Annual state Bureau. The Chief of the Bureau of Statistics shall prepare ment of mer. an annual statement of all merchandise passing in transit chandise by through the United States to foreign countries, each description of merchandise, so far as practicable, warehoused, withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, for exportation, for transportation to other districts, and remaining in the warehouse at the end of the fiscal year. The Chief of the Bureau of Statistics shall collect, manufactures. digest, and arrange, for the use of Congress, the statis- R. S., 342. tics of the manufactures of the United States, their localities, sources of raw material, markets, exchanges with the producing regions of the country, transportation of products,' wages, and such other conditions as are found to affect their prosperity. The Secretary of Commerce and Labor shall cause the annual report on the statistics of commerce and navigation required from the Chief of the Bureau of Statistics to be prepared and printed according to law, and to be submitted to Congress at as early a day in each regular session as practicable, and not later than the first Monday in January. Statistics of Annual re port. R. S., 263. Forms of an [The Secretary of Commerce and Labor] shall also pre-nual reports. scribe the forms of the annual statements to be submitted R. S., 251. to Congress by him showing the actual state of commerce and navigation between the United States and foreign countries, or coastwise between the collection districts of the United States, in each year. [The collection of data and employment of experts in connection with commerce is provided for in appropriation acts.] [Duties transferred from State Department.] Employment of experts. The Secretary of Commerce and Labor shall annually Reports of lay before Congress: commercial information to *Congress. R. S., 208. A statement, in a compendious form, of all such ** commercial information contained in the official publications of other governments, which he shall deem sufficiently important. * * * A synopsis of so much of the information which may have been communicated by diplomatic and consular officers during the preceding year as he may deem valuable for public information; * * * A statement of the lists of passengers arriving in the United States from foreign places, returned to him quarteryearly by the collectors of customs. * commercial R. S., 211. in The Secretary of Commerce and Labor shall publish Publication or official notifications, from time to time, of such commercial formation. information communicated * * by diplomatic and consular officers, as he may deem important to the public interests, in such newspapers, not to exceed three in a See note on page 106. This duty now performed by Bureau of Labor. See law on page 61. Commercial returns from con suls. R. S., 1712. June 18, 1888. number, as he may select. [Now done through medium of advance sheets."] Consuls and commercial agents of the United States in foreign countries shall procure and transmit to the Department of State [for the Department of Commerce and (25 Stat., 186.) Labor] authentic commercial information respecting such countries, of such character and in such manner and form and at such times as the Department may from time to time prescribe. exports and im suls. Jan. 27, 1879. (20 Stat., 273.) It shall be the duty of consuls to make to the Secretary Statement of of State [for the Secretary of Commerce and Labor] a ports from con- quarterly statement of exports from, and imports to, the different places to which they are accredited, giving, as near as may be, the market price of the various articles of exports and imports, the duty and port charges, if any, on articles imported and exported, together with such general information as they may be able to obtain as to how, where, and through what channels a market may be opened for American products and manufactures. In addition to the duties now imposed by law, it shall be the duty of consuls and commercial agents of the United States, annually, to procure and transmit to the Department of State, as far as practicable, information respecting the rate of wages paid for skilled and unskilled labor within their respective jurisdictions. Labor statistics. Every consular officer shall furnish to the Secretary of Commerce and Labor, as often as shall be required, the prices current of all articles of merchandise usually exported to the United States from the port or place in which he is situated; and he shall also furnish to the Secretary of Commerce and Labor, at least once in twelve months, the prices current of all articles of merchandise, including those of the farm, the garden, and the orchard, that are imported through the port or place in which he is stationed. And he shall also report as to the character of agricultural implements in use, and whether they are imported to or manufactured in that country. "[There shall be printed] of Commercial Relations and of Foreign Relations, three thousand copies of each; one thousand for the Senate and two thousand for the House. [There shall be printed] of the Reports of Consular Officers, one thousand five hundred copies; five hundred for the Senate and one thousand for the House. a See page 108 for printing of Statistical Abstract. mary. There shall be printed monthly by the Public Printer Monthly Sumthirty-five hundred copies of the Monthly Summary State- Dec. 18, 1895. ment of Imports and Exports and other statistical informa- (29 Stat., 459.) tion prepared by the Chief of the Bureau of Statistics, Department of Commerce and Labor, five hundred copies of which shall be for the use of the Senate, one thousand copies for the use of the House of Representatives, and two thousand copies for the use of the Department of Commerce and Labor. All terms of measure, weight, and money shall be reduced to and expressed in terms of measure, weight, and coin of the United States, as well as in the foreign terms; that each issue of consular reports shall not exceed ten thousand copies. [Repeated in appropriation acts.] No part of such reports discussing partisan, political, religious or moral questions shall be published. [There shall be printed] nineteen thousand copies of the general summary entitled "Review of the World's Commerce," for the year nineteen hundred and one, of which three thousand shall be for the use of the Senate, six thousand for the use of the House of Representatives, and ten thousand for the use of the Department of State [Commerce and Labor]; and eleven thousand copies of Commercial Relations of the United States for the year nineteen hundred and one, including the general summary, of which two thousand shall be for the use of the Senate, four thousand for the use of the House of Representatives, and five thousand for the use of the Department of State [Commerce and Labor]. [Purchase of reports and data by consuls for commercial reports and cost of cablegrams on subjects of immediate importance to commerce and industry are provided for in appropriation acts.] Printing ports. Mar. 9, 1898. July 7, 1884. re (23 Stat., 235.) Mar. 18, 1902. (32 Stat., 1766.) of trade with Ha [Statistics of the commerce and navigation between the Statistics United States and its noncontiguous territory are required waii, etc. by act of April 29, 1902; see page 255.] Bureau. [A chief clerk at a salary of $2,250, statistical clerks,, Personnel of translators, and other employees are provided for the Bu-appropriation reau of Statistics. Authority for the Chief of the Bureau acts." of Statistics is given on page 106.] 27628-04- -8 CHAPTER XI STEAMBOAT-INSPECTION SERVICE The Steamboat-Inspection Service had its beginning in the act of Congress approved July 7, 1838, which provided for the better security of the lives of passengers on board of vessels propelled in whole or in part by steam. Under this act the United States district judges appointed inspectors of hulls and boilers in their respective districts, and the Treasury Department had supervision of the service. On March 3, 1843, an act was approved relating to the equipment of steam vessels, and an act approved March 3, 1849, related to signal lights used on vessels navigating western and northern lakes. The Service was reorganized by section 5 of the act of Congress approved August 30, 1852, and since that date the work has been prosecuted, with but few innovations, on the plans then adopted. Nine supervising inspectors were appointed by the President, with the advice and consent of the Senate, and local inspectors were provided. A resolution of Congress relating to the duties of inspectors was approved March 3, 1853. The carrying of passengers was regulated by act of Congress approved March 3, 1855. The act approved June 8, 1864, related to the appointment of additional inspectors of steam ves sels. The act approved July 4, 1864, further regulated the carriage of passengers in steamships and other vessels. The act approved March 3, 1865, provided for additional inspectors, and the act approved July 25, 1866, provided further for the safety of the lives of passengers. By act of Congress approved February 28, 1871, the promotion of security of life was extended to vessels propelled in whole or in part by steam, thereby giving the officers and crews of such vessels the lawful protection that formerly extended only to passengers. This act has been merged in Title 52 of the Revised Statutes, and is substantially the law now in force relating to steamboats. Acts approved April 7, 1882, June 19, 1886, March 1, 1895, and February 15, 1897, related generally to compensation of inspectors, mileage, collection of fees, and changes in number of districts. Section 4405, Revised Statutes, provides for the assembling of the supervising inspectors and the Supervising Inspector-General, as a board, 114 in the city of Washington on the third Wednesday in January of each year, to establish necessary regulations; and that such regulations, when approved by the Secretary of Commerce and Labor, shall have the force of law. For the purpose of administering the pilot rules the waters of the United States are divided into three parts, and separate rules are made for each. These three divisions are (1) Atlantic and Pacific coast inland waters, (2) the Great Lakes and their connecting and tributary waters as far east as Montreal, (3) rivers whose waters flow into the Gulf of Mexico, and their tributaries, and the Red River of the North. The rules above referred to, and also the international rules of the road, are given on page 319 et seq. The supervision of the Steamboat-Inspection Service was transferred to the Secretary of Commerce and Labor on July 1, 1903, by act of Congress approved February 14, 1903 (An act to establish the Department of Commerce and Labor). LAW PERTAINING TO THE STEAMBOAT-INSPECTION SERVICE Every vessel propelled in whole or in part by steam shall be deemed a steam vessel within the meaning of this Title. [R. S., 4399-4500.] What are steam vessels. R. S., 4399. subject to the title. All steam vessels navigating any waters of the United What vessels States which are common highways of commerce, or open provisions of this to general or competitive navigation, excepting public R. S., 4400. vessels of the United States, vessels of other countries, and boats propelled in whole or in part by steam for navigating canals, shall be subject to the provisions of this Title. [R. S., 4399-4500.]" requirements as foreign pas sels. (22 Stat., 346.) And all foreign private steam vessels carrying passen- Provisions and gers from any port of the United States to any other to place or country shall be subject to the provisions of see-senger steam ves tions forty-four hundred and seventeen, forty-four hun- Aug. 7, 1882. dred and eighteen, forty-four hundred and twenty-one, Amended Mar. forty-four hundred and twenty-two, forty-four hundred 11 and twenty-three, forty-four hundred and twenty-four, forty-four hundred and seventy, forty-four hundred and seventy-one, forty-four hundred and seventy-two, forty a For enrollment of steam vessel, see page 160. 1, |