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January 3, 1900, Fifty-sixth Congress, first session. Mr. Barham introduced a bill (H. R. 5030) to create a Department of Mines and Mining. Referred to Committee on Mines and Mining. February 18, 1901, Fifty-sixth Congress, second session. Mr. Ridgely introduced a bill (H. R. 14233) to regulate commerce and industries. Referred to Committee on Reform in the Civil Service. December 2, 1901, Fifth-seventh Congress, first session. Mr. Brownlow introduced a bill (H. R. 14) to establish a Department of Commerce, Labor, and Manufactures. Referred to the Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce.

December 2, 1901, Fifty-seventh Congress, first session. Mr. Schirm introduced a bill (H. R. 95) to establish a Department of Commerce and Industries. Referred to Committee on Interstate

and Foreign Commerce.

December 3, 1901, Fifty-seventh Congress, first session. Mr. Roberts introduced a bill (H. R. 2026) to establish a Department of Commerce and Manufactures. Referred to Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce.

December 4, 1901, Fifty-seventh Congress, first session. Mr. McComas introduced a bill (S. 343) to establish a Department of Commerce and Industries.

December 4, 1901, Fifty-seventh Congress, first session. Mr. Nelson introduced a bill (S. 569) to establish a Department of Commerce [and Labor]. Approved by President, February 14, 1903. December 10, 1901, Fifty-seventh Congress, first session. Mr. Gibson introduced a bill (H. R. 4404) to establish the Bureau of Mines and Mining in the Department of Labor. Referred to Committee on Mines and Mining.

December 18, 1901, Fifty-seventh Congress, first session. Mr. Woods introduced a bill (H. R. 7195) to establish a Department of Mines and Mining. Referred to Committee on Mines and Mining.

January 27, 1902, Fifty-seventh Congress, first session. Mr. Teller introduced a bill (S. 3202) to establish a Department of Mines and Mining. Referred to Committee on Mines and Mining. April 11, 1902, Fifty-seventh Congress, first session. Mr. Sulzer introduced a bill (H. R. 13526) to establish a Department of Labor. Referred to the Committee on Labor.

May 2, 1902, Fifty-seventh Congress, first session.

Mr. Sulzer

introduced a bill (H. R. 14166) to establish a Department of Commerce. Referred to Committee on Commerce.

May 16, 1902, Fifty-seventh Congress, first session. Mr. Heitfeld introduced a bill (S. 5868) to establish a Department of Labor. Referred to Committee on Education and Labor.

CHAPTER II

ORGANIZATION OF THE DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE AND LABOR

The first step in the organization of the new Department was the appointment, by the President, of George B. Cortelyou as the first Secretary of Commerce and Labor on February 16, 1903; the nomination was confirmed by the Senate on the same day, and the Secretary, after taking the oath of office on the 18th, established temporary headquarters at the White House. On February 17, 1903, James Rudolph Garfield was named by the President as Commissioner of Corporations under the provisions of the organic act of the Department; the Senate confirmed the appointment on the 21st, and the oath of office was taken on the 26th. Frank H. Hitchcock was appointed chief clerk of the Department, and William L. Soleau was selected as its disbursing clerk.

The temporary headquarters were moved to the building known as the "Builders' Exchange," on Thirteenth street, where, in a large room divided by partitions, the work of organization was begun on March 16, 1903. The new Willard Building, on Fourteenth street, was selected as the headquarters of the Department, and the Secretary, with as much of his force as was organized, moved in as soon as the building was completed. On the morning of June 17, 1903, under the auspices of the Grand Army of the Republic, the nation's flag was raised for the first time over the new Department, and its headquar ters was formally placed in commission. The entire personnel of the Department assembled at the flagstaff on the roof with the committee of the Grand Army of the Republic to witness the ceremony. The brief address of Judge I. G. Kimball, department commander, G. A. R., on this occasion, was as follows:

"On behalf of the Grand Army and of my old comrades of the war, I want to thank you for the invitation you have given to us to be present at this ceremony, the hoisting of the flag over the new Department. It shows your appreciation of the old soldiers; it shows your appreciation of the flag and all that it means. And it is especially appropriate to-day, just after Flag Day, and to-day the anniversary of the first great battle of the Revolutionary war-the battle of Bunker Hill that the old soldiers should assist in this inauguration of the service of putting up the flag over this Department, which is not a department of war, but a department of peace-one that we hope will take into all the world the commerce of our country and reap those

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TEMPORARY OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY, BUILDERS’ EXCHANGE BUILDING, MARCH 16 TO JUNE 16, 1903

results which the soldiers by their fighting helped to accomplish; I mean the placing of this country in the forefront, not only in war, but in peace."

Secretary Cortelyou replied as follows:

"COMMANDER: It is altogether fitting that under such auspices as these the flag should be raised on the new Department. In asking you to participate in this simple ceremony we were influenced very largely by the reasons you have given in the very appropriate address you have just made. I thank you for being here, with your staff and others, representing the Grand Army of the Republic, and I need hardly assure you that in the work of this Department it will be our constant. hope and purpose that nothing shall be done unworthy of that flag."

In this building, besides the Secretary, the Assistant Secretary, the Solicitor, the Chief Clerk, and the Disbursing Clerk, are the Bureau of Corporations, the Bureau of Immigration, and the Department library. The other offices of the Department are located as follows: Bureau of Navigation, Light-House Board, and Steamboat-Inspection Service in the Builders' Exchange, Thirteenth street; Bureau of Statistics in the Adams Building, 1333 F street; Coast and Geodetic Survey and Bureau of Standards at corner of New Jersey avenue and B street SE.; Bureau of the Census, First and B streets NW.; Bureau of Labor, corner of New York avenue and Fifteenth street, and the Bureau of Fisheries at its headquarters in the Mall, Sixth and B streets SW. At the time of printing this volume, the organization of the Bureau of Manufactures has not been completed.

The law creating the Department transferred to it on July 1, 1903, its subdivisions which had theretofore been independent offices or under the older Executive Departments, and this important date in the life of the new Department was marked by the assembling in the office of the Secretary of its general officers and distinguished guests. The speakers on this occasion were: The Rev. Franklin Noble; the Rev. D. J. Stafford; Secretary Moody, of the Navy Department; S. N. D. North, Director of the Census, and H. B. F. Macfarland, Commissioner of the District of Columbia.

Secretary Cortelyou made an address in which he recounted the work of preliminary organization, and stated that in four months and a half the personnel of the Department had grown from one official, the Secretary, to a total of 10,125 persons in Washington and the country at large; he spoke of the great opportunities before the Department in aiding and guiding the commerce and industries of the country, and of the principles upon which the Department would administer the laws defining its powers. In closing, he said:

"To-day the new Department moves forward, and as it takes its place by the side of the other great Executive establishments it will catch the step and the swing of their onward movement in the nation's progress and prosperity.

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