DIVISION OF PUBLICATIONS.

The Division of Publications conducts all business of the department transacted with the Government Printing Office; has general supervision of all printing, including the editing, indexing, illustration, binding, and distribution of publications, and the maintenance of mailing lists.

BUREAU OF CROP ESTIMATES.

The Bureau of Crop Estimates issues the monthly crop reports of the department; prepares the statistical portion of the Yearbook of the Department of Agriculture; and makes special investigations relating to agricultural forecasts and estimates for publication or in response to special inquiries.

LIBRARY.

The department library contains 130,000 books and pamphlets, including an extensive collection on agriculture, a large and representative collection on the sciences related to agriculture, and a good collection of standard reference books. Periodicals currently received number 1,950. A dictionary catalogue is kept on cards, which number about 310,000. The librarian has charge of the foreign mailing lists.

OFFICE OF EXPERIMENT STATIONS.

The work of the Office of Experiment Stations includes: (1) Relations with American and foreign institutions for agricultural research, together with the supervision of expenditures of the State agricultural experiment stations in the United States; (2) the preparation of publications; (3) the management of the experiment stations in Alaska, Hawaii, Porto Rico, and Guam; (4) relations with agricultural colleges and schools, farmers' institutes and kindred institutions at home and abroad, and the general promotion of agricultural education in the United States; (5) irrigation investigations; (6) drainage investigations; and (7) nutrition investigations. In all lines of work the office cooperates with the State agricultural colleges and experiment stations.

OFFICE OF PUBLIC ROADS.

The Office of Public Roads studies systems of road management and methods of road building, improvement, and maintenance; details engineers to assist local officials in building model roads; ascertains the location, properties, and value of road materials; builds experimental roads to test substitutes for natural road materials; conducts a one-year postgraduate course in highway engineering; investigates the comparative effects of motor and horse traffic on roads; cooperates with colleges and stations, and with State highway officials; exhibits models showing types of roads, culverts, bridges, and road machines; and cooperates with the Post Office Department in carrying out the provisions of the post office appropriation act of August 24, 1912, relating to the improvement of post roads.

OFFICE OF MARKETS AND RURAL ORGANIZATION.

The office of markets is making a special study of market conditions, methods of grading, standardizing, packing, and shipping, and the nature of the commercial transactions by means of which farm produce gets from the farm to the consumer; it also conducts investigations of rural organization, including rural credits, insurance, and communication, and rural social and educational activities.

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE.

SECRETARY OF COMMERCE.

The Secretary of Commerce is charged with the work of promoting the commerce of the United States and its mining, manufacturing, shipping, fishery, and transportation interests. His duties also comprise the investigation of the organization and management of corporations (excepting railroads) engaged in interstate commerce: the administration of the Lighthouse Service and the aid and protection to shipping thereby; the taking of the census, and the collection and publication of statistical information connected therewith; the making of coast and geodetic surveys; the collecting of statistics relating to foreign and domestic commerce; the inspection of steamboats, and the

enforcement of laws relating thereto for the protection of life and property; the supervision of the fisheries as administered by the Federal Government; the supervision and control of the Alaskan fur-seal, salmon, and other fisheries; the jurisdiction over merchant vessels, their registry, licensing, measurement, entry, clearance, transfers, movement of their cargoes and passengers, and laws relating thereto, and to seamen of the United States; the regulation of the enforcement and execution of the act of Congress relating to the equipment of ocean steamers with apparatus and operators for wireless communication; the custody, construction, maintenance, and application of standards of weights and measurements; the gathering and supplying of information regarding industries and markets for the fostering of manufacturing; and the formulation (in conjunction with the Secretaries of Agriculture and the Treasury) of regulations for the enforcement of the food and drugs act of 1906 and the insecticide act of 1910. He has power to call upon other departments for statistical data obtained by them.

For the proper accomplishment of any or all of the aforesaid work, it is by law provided that all duties performed, and all the powers and authority possessed or exercised, at the date of the creation of said department, by the head of any executive department in and over any bureau, office, officer, board, branch, or division of the public service transferred to said department, or any business arising therefrom or pertaining thereto, or in relation to the duties and authority conferred by law upon such bureau, office, officer, board, branch, or division of the public service, whether of appellate or advisory character or otherwise, are vested in and exercised by the Secretary of Commerce.

The act creating the Department of Labor, approved March 4, 1913, changed the name of the Department of Commerce and Labor to the Department of Commerce. Under the terms of this act the Bureau of Labor, Bureau of Immigration, Division of Naturalization, and Children's Bureau were detached from the Department of Commerce and Labor and organized as the new Department of Labor.

It is his further duty to make such special investigations and furnish such information to the President or Congress as may be required by them on the foregoing subject matters and to make annual reports to Congress upon the work of said department.

ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF COMMERCE.

The Assistant Secretary performs such duties as shall be prescribed by the Secretary or may be required by law. In the absence of the Secretary he acts as head of the department.

CHIEF CLERK.

The chief clerk is charged with the general supervision of the clerks and employees of the department; the enforcement of the general regulations of the department; the superintendency of all buildings occupied by the department in the District of Columbia; the general supervision of all expenditures from the appropriations for contingent expenses and rents; the receipt, distribution, and transmission of the mail: the supervision of the library and the stock and shipping section of the department; and the discharge of all business of the Secretary's office not otherwise assigned.

DISBURSING CLERK.

The disbursing clerk is charged by the Secretary of Commerce with the duty of preparing all requisitions for the advance of public funds from appropriations for the Department of Commerce to disbursing clerks and special disbursing agents charged with the disbursement of public funds; the keeping of appropriation ledgers relating to the advance and expenditure of all items of appropriations. He has charge of the issuing, recording, and accounting for Government requests for transportation issued to officers of the department for official travel; the audit and payment of all vouchers and accounts submitted from the various offices, bureaus, and services of the department (except the Coast and Geodetic Survey and those services having special disbursing agents); and the general accounting of the depart

ment.

APPOINTMENT DIVISION.

The chief of the Appointment Division is charged by the Secretary of Commerce with the supervision of matters relating to appointments, transfers, promotions, reductions, removals, and all other changes in the personnel, including applications for positions and recommendations concerning the same, and the correspondence connected therewith; the preparation and submission to the Secretary of all

questions affecting the personnel of the department in its relations to the civil-service law and rules; the preparation of nominations sent to the Senate and of commissions and appointments of all officers and employees of the department; the preparation of official bonds; the compilation of statistics in regard to the personnel, including material for the Official Register, and the custody of oaths of office, records pertaining to official bonds, service records of officers and employees, correspondence and reports relating to the personnel, reports of bureau officers respecting the efficiency of employees, and records relating to leaves of absence.

DIVISION OF PUBLICATIONS.

The Chief of the Division of Publications is charged by the Secretary of Commerce with the conduct of all business the department transacts with the Government Printing Office; the general supervision of printing, including the editing and preparation of copy, illustrating and binding, the distribution of publications, and the maintenance of mailing lists. The advertising done by the department is in his charge. He also keeps a record of all expenditures for the publishing work of the department and conducts the correspondence it entails.

DIVISION OF SUPPLIES.

Under the direction of the chief clerk the Chief of the Division of Supplies has personal supervision of all the work incident to the purchase and distribution of supplies for the department proper and for the services of the department outside of Washington, and of the keeping of detailed accounts of all expenditures from the appropriation for contingent expenses of the department. He receives, verifies, and preserves the semiannual returns of property from the offices and bureaus of the department which are supplied from the contingent appropriation, and examines and reports on the semiannual property returns of all other bureaus and services.

BUREAU OF THE CENSUS.

The Bureau of the Census is charged with the duty of taking the decennial censuses of the United States, of making certain other statistical investigations at regular intervals of years, and of collecting such special statistics as may be authorized by law from time to time. A census of manufactures is taken every five years, and the act providing for the Thirteenth Census requires a similar census of agriculture. The act establishing the permanent census bureau requires that, after the completion of the regular decennial census, the Director of the Census shall decennially collect statistics relative to the defective, dependent, and delinquent classes; crime, including judicial statistics pertaining thereto; social statistics of cities; public indebtedness, expenditures, and taxation; religious bodies; transportation by water, and express business; savings banks and other savings institutions, mortgage, loan, and similar institutions; and the fishing industry, in cooperation with the Bureau of Fisheries. Every five years statistics must be collected relating to street railways, electric light and power stations, and telephone and telegraph business. Annual statistics must be gathered relating to births and deaths in States and cities maintaining efficient registration systems; the financial and other statistics of cities having a population of 30,000 and over; the production and distribution of cotton, and forest products; and the quantity of leaf tobacco on hand.

BUREAU OF CORPORATIONS.

The Bureau of Corporations is authorized, under the direction of the Secretary of Commerce, to investigate the organization, conduct, and management of the business of any corporation, joint-stock company, or corporate combination engaged in interstate or foreign commerce, except common carriers subject to the interstate-commerce act; to gather such information and data as will enable the President to make recommendation to Congress for legislation for the regulation of interstate and foreign commerce; to report the data so collected to the President from time to time as he may require, and to make public such part of said information as the President may direct.

It is also the duty of the Bureau of Corporations, under the direction of the Secretary of Commerce, to gather, compile, publish, and supply useful information concerning corporations engaged in interstate or foreign commerce, including corporations engaged in insurance.

BUREAU OF FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC COMMERCE.

It is the province and duty of the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce, under the direction of the Secretary, to foster, promote, and develop the various manufacturing industries of the United States, and markets for the same at home and abroad, by gathering and publishing all available and useful information concerning such industries and markets; and, through the Secretary of State, to gather and compile from the reports of consular officers and the reports transmitted by the commercial agents of the Department of Commerce such valuable and material information as will accomplish the objects indicated above.

The bureau edits and publishes the Daily Consular and Trade Reports and reports of the commercial agents of the Department of Commerce containing current information in regard to trade conditions in foreign countries, opportunities for the extension of export and domestic trade, and information of the service of the Federal Government for the promotion of commerce. It also issues many special bulletins on various subjects of current commercial significance, a foreign trade directory, and an annual report entitled "Commercial Relations of the United States."

It is also charged with the duty of collating and publishing in the English language the tariffs of foreign countries and furnishing information to Congress and the Executive relative to customs laws and regulations of foreign countries.

The bureau also collects and publishes the statistics of our foreign commerce, embracing tables showing the imports and exports, respectively, by articles, countries, and customs districts; the transit trade inward and outward, by countries and by customs districts; imported commodities warehoused, withdrawn from, and remaining in warehouse; the imports of merchandise entered for consumption, showing quantity, value, rates of duty, and amounts of duty collected on each article or class of articles; the inward and outward movement of tonnage in our foreign trade and the countries whence entered and for which cleared, distinguishing the nationalities of the foreign vessels.

The Statistical Abstract of the United States, which is a condensation of statistical information collected by the various branches of the Government, is compiled and published by the bureau, as is also the Statistical Abstract of Foreign Countries, which shows imports into and exports from each country of the world, stated in United States currency, weights, and measures.

A monthly sailing-dates bulletin, showing sailing dates of vessels from the principal ports of the United States to the principal ports of the world, is compiled and published.

The bureau is further charged with the duty of making investigations into the various elements of cost of production at home and abroad in respect to articles subject to duty, comparative wages and cost of living, degree of control by business combinations, and effect on prices, when required to do so by the President or either House of Congress.

BUREAU OF STANDARDS.

The functions of the Bureau of Standards are as follows: The custody of the standards; the comparison of the standards used in scientific investigations, engineering, manufacturing, commerce, and educational institutions with the standards adopted or recognized by the Government; the construction, when necessary, of standards, their multiples and subdivisions; the testing and calibration of standard measuring apparatus; the solution of problems which arise in connection with standards; the determination of physical constants and properties of materials, when such data are of great importance to scientific or manufacturing interests and are not to be obtained of sufficient accuracy elsewhere; and other investigations as authorized by Congress. The bureau is authorized to exercise its functions for the Government of the United States, for any State or municipal government within the United States, or for any scientific society, educational institution, firm, corporation, or individual within the United States engaged in manufacturing or other pursuits requiring the use of standards or standard measuring instruments. For all comparisons, calibrations, tests, or investigations, except those performed for the Government of the United States or State governments, a reasonable fee will be charged.

BUREAU OF FISHERIES.

The work of the Bureau of Fisheries comprises (1) the propagation of useful food fishes, including lobsters, oysters, and other shellfish, and their distribution to suitable waters; (2) the inquiry into the causes of decrease of food fishes in the lakes,

rivers, and coast waters of the United States, the study of the waters of the coast and interior in the interest of fish culture, and the investigation of the fishing grounds of the Atlantic, Gulf, and Pacific coasts, with the view of determining their food resources and the development of the commercial fisheries; (3) the collection and compilation of the statistics of the fisheries and the study of their methods and relations; (4) the administration of the salmon fisheries of Alaska, the fur-seal herd on the Pribilof Islands, and the fur-bearing animals of Alaska.

BUREAU OF LIGHTHOUSES.

The United States Lighthouse Service is charged with the establishment and maintenance of aids to navigation, and with all equipment and work incident thereto, on the sea and lake coasts of the United States, and on the rivers of the United States so far as specifically authorized by law, and on the coasts of all other territory under the jurisdiction of the United States, with the exception of the Philippine Islands and Panama.

The bureau publishes Light Lists and Buoy Lists, giving information regarding all aids to navigation maintained by the Lighthouse Service; it also publishes each week, jointly with the Coast and Geodetic Survey, Notices to Mariners, giving the changes in lights, buoys, etc.

COAST AND GEODETIC SURVEY.

The Coast and Geodetic Survey is charged with the survey of the coasts of the United States and coasts under the jurisdiction thereof and the publication of charts covering said coasts. This includes base measure, triangulation, topography, and hydrography along said coasts; the survey of rivers to the head of tidewater or ship navigation; deep-sea soundings, temperature, and current observations along said coasts and throughout the Gulf and Japan Streams; magnetic observations and researches, and the publication of maps showing the variations of terrestrial magnetism; gravity research; determination of heights; the determination of geographic positions by astronomic observations for latitude, longitude, and azimuth, and by triangulation, to furnish reference points for State surveys.

The results obtained are published in annual reports and in special publications; charts upon various scales, including sailing charts, general charts of the coast, and harbor charts; tide tables issued annually in advance; Coast Pilots, with sailing directions covering the navigable waters; Notices to Mariners (published jointly by Coast and Geodetic Survey and Bureau of Lighthouses), issued weekly and containing current information necessary for safe navigation; catalogues of charts and publications; and such other special publications as may be required to carry out the organic law governing the survey.

BUREAU OF NAVIGATION.

The Bureau of Navigation is charged with general superintendence of the commercial marine and merchant seamen of the United States, except so far as supervision is lodged with other officers of the Government. It is specially charged with the decision of all questions relating to the issue of registers, enrollments, and licenses of vessels and the filing of those documents, with the supervision of laws relating to the admeasurement, letters, and numbers of vessels, and with the final decision of questions concerning the collection and refund of tonnage taxes. It is empowered to change the names of vessels and prepares annually a list of vessels of the United States. The commissioner also investigates the operation of the laws relative to navigation, and annually reports to the Secretary of Commerce such particulars as may in his judgment admit of improvement or require amendment.

In addition to the above statutory duties the bureau is charged, under direction of the Secretary of Commerce, with the enforcement, through collectors and surveyors of customs and radio inspectors, of the navigation and steamboat-inspection laws, and the laws governing radio communication, and the consideration of action to be taken on fines, penalties, and forfeitures incurred under thosę laws; administrative examination of accounts of collectors, surveyors of customs, and shipping commissioners covering fines, penalties, and forfeitures; services to vessels; navigation fees; amounts collected on account of decease of passengers, tonnage-tax collections, refunds; shipment and discharge of seamen, etc.