5. Publications

Price List No. 70. Government Publications on Census, for sale by Superintendent of Documents, Washington, D. C.

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CHAPTER 39

BUREAU OF FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC COMMERCE

1. Mission

"The principal duty of the bureau is that of collecting accurate information on foreign economic and specifically commercial conditions, and distributing that information as effectively as possible, getting it into the hands of the individuals, firms, banks, and business organizations in this country most likely to profit by such information." 1

2. History

(a) Trade Statistics in the Treasury Department.-As early as 1820 the government began the systematic publication of foreign trade statistics. By the Act of February 10, 1820, the Treasury Department was required to prepare annually statistical accounts of the commerce of the United States with foreign countries. Such work had been done previously by the Register of the Treasury and that officer was called upon by the Secretary of the Treasury to prepare the reports required under the new law. These reports were based upon commercial statistics gathered by Collectors of Customs at ports of entry. By Joint Resolution of Congress of June 15, 1844,3 the scope of the work was expanded to include annual reports on the condition of agriculture, manufactures, and domestic trade. The collection and publication of trade statistics was continued in the Office of the Register of the Treasury for many years. In 1866, however, it had so increased in scope and importance that by the Act of July 28, 1866, Congress established in the Treasury Department a Bureau of Statistics to take over the work from the Office of the Register. By the Act of March 3, 1875,5 the activities of the Bureau of Statistics were expanded to include the collection and publication of statistics of internal commerce, and by the Act of April 29, 1902, they were further expanded to include statistics of our trade with Alaska, Porto Rico, Hawaii, the Philippine Islands, and other overseas territories of the United States. Upon the establishment of the Department of Commerce and Labor, in 1903, the Bureau of Statistics was transferred from the Treasury Department to the new department.

(b) Trade Statistics in the Department of State.-The Act of August 16, 1842,8 required the Secretary of State to report to Congress annually on changes

1 Statement of Julius Klein, Director of the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Com

merce.

23 Stat. 541.

35 Stat. 719.

414 Stat. 330. See R. S. § 334 (Comp. St. § 877).

518 Stat. 352.

632 Stat. 172 (Comp. St. § 3523).

732 Stat. 826 (Comp. St. § 857).

85 Stat. 507.

in the commercial systems of other nations. To take care of this work and the various calls made by the Congress for information respecting our commercial relations with foreign nations, a commercial and statistical bureau, without specific statutory basis, grew up in the Department of State. By the Act of August 18, 1856, Congress amended the Act of 1842, and required the Secretary of State to include in his annual report to Congress all important commercial information gathered by our diplomatic and consular agents abroad. A special clerk was authorized by this act, with the title of Superintendent of Statistics. By the Act of June 20, 1874,10 the commercial and statistical office of the State Department was formally recognized as the Bureau of Statistics. The Bureau of Statistics began the publication of monthly consular reports in 1880. In 1897, on account of the confusion arising from the fact that there was also a Bureau of Statistics in the Treasury Department and a Bureau of Statistics in the Department of Agriculture, the name of the Bureau of Statistics of the State Department was changed to Bureau of Foreign Commerce. In the following year, the Bureau of Foreign Commerce began the daily publication of commerce reports. Upon the establishment of the Department of Commerce and Labor, in 1903, the Bureau of Foreign Commerce was transferred to that Department and merged with the Bureau of Statistics transferred at the same time from the Department of the Treasury.

(c) Bureau of Statistics, Department of Commerce and Labor.-When the Department of Commerce and Labor was established, therefore, one of its most important bureaus was the Bureau of Statistics, resulting from the consolidation of those statistical bureaus of the Department of the Treasury and the Department of State which had to do with the collection, compilation, and dissemination of trade data.

(d) Bureau of Manufactures, Department of Commerce and Labor.-The act creating the Department of Commerce and Labor" established in that department a Bureau of Manufactures. It was the function of this bureau "to foster, promote, and develop the various manufacturing industries of the United States, and markets for the same at home and abroad, domestic and foreign, by gathering, compiling, publishing, and supplying all available and useful information concerning such industries and such markets." The same act required all consular offices of the United States to gather and compile useful and material information and statistics relating to foreign and domestic commerce, transportation, and the mining, manufacturing, shipping and fishery industries, for the use of the Department of Commerce and Labor.

(e) Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce.-The Bureau of Statistics and the Bureau of Manufactures were separately administered from the establishment of the Department of Commerce and Labor in 1903 until 1912. It was found, however, that these two bureaus had duties which were closely analogous, if not nearly identical. Their functions were very intimately related, and there was considerable duplication and overlapping of work between the two establishments.

732 Stat. 826 (Comp. St. § 857).

911 Stat. 139.

10 18 Stat. pt. 3, p. 90.

For these reasons, Congress, by the Act of August 23, 1912,11 consolidated the Bureau of Manufactures and the Bureau of Statistics into a single organization known as the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce.

3. Organization and Activities

(a) Included under the obligations with which it is charged by virtue of the various funds now being currently allotted to it by Congress are such duties as (1) "to report upon domestic as well as foreign problems relating to production, distribution, and marketing in so far as they relate to the important export industries of the United States;" (2) "to investigate and report upon such conditions in the manufacturing industries and trade of foreign countries as may be of interest to the United States;" (3) to promote American trade with Europe, Central and South America, and the Far East; (4) "to operate and maintain district and cooperative offices within the United States;" (5) to enforce the China Trade Act regarding the tax exemptions of American firms doing business in China; (6) to compile and publish statistics on foreign trade; (7) to investigate trade restrictions and regulations of foreign countries in relation to American commerce; (8) to prepare and circulate lists of available foreign agents for American firms.

(b) Organization at Washington.-The Bureau at Washington is headed by a Director, four Assistant Directors, and an Administrative Assistant.

(A) Administrative Divisions.

There are, in the Washington office, a number of administrative divisions, whose titles indicate their functions: (1) Foreign Service Division, handles the administrative features of the foreign-office activities. (2) Division of District Offices. (3) Division of Correspondence and Distribution. (4) Administrative Assistant's Office. (5) Drafting and Photostat Work. (6) Accounts Section. (7) Personnel Work. (8) Supplies. (9) Editorial Division, which has full charge of all the many publications (other than those of the Division of Statistics) issued by the Bureau.

(B) Service Divisions.

(1) Regional Divisions.-The three regional divisions (European, Far Eastern, and Latin American) furnish basic information on economic conditions and broad commercial problems. They supervise, in general, the work of the bureau's foreign representatives in their respective territories; prepare and distribute confidential circulars; disseminate data through commercial bodies, trade journals, and newspapers; maintain regular sections in Commerce Reports, the weekly magazine published by the bureau; prepare for that publication monthly reviews of conditions abroad, on the basis of cabled reports from the foreign offices; and examine and utilize a mass of material appearing in foreign periodicals.

(2) Commodity Divisions.-A Commodity Division, manned by experts, places the resources of the government, with respect to commercial matters, at the disposal of a number of basic industries in the extension of their foreign trade.

11 Act Aug. 23, 1912 (37 Stat. 407 [Comp. St. § 873]).