LAW PERTAINING TO THE BUREAU OF LABOR [As modified by act of February 14, 1903.] * The Bureau of Labor and all that pertains to the same, be, and the same hereby are placed under the jurisdiction and made a part of the Department of Commerce and Labor. Sec. 1. 182.) There shall be at the seat of Government a Bureau of Establishment and general Labor, the general design and duties of which shall be to scope. acquire and diffuse among the people of the United States, useful information on subjects connected with labor, in the most general and comprehensive sense of that word, and especially upon its relation to capital, the hours of labor, the earnings of laboring men and women, and the means of promoting their material, social, intellectual, and moral prosperity. The Bureau of Labor shall be under the charge of a Commissioner of Labor, who shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate; he shall hold his office for four years, unless sooner removed, and shall receive a salary of five thousand dollars per annum. Commissioner. Sec. 3. 1903 (32 Stat., 904.) There shall be in the Bureau of Labor, to be appointed Personnel. by the Commissioner of Labor: One chief clerk, at a salary ded Feb. of two thousand five hundred dollars per annum; disburs-25, ing clerk, two thousand dollars; four statistical experts, at two thousand dollars each; four clerks of class four; five clerks of class three; six clerks of class two; twelve clerks of class one; ten clerks, at one thousand dollars each; two copyists; one messenger; one assistant messenger; three watchmen; four laborers; three charwomen; two special agents, at one thousand eight hundred dollars each; six special agents, at one thousand six hundred dollars each; ten special agents, at one thousand four hundred dollars each; four special agents, at one thousand two hundred dollars each; and (there shall be) an allowance to special agents for traveling expenses not to exceed three dollars per day while actually employed in the field and outside of the District of Columbia, exclusive of actual transportation including sleeping-car fares; and such temporary experts, assistants, and other employees as Congress may from time to time provide, with compensation corresponding to that of similar officers and employees in other departments of the Government. During the necessary absence of the Commissioner, or when the office shall become vacant, the chief clerk shall perform the duties of Commissioner. Acting Commissioner. Sec. 4. Commissioner in charge of property and expenses. The Commissioner of Labor shall have charge in the building or premises occupied by or appropriated to the Bureau of Labor, of the library, furniture, fixtures, Sec. 6. records, and other property pertaining to it, or hereafter acquired for use in its business, and he shall be allowed to Duties of the Commissioner. Sec. 7. ble articles. currency laws, effect of. expend for periodicals and the purposes of the library, and for the rental of appropriate quarters for the accommodation of the Bureau of Labor within the District of Columbia, and for all other incidental expenses, such sums as Congress may provide from time to time. The Commissioner of Labor, in accordance with the general design and duties referred to in section one of this act, is specially charged to ascertain, at as early a date as possible, and whenever industrial changes shall Cost of dutia- make it essential, the cost of producing articles at the time dutiable in the United States, in leading countries where such articles are produced, by fully-specified units of production, and under a classification showing the different elements of cost, or approximate cost, of such articles of production, including the wages paid in such industries per day, week, month, or year, or by the piece; and hours employed per day; and the profits of the manufacturers and producers of such articles; and the comCustoms and parative cost of living, and the kind of living. It shall be the duty of the Commissioner also to ascertain and report as to the effect of the customs laws, and the effect thereon of the state of the currency, in the United States, on the agricultural industry, especially as to its effect on mortgage indebtedness of farmers; and what articles are controlled by trusts, or other combinations of capital, business operations, or labor and what effect said trusts, or other combinations of capital, business operations, or labor have on production and prices. He shall also establish a system of reports by which, at intervals of not less than two years, he can report the general condition, so far as production is concerned, of the leadLabor contro- ing industries of the country. The Commissioner of Labor is also specially charged to investigate the causes of, and facts relating to, all controversies and disputes between employers and employees as they may occur, and which may tend to interfere with the welfare of the people of the different States, and report thereon in- to Congress. The Commissioner of Labor shall also obtain such information upon the various subjects committed to him as he may deem desirable from different foreign nations, and what, if any, convict made goods are imported into this country, and if so from whence. Trusts. Reports. versies. formation. Reports. Sec. 8. The Commissioner of Labor shall annually make a report in writing to the President and Congress, of the information collected and collated by him, and containing such recommendations as he may deem calculated to promote the efficiency of the Bureau. He is also authorized to make special reports on particular subjects whenever required to do so by the President or either House of Congress, or when he shall think the subject in his charge requires it. He shall, on or before the fifteenth day of December in each year, make a report in detail to Congress of all moneys expended under his direction during the preceding fiscal year. Department for Sec. 9. All laws and parts of laws relating to the Bureau of Substitution of Labor created under the act of Congress approved June Bureau. twenty-seventh, eighteen hundred and eighty-four, so far as the same are applicable and not in conflict with this act, and only so far, are continued in full force and effect, and the Commissioner of Labor appointed under said act, approved June twenty-seventh, eighteen hundred and eighty-four, and all clerks and employees in the Bureau of Labor authorized to be appointed by said act or subsequent acts, shall continue in office and employment as if appointed under the provisions of this act, and until a Commissioner of Labor, other officer, clerks, and employees are appointed and qualified as herein required and provided; and the Bureau of Labor, as now organized and existing, shall continue its work as the Department of Labor until the Department of Labor shall be organized in accordance with this act; and the library, records, and all property now in use by the said Bureau of Labor are hereby transferred to the custody of the Department of Labor hereby created, and on the organization of the Department of Labor on the basis of this act the functions of the Bureau of Labor shall cease." 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 [for the Department of Commerce and Labor], as far as practicable, information respecting the rate of wages paid for skilled and unskilled labor within their respective jurisdictions. It shall be the duty of the United States Commissioner, of Labor to collect, assort, arrange, and present in annual reports statistical details relating to all departments of labor in the Territory of Hawaii, especially in relation to the commercial, industrial, social, educational, and sanitary condition of the laboring classes, and to all such other subjects as Congress may, by law, direct. The said commissioner is especially charged to ascertain, at as early a date as possible, and as often thereafter as such information may be required, the highest, lowest, and average number of employees engaged in the various industries in the Territory, to be classified as to nativity, sex, hours of labor, and conditions of employment, and to report the same to Congress. Whenever a controversy concerning wages, hours of labor, or conditions of employment shall arise between a carrier subject to this act and the employees of such carrier, seriously interrupting or threatening to interrupt the business of said carrier, the Chairman of the Interstate Commerce Commission and the Commissioner of Labor shall, upon the request of either party to the controversy, Bureau of Labor" is now the proper title, as stated on a The name page 60. reports. Foreign labor (20 Stat., 273.) ports. Hawaiian (31 Stat., 155.) commission. re Mediation (30 Stat., 425.) |