"A."-NEW FORCE OF EMPLOYEES IN THE DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE.

Mr. NELSON. Now, Mr. President, some question has been raised about the Census Office. I desire to say, in reference to the Census Office, that, as Senators know, that Office deals exclusively with agricultural, commercial, manufacturing, and vital statistics of all kinds. By looking at the different departments we find that this matter of statistics is a good deal duplicated. They have a statistical bureau in the State Department known as the Bureau of Foreign Commerce. They have in the Treasury Department the great Bureau of Statistics. Then, in addition to that, we have the Census Bureau. Now, these different bureaus duplicate the work.

Mr. PLATT, of Connecticut. Is there not also a statistical division in the Agricultural Department?

Mr. NELSON. I was coming to that. That is an independent department. They have a statistical division there.

It appeared to the committee, and it so appears to me, and I think it will appear to any Senator who gives the subject reflection, that this duplication of statistical work is unnecessary and leads to needless expense. Hence we feel that it would be a good plan to attach the Census Bureau, the Bureau of Statistics of the Treasury Department, and the Bureau of Foreign Commerce in the State Department to the Department of Commerce.

Now, we do not undertake to do it at this time, but I think in time, after we get a Secretary at the head of that Department, and after he has considered and carefully digested the work of these three different divisions, he will be able to formulate a

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plan and present a programme to Congress by which all the statistical work can be done under one head and under one division, so that when we come to look up a matter of statistics we shall not have to go for some part of it to the Bureau of Foreign Commerce, for another part to the Bureau of Statistics in the Treasury Department, for another to the Census Office, and for another to the Agricultural Department.

The matter of census statistics pertains, if it pertains anywhere at all, to our commercial and industrial development, and I think if Senators will reflect a moment they will all agree with me that this statistical work ought to belong to and be a part of the Department of Commerce.

Now, coming to the Department of Labor, that, we find, stands isolated and by itself. The purpose of that Department is to look after our laboring interests. That Department gathers and compiles a lot of statistics. It is the duty of that Department peculiarly to look after the interests of our laboring men. But our laboring men are vitally interested in our commercial and our industrial development, in our shipping industries, and in our fishery industries, and they are also vitally interested in the question of immigration, the Bureau of Immigration being attached by this bill to the Department of Commerce.

It is to far greater advantage to the labor interests of this country that their work can articulate and be in harmony with all these other interests and bear directly upon the welfare of the laboring men. The laboring men of this country are vitally interested in the immigration question. They are vitally interested in the shipping question and in a merchant marine. They are vitally interested in our manufacturing industries. They are vitally interested in our fishing industries. They are vitally interested in our commercial development. By gathering all these bureaus and departments into one whole, under one head, the Department can work to better purpose and more efficiently for the labor interests, the manufacturing interests, and the commercial interests of this country.

I think if Senators will reflect they will see that it is for the interest of the laboring men to belong to a department where they can have something to say on the question of immigration; something to say on the question of shipping and our merchant marine; something to say in reference to the fishing industries; something to say in reference to our manufacturing industries and our manufacturing development, and the things which pertain to our great commerce, foreign and inland. Instead of this being one of the largest departments, as was intimated the other day, I find, on figuring up the employees in the various departments and divisions of the public service, we would be taking 286 employees from the Treasury Department and, assuming that the Patent Office is taken, 605 from the Interior Department; from the State Department, the Bureau of Foreign Commerce, we would take 10; from the Department of Labor we would take 78; from the Fish Commission, 38, and, counting what I have estimated would be necessary in the first instance for the Department of Commerce as an additional force of 30 members, it would make the total operating force of this new Department 1,047. The number would be 1,047, as compared with 4,595 who would still be left in the Treasury Department, 3,835 in the Interior Department, and in the State Department 85. I may state that in giving these figures I have not included the Census Bureau, for the reason that the force of that Bureau, under the present circumstances, is a fluctuating force.

Now, in reference to the Patent Office, the committee were of the opinion that, inasmuch as the great work of the Patent Office pertains largely to industrial inventions-inventions relating to commerce, manufacturing, shipping, and all that-it is more germane and has a closer connection and bearing upon the Department of Commerce than upon the Interior Department.

Now, what is the Interior Department, and what has that Department left? The Interior Department was established in 1849. I wish to call the attention of Senators to the fact that when that Department was established in 1849 it was established by transferring other bureaus and divisions from the other departments. The Patent Office business up to 1849 had belonged to the State Department, and it was transferred to the new Department of the Interior. The census work, carried on under the United States marshals, but under the charge of the State Department, was transferred to the Interior Department.

The Patent Office had up to that time been under the State Department, and it was transferred. The Indian Office was transferred from the War Department. The Land Office was transferred from the Treasury Department. The Treasury Department up to that time had charge of the sale of our public lands. The Pension Office was transferred from the War Department. There was a time in our history when the War Department and the Navy Department jointly exercised authority ov naval and military pensions. It was afterwards vested in the War Department, and

over

the War Department, until the Department of the Interior was established, in 1849, continued to have charge of the Pension Bureau.

If you look at the history of the departments you will thus see that the Interior Department, established in 1849, was established simply by a transfer from the other overloaded departments of the Government, bureaus, and divisions, and the part so transferred constituted the main and principal work of that Department. The congestion which had then occurred in the other departments, leading to the establishment of the then new Department of the Interior, exists now to a greater extent, especially in the Treasury Department. It seems that of later years almost everything new under the sun in reference to light-houses, the Marine-Hospital Service, and a lot of matters pertaining to commerce and navigation and immigration have been thrown into the Treasury Department, when, as a matter of fact, they did not pertain to the main and principal functions of that Department.

Mr. President, I feel that perhaps I have taken up the time of the Senate too long on this matter. I think there is a strong public sentiment throughout the country in favor of the establishment of this new Department. I think we need this new Department in order to put ourselves on a parity with the other great commercial and industrial nations of the world. We need this Department in order to place our industrial development and our commercial development under governmental control, so that the various industries of this country, the commercial and manufacturing industries, and shipping industries, and our merchant marine, can have that governmental guidance and governmental assistance which are now so well performed by the Agricultural Department for the agricultural interests of the country.

I wish to say, further, in this connection about the bill that personally I claim no credit for it. The bill was originally prepared by the worthy Senator from Maine [Mr. Frye], who so ably presides over the deliberations of this body. He prepared the bill and, I think, reported it favorably in the Fifty-fifth Congress. The present bill is simply a slight elaboration and amendment of that bill. The idea came from the Senator from Maine originally, and the committee have now simply presented his bill to the Senate with some amendments and changes.

The public demand for this legislation has not only been so great as to call the attention of Senators to it, but it also called the attention of our new President to it. Senators will remember that in his annual message to Congress he highly recommended the establishment of this new Department.

I have aimed to take up as little time of this body as possible. I wish to say in conclusion that I sincerely trust everyone who is in favor of this Department of Commerce will allow us to get to a vote on the bill to-day. Other matters of great importance are coming up, the Philippine tariff, the Cuban tariff, and other questions that will lead to great debate, and I shall be very glad if the Senate will allow a vote to be taken on this bill to-day.

Mr. PLATT, of Connecticut. May I ask the Senator from Minnesota if he has considered the question, and whether he would be willing to agree to an amendment to eliminate the Patent Office from the bureaus which it is proposed to transfer to the new Department?

Mr. NELSON. Speaking for myself-I am not authorized to speak for the committee, but personally I should have no objection. I think this Department of Commerce could do good work and exist well without the Patent Office. But I prefer, in the absence of instructions from the committee, to have the question submitted to the Senate.

Mr. PLATT, of Connecticut. Mr. President, I do not wish it to be understood that I am opposed to this bill because I suggest that it be amended by striking out the transfer of the Patent Office to this new Department. I am certainly in favor of the bill. I think a Department of Commerce is needed and has been needed for many years. I think it can be made of immense value to the country and the industries of the country; its commerce by land and by sea; its manufacturing and other industries, which not only build up the country, but upon which the country depends for its prosperity.

I make these remarks in order that there may be no misapprehension on account of what I shall say about the Patent Office. I do not know that it is necessary that I should elaborate upon that subject. The Patent Office is nominally connected with the Interior Department. It is to a certain extent an independent bureau or department. The Commissioner of Patents reports by law to Congress.

The chief connection at the present time between the Patent Office and the Interior Department is that the Secretary of the Interior has a supervisory power over the administrative action of the Commissioner of Patents. I think that by statute all appeals from the Commissioner of Patents upon the issuance of patents, the issuance of trade-marks, in interference cases, and in all matters relating to the issue of

patents, have been taken away from the Secretary of the Interior and jurisdiction has been vested in courts in the District of Columbia.

But the inventors of the country who do their business through the Patent Office have become accustomed to it where it is, and in connection with the Interior Department. There is quite a body of legislation which determines and specifies the connection which exists between the Patent Office and the Interior Department. It does not overburden the Interior Department, and I think is more properly connected with that Department than it would be with the new Department.

The new Department is specially and particularly to devote its attention to the commerce of the United States and to the articles which form the commerce of the United States. The connection between the granting of patents and the commerce of the United States is at least very remote. The Patent Office issues patents for inventions. They are in the nature of contracts between the Government and an inventor by which there becomes vested in him the right to use his invention for a limited time. Invention and letters patent have no immediate relation to commerce. It is only when some article for which a patent has been granted is manufactured and then transported from the place of manufacture to the place of use that it comes at all within the jurisdiction of commerce.

Therefore, the relations between the Patent Office and the Interior Department having been long established, being well understood, it being no burden upon the Interior Department, and relating, if at all, only in the most remote degree to commerce, I hope the committee will agree to an amendment striking that clause out of this bill. If hereafter it should be thought wise to transfer it, that could be done, but perhaps I may express the opinion that it would be more for the interest of the new Department, more for its practical organization and development, not to have too much work thrust upon it at the outset.

Mr. NELSON. Mr. President, after conferring with several of the members of the Committee on Commerce, such members as are here on the floor, I think I shall make no opposition to striking out of the bill the provision for the transfer of the Patent Office.

Mr. PLATT of Connecticut. If it be in order, then, I would move that the words "the Patent Office," be stricken out from line 16 on page 3. I do not know that it is referred to anywhere else in the bill.

Mr. NELSON. No; nowhere else.

The PRESIDENT pro tempore.

which will be stated.

The Senator from Connecticut offers an amendment,

The SECRETARY. In line 16 of the new print on page 3 it is proposed to strike out the words "the Patent Office."

Mr. VEST. What are the words?

The SECRETARY. "The Patent Office."

The PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, the amendment will be agreed to. It is agreed to. Are there further amendments?

Mr. SPOONER. Mr. President, I wish to attract the attention of the Senator having the bill in charge to the language of the proviso on the seventh page, beginning at line 11:

And provided further, That all officers, clerks, and employees now employed in any of the bureaus, offices, departments, or branches of the public service in this act transferred to the Department of Commerce are each and all hereby transferred to said Department at their present grades and salaries, except where otherwise provided in this act, and they shall continue in office and employment as if appointed under this act until otherwise provided by law.

Does not the Senator accomplish all that ought to be accomplished and eliminate a possible question by striking out all after the word "act," striking out the words "and they shall continue in office and employment as if appointed under this act until otherwise provided by law???

Mr. NELSON. I can see no objection to striking out those words. I do not think it would militate against the purpose of the bill.

Mr. SPOONER. No; your purpose is to secure a transfer?

Mr. NELSON. I want a transfer made of these employees just as they are.

Mr. SPOONER. Without any provision of law which might be construed to continue them at their salaries and grade?

Mr. NELSON. Certainly. That was not my purpose at all.

Mr. SPOONER. I am satisfied it was not.

Mr. HALE. It would be better to let the clause go out.

Mr. NELSON. Yes; I will let it go out.

Mr. SPOONER. In line 17, after the word "act," I move to strike out the words "and they shall continue in office and employment as if appointed under this act until otherwise provided by law."

The PRESIDENT pro tempore. Will the Senate agree to the amendment proposed by the Senator from Wisconsin?

The amendment was agreed to.

Mr. NELSON. There is an amendment pending offered by the junior Senator from Massachusetts [Mr. Lodge].

The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Secretary will read the pending amendment offered by the committee.

The SECRETARY. In section 4, line 11, page 3 of the new print, after the word "Statistics," the Committee on Commerce report to strike out the words "and the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey."

Mr. NELSON. Let that amendment be passed over for the present. There is another amendment, an amendment offered by the Senator from Massachusetts [Mr. Lodge], that is pending, to which there is no objection.

The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The amendment will be stated.

The SECRETARY. It is proposed to insert at the end of the bill the following, as a new section:

SEC.. A person, to be designated by the Secretary of State, shall be appointed to formulate for the instruction of consular officers the requests of the Secretary of Commerce, and to prepare from the dispatches of consular officers, for transmission to the Secretary of Commerce, such information as pertains to the work of the Department of Commerce, and such person shall have the rank and salary of a chief of bureau, and be furnished with such clerical assistance as may be deemed necessary by the Secretary of State.

The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The question is on the amendment which has just been read.

Mr. NELSON. I want to explain to the Senator from Wisconsin, as he was not here at the time the amendment was offered

Mr. SPOONER. I understand it and I do not like it. I can not say that I am satisfied with the amendment offered by the Senator from Massachusetts [Mr. Lodge]. I do not object to the creation of a new bureau in the State Department for the purpose, under the direction of the Secretary of State, of carrying out the provisions of this act so far as they relate to the proposed Department of Commerce; but I think it is a very peculiar proposition that a subordinate in the State Department should be required by law to formulate instructions to consular officers based upon requests of the Secretary of Commerce upon the State Department for statistical information furnished by consuls.

It seems to me that the Secretary of Commerce, when he has occasion to communicate with the State Department, should communicate with the Secretary of State. I think there should be some elasticity in this bill in that respect, which would be wanting in it if this amendment were adopted.

The bill is well drawn, in the first place, without the amendment, in my opinion. It might be improved, probably, by adopting so much of the amendment proposed by the Senator from Massachusetts as provides for an additional bureau. To that I have no objection whatever. But primarily a consul is a commercial agent, he is not a diplomatic functionary, although it is true that sometimes he does perform sub modo diplomatic or quasi-diplomatic functions. This bill, however, provides for reports by consuls to the Secretary of the Department of Commerce only as to statistical information gathered having relation to our foreign commerce. It says:

And all consular officers of the United States, including consul-generals, consuls, and commercial agents, are hereby required, and it is made a part of their duty, under the direction of the Secretary of Commerce, to gather and compile, from time to time, useful and material information and statisties in respect to the commerce, industries, and markets of the countries and places to which such consular officers are accredited

Mr. PLATT, of Connecticut. Where is the Senator reading from?

Mr. SPOONER. I am reading from page 5.

Mr. NELSON. Will the Senator allow me to interrupt him right there?

Mr. SPOONER. In a moment. It proceeds

and to send reports quarterly, or oftener if required, of the information and statistics thus gathered and compiled, to the Secretary of the Department of Commerce.

Mr. NELSON. I want to say to the Senator he is reading from an earlier print of the bill. The bill was originally in that form.

Mr. SPOONER. How is it now?

Mr. NELSON. The bill was originally in a form that required all consular officers to make reports relating to commercial matters directly to the Department of Commerce. The Senator from Massachusetts [Mr. Lodge], after conferring with the State Department, came to the conclusion that oftentimes in consular reports diplomatic matters, or matters of a quasi-diplomatic character, were mixed with commercial matters, and, therefore, in order not to get the two confounded, those commercial