of finished manufactures show a slight decline in 1912 when compared with those of other recent years, while the percentage which finished manufactures form of the total imports shows a decided reduction. The total value of manufactures ready for consumption imported in the fiscal year 1912 was $360,018,963, against $367,723,367 in 1910, while the share which this class of articles formed of the total imports in 1912 was 21.78 per cent, against 23.62 per cent in 1910 and 27.77 per cent in 1908. Manufactures for further use in manufacturing show a larger total in the import trade of 1912 than ever before, the value having been twice as great in this class as a decade ago. The principal articles forming this group are pig tin, pig copper, lumber, diamonds, spun silk, and certain classes of chemicals, drugs, and dyes used in manufacturing.

The fact that manufactures still show a large total and form a considerable percentage of the imports, and that a large proportion thereof is composed of silk goods, woolen goods, cotton laces, linen handkerchiefs, and burlaps and other fiber products, suggests that there are still great opportunities awaiting the manufacturers of the

United States in supplying those requirements of daily life for which our people now depend upon the manufacturing industries of other countries.

GROWTH IN MANUFACTURING INDICATED BY FOREIGN TRADE STATISTICS.

The entire trade movement of the year, whether imports or exports, indicates unusual activities on the part of the manufacturing industries of the country. The quantity and value of manufacturers' materials imported, whether in the natural state or partly manufactured, are greater than in 1911, and the quantity and value of manufactures exported are greater than ever before; while the percentage which manufacturers' materials imported and manufactures exported, respectively, form of the import and export totals is unusually large.

TRADE WITH NONCONTIGUOUS TERRITORIES.

Trade with the noncontiguous territories of the United States (in which term are included Porto Rico, Hawaii, the Philippine Islands, Guam, Tutuila, and Alaska) shows a continuation of the rapid growth of recent years. The shipments from the United States to those territories show in each case larger values in 1912 than in any earlier year, the total for the entire group being $106,355,529, against $92,609,596 in 1911. The value of merchandise received from them is $142,984,734, against $107,527,827 in 1911. These figures are exclusive of gold, of which the value of the domestic product from Alaska in the fiscal year 1912 is $17,250,019, against $15,153,671 in the preceding year. Manufactures form the principal articles sent to the noncontiguous territories; sugar and fruits the chief articles received from the Hawaiian Islands; sugar, cigars, tobacco, and fruits from Porto Rico; hemp, sugar, and cigars from the Philippine Islands; and fish, furs, copper, and gold from Alaska.

TRAFFIC VIA ISTHMUSES OF PANAMA AND TEHUANTEPEC.

The approaching completion of the Panama Canal lends special interest to figures compiled by the statistical service of this Department, showing already marked increases in the traffic between the eastern and western coasts of the United States by way of the isthmuses of Panama and Tehuantepec. These figures show that this traffic has trebled in value during the last four years, having been $125,000,000 in value in the fiscal year 1912, against $36,000,000 in 1908, the first fiscal year following the opening of the Tehuantepec Railway. These figures relate exclusively to traffic between the eastern and western coasts of the United States, including Porto Rico (now a customs district of the United States) on the east and 66247°-12-6

Hawaii (also a customs district of the United States) on the west. The class of articles moving from the eastern to the western coast is chiefly manufactures, and of those moving from the western coast and Hawaii sugar, fruits, canned vegetables, canned salmon, wool, copper ore, and wines.

DEFICIENCIES OF THE STATISTICAL SERVICE.

The increase in the industrial activity of the country results in increased demands upon the Bureau of Statistics for commercial information and especially for greater detail and greater promptness of statement. The manufacturers of the country require information regarding the imports and exports of a great variety of articles, the world markets in which our manufactures are being sold, and the countries from which the materials which they require are being imported. This information they desire not only in great detail, but with promptness, and this need on the part of this important element of the community-the manufacturing interests-renders advisable an increase in the working force of the customhouses which supply the statements upon which the statistics of our commerce are necessarily based and also in the working force of this Department devoted to the compilation and analysis of this information.

This matter of increased detail, accuracy of statement, and promptness of presentation of statistics of imports and exports and internal commerce movements has been the subject of a special study made by committees of the Treasury Department and the Department of Commerce and Labor during the past year, to which reference has been made in an earlier part of this report.

BUREAU OF STANDARDS.

During the past year the activities of the Bureau have resulted in a larger number of published papers than heretofore. The results of 35 scientific and technologic investigations have been issued. The staff consisted of 192 scientific and other assistants, of whom about 80 were engaged upon special researches and investigations specially authorized by Congress. About 73,196 tests were made in addition to the researches completed and in progress during the year. The inspection work at the factories was developed for both cement and electric lamps, about 1,000,000 barrels of cement having been sampled and 2,000,000 electric lamps inspected at the factories. The development of standard specifications for various materials has proceeded steadily in cooperation with the national technical societies and the various departments of the Government. These will go far toward establishing definite standards of quality based upon the measured properties of the materials involved and thus benefit alike the manufacturer and the user of the materials. As heretofore, the demands for special investigations connected with standards, methods of measurement, and the properties of materials are more than can be met with the assistants available. The Bureau has been constantly called upon as referee and consultant by various departments of the Government, and for information and aid by publicservice corporations and public-utilities commissions. As far as possible it has responded to these requests.

CUSTODY OF THE STANDARDS.

One of the principal functions of the Bureau is the custody of the standards available for the measurement of the various aspects and properties of matter, energy, and motion, and their relations. While the fundamental standards are few in number, the derived standards such as standards of light, color, composition, combustion, and other quantities which are developed as industrial and scientific needs multiply-steadily increase in complexity. The maintenance of such standards becomes an important part of the Bureau's work. The proper custody of the standards requires constant temperature rooms, thermostatic regulation, and frequently protection from moisture and other atmospheric conditions; so that, in order to secure the best conditions for constancy and permanency, special investigations are made as to every factor affecting the standards.

.

The reason is obvious when it is known that even standards of length and mass are subject to appreciable alterations. Systematic changes in standards are among the most trying difficulties to be overcome. Constant intercomparisons combined with the steady control of conditions of maintenance and the international interchange of standards form the basis on which the requisite constancy may be maintained. The tendency of even fundamental standards to alter in their indications makes their maintenance a continual series of checkings and the prompt substitution of new standards for those found drifting in their values. The standards of reference are rarely used for ordinary work, such comparisons being made through secondary standards checked from time to time with the reference standards.

COMPARISON OF THE STANDARDS.

The national standards of weight, length, and capacity are now available for the service of the public through standards furnished each State in the Union and by accurate reverification from time to time. The Bureau also verifies the standards used in all branches of industry, science, and technology, thus ensuring a common standard of measure by direct reference to the national standards, a prerequisite to efficiency and progress in these fields. The reference to a single standard for each measure alone permits the prompt application of scientific discovery to industry. Such comparisons require elaborate facilities and apparatus, skilled technical assistants, and direct access to the standards to attain the best results. It is necessary also to keep in close touch with scientific progress in all parts of the world in the subject of measurement. During the decade since the Bureau was founded by Congress apparatus and methods of comparison have been developed or improved for nearly every kind of physical measurement, and steady progress is made by the Bureau to keep pace with advances in science. Instances of such activity during the past year may be cited in this connection.

The newly awakened interest in correct trade measures resulted in heavy demands for the testing of State standards. During the past year the Bureau tested standards for Connecticut, Indiana, Arizona, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Vermont, and Wisconsin, and numerous cities.

The standardization of primary standard mercurial thermometers in the range 100° to 500° C. is still in progress. These standards are the practical basis of the ordinary temperature scale for the country. To obtain close international agreement in the standard scale of temperature, the Bureau has made comparisons of platinum resistance thermometers with the nitrogen gas thermometer up to 630° C.

During the year the Bureau has standardized the Pentane lamps. used in various cities to test the illuminating power of gas, has shown