The collection and publication of statistics on foreign and domestic commerce, and the investigation of markets for American products. The inspection of steamboats and the enforcement of laws pertaining thereto for the protection of life and property.

The propagation and distribution of useful food fishes and the supervising of Alaskan fur-seal and salmon fisheries.

Jurisdiction over merchant vessels, including their registry, measurement, licensing, entry, clearance, etc., and the enforcement of the act requiring wireless equipment on vessels.

The standardization of weights and measures.

The formulation of regulations (in conjunction with the Secretaries of the Treasury and Agriculture) for the enforcement of the food and drugs act and the insecticide act.

It is the further duty of the Secretary of Commerce 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 his Department.

By the act of March 2, 1907, the Secretary of Commerce is created a trustee of the Foundation for the Promotion of Industrial Peace.

ASSISTANT SECRETARY.

The Assistant Secretary performs such duties as are prescribed by the Secretary, and in his absence acts as head of the Department.

SOLICITOR.

The office of the Solicitor of the Department of Commerce was authorized by the legislative act of March 18, 1904. The Solicitor, who is an officer of the Department of Justice, is the chief law officer of the Department. His duties are to act as legal adviser to the Secretary of Commerce and the chiefs of the various bureaus, and to render opinions on questions of law arising in the course of business in the Department. He prepares and examines all contracts and bonds entered into or required by the Department, and has charge of the preparation of all legal papers to which the Department is a party. He also renders such legal service in connection with matters arising in the administrative work as may be required of him by the Secretary or the Attorney General.

The Assistant Solicitor, who acts as Solicitor in the absence of the latter, is charged with the general superintendence of the clerical force of the office. He also has general charge of the preparation and examination of all legal papers of the Department, and performs other legal service in connection with the work of the office.

CHIEF CLERK.

The Chief Clerk enforces the general regulations of the Department and exercises general supervision over its employees. He superintends all the Department's buildings in the District of Columbia; supervises all expenditures from the appropriations for contingent expenses and rent; receives, distributes, and transmits the mail; and has general charge of the telegraph and telephones, and of all property and equipment. He also discharges all business of a miscellaneous character which does not come specifically within the scope of one of the regular bureaus.

DISBURSING CLERK.

The Disbursing Clerk, whose office was created by the act establishing the Department, has general supervision of the financial transactions of the Department. In his office are kept the appropriation ledgers covering all appropriations made for the support of the Department, and all transactions, whether by the Treasury Department or any bureau or office of the Department, affecting those appropriations are recorded therein.

It is his duty to prepare for submission to the Secretary of the Treasury, to be forwarded to Congress in accordance with law, all estimates covering appropriations desired for the various activities of the Department.

He disburses all appropriations made for the support of the Department with the exception of those for the support of the Coast and Geodetic Survey and most of the appropriations for the Lighthouse Service at large, which are disbursed by special disbursing agents appointed for that purpose.

He prepares for the signature of the Secretary all requisitions for advances of funds from appropriations under the control of the Department, and makes the proper entries in the appropriation records of the Department kept in his office.

All claims against the Department received for payment by the Disbursing Clerk are given an examination to determine whether they are legal claims against the Government and are paid either by check or by cash, according to the nature of the account.

The collections by the Department covering amounts for property sold and various other miscellaneous receipts are handled through and accounted for in the office of the Disbursing Clerk.

APPOINTMENT DIVISION.

The Appointment Division was organized in February, 1904. Previous to that time the appointment work had been conducted by the Disbursing Office. The office of Chief of Division was created by the act making appropriations for the legislative, execu

tive, and judicial expenses of the Government for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1907, and the position has since been included in the annual appropriation acts.

The duties of the Appointment Division involve 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 civilservice 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 preliminary work looking to the organization of the Division of Publications was begun in April, 1903, by the detail of a clerk from the then Bureau of Statistics, one of the bureaus transferred to the new Department by the act of February 14, 1903, though the Division was not formally organized until July 1, 1903. The purpose in creating a division of publications was to have in one central office complete control over the Department's publication work and over all expenditures for the same, in order to secure uniformity and effect economy. The Division is charged with the conduct of the business which the Department transacts with the Government Printing Office, and with general supervision over all printing for the Department, including editing and preparing copy, illustrating and binding, and keeping records of expenditures. It has in charge the distribution of publications and the maintenance of the mailing lists. Blank books, blank forms, and printed stationery of all kinds used by the several services of the Department are kept in stock and supplied by it on requisition. It also has charge of the advertising done by the Department.

DIVISION OF SUPPLIES.

The Division of Supplies is charged, under the immediate direction of the Chief Clerk, with the purchase and distribution of all supplies for the use of the Department in Washington, except certain supplies for the Coast and Geodetic Survey and the Bureau of Standards. It

also purchases and distributes such supplies for the field services as are purchased from contractors under the general supply schedule. All accounts under the appropriations for contingent expenses and rent are maintained in this Division.

The Chief of the Division of Supplies, by virtue of an order of the Secretary, is Auditor of Property Returns. All property records are maintained in his office, as are also the records of all sales of property belonging to the Department within the District of Columbia. The Division prepares annually a compilation of the estimated requirements of the bureaus for the guidance of the General Supply Committee in making contracts for supplies. The annual contracts made by the Department for the hauling of ashes and rubbish, the laundering of towels, the shoeing of horses, and the sale of waste paper are handled in the Division.

BUREAU OF THE CENSUS.

Before the adoption of the Constitution, which provided for a decennial enumeration on which to base representation and direct taxation, estimates of the colonial population had been purely conjectural. The first enumeration after the establishment of our present form of government was under the act of March 1, 1790, which provided that it should be taken by United States marshals, who were to make returns to the President. The agency of United States marshals was used until the census of 1880. Beginning with the second enumeration (1800), the Secretary of State had general supervision, until the establishment of the Department of the Interior (1849), when the Census Office was placed under that Department, where it remained until July 1, 1903, when, under the act approved February 14, 1903, it was transferred to the Department of Commerce. By order of the Secretary of July 1, 1903, the name "Bureau of the Census" was adopted.

In January, 1800, two learned societies memorialized Congress to enlarge the scope of census inquiry, and in the third enumeration (1810) Congress provided for the collection by the marshals of certain industrial statistics upon schedules prepared by the Secretary of the Treasury. In this enumeration "an actual inquiry at every dwelling house" was prescribed.

The fourth enumeration (1820) included a limited number of industrial and occupation statistics. The fifth enumeration (1830) related to population only, and for the first time uniform printed schedules were used. The Sixth Census (1840) extended its inquiries to occupations of the people and included industrial and commercial statistics. The census of 1840 marks the beginning of an effort to make the decennial enumeration the instrument for ascertaining something beyond the mere number of persons of each sex and the various ages of the population. Prior to that nothing had been done systematically to show the growth and development of the country's industries and resources.

The Interior Department took up the supervision of the census in 1849, the first one to be taken under its direction being the Seventh (1850). This census was taken on six schedules-(1) free inhabitants, (2) slave inhabitants, (3) mortality, (4) productions of agriculture, (5) products of industry, and (6) social statistics. This radical amplification of statistics marks an epoch in the history of census taking in the United States.

In 1857 Congress provided for a census of Minnesota prior to its admission as a State.

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