COMMERCE, Department of. One of the main divisions in the executive branch of the government of the United States. We shall 'here describe its origin and organization and the duties assigned to the office of its secretary. In the year following the adoption of die con stitution of the United States three of the executive branches of the government with secretaries were established. First, the De partment of Foreign Affairs, by act approved 27 July 1789 (the name of which was changed to Department of State by act approved 15 September of the same year); second, the War Department, created by act of 7 Aug. 1789 (then embracing naval affairs); and third, the Treasury Department, established by act of 2 Sept. 1789. Until the Department of Commerce (and Labor) was organized, in 1903, the Treas ury Department was the principal agency of government through which a limited super vision of the commerce and industrial life of thc nation was administered, and the designa tion sought to be given to its chief officer in the Constitutional Convention was that of "sec* retary of commerce and finance." Petitions for Its mercial conventions at Detroit in 1865 and at Boston in 1868 and the National Board of Trade in 1874 memorialized the Congress for the establishment of a Department of Com merce, in order that the rapidly increasing vol ume of capital invested in commerce and manu factures might be the subject of governmental aid and supervision. Many similar petitions were subsequently presented to Congress, and the subject was referred to in political plat forms and annual messages of the President. These petitions, and the representations of commercial organizations before the committees of Congress, stated that the twelfth census showed the aggregate value of the products of the manufacturing establishments of the United States, during the census year ended 1 June 1900, to exceed $13,000,000,000, which was probably almost four times the aggregate value of all the products of agriculture during the same year; that the manufacturing inter ests in the United States exceeded in volume and importance the industrial interests of any nation in the world, and yet there was no gov ernment office specially charged with any duties relating directly to them, and that in this re spect the United States was almost alone among the nations of the world.
The Department In the 57th Congress legislation providing for the or ganization of a Department of Commerce was enacted. On 4 Dec. 1901 Senator Nelson intro duced in the Senate a bill "To establish the Department of Commerce." That bill passed the Senate with a number of amendments, in cluding one changing the name to °Department of Commerce and Labor," on 28 Jan. 1902. (A separate Department of Labor was created 4 March 1913). The act was received in the House 30 Jan. 1902, and nearly a year later (17 Jan. 1903) was passed with amendments. In due course the bill was sent to a committee of conference; the conference report was agreed to in the House on 10 Feb. 1903 and
in the Senate the following day; and the bill was signed by the President 14 Feb. 1903.
The department, as at pres ent constituted, in addition to the offices and divisions in the immediate office of the Secre tary, consists of the bureau of the census, the coast and geodetic survey, the bureau of fish eries, the bureau of foreign and domestic com merce (which has among its duties the direction of the work of commercial attaches at foreign capitals and of commercial agents at home and abroad), the bureau of lighthouses and the lighthouse service, the bureau of navigation, the bureau of standards and the steamboat inspec tion service.
Duties of the Secretary's The organic act of 14 Feb. 1903, creating the de partment, as modified by the act of 4 March 1913, creating the Department of Labor, pro vides for a Secretary of Commerce whose term of office shall be the same as that of other Cabinet officers. It is the duty of the depart ment, under its organic act, to foster, promote and develop the foreign and domestic com merce, the mining, manufacturing, shipping and fishery industries, and the transportation facili ties of the United States; and the Secretary of Commerce is charged with the responsibility of carrying out the purpose of the department as thus broadly outlined. Specifically, how ever, the powers and duties of the Secretary may he summarized as follows: The adminis tration of the lighthouse service, including the establishment and maintenance of aids to navi gation; the taking of the census; the making of coast and geodetic surveys; the collection and publication of statistics of foreign and domestic commerce, and the promotion and development of the foreign and domestic commerce of the United States; the investigation of the cost of production, including field investigation at home and abroad; the inspection of steam boats 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 mer chant vessels; the standardization of weights and measures; the formulation (in conjunc tion with the secretaries of the Treasury and Agriculture) of regulations for the enforce ment of the Food and Drugs Act and the In secticide Act. It is the further duty of the Secretary 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. The organization includes an assistant secretary, solicitor, chief clerk and superintendent, disbursing clerk, the appoint ment division, the division of publications and the division of supplies. During the fiscal year which ended 30 June 1915 the organization of the department was changed by the creation of the Federal Trade Commission into which the Bureau of Corporations was merged on 16 March 1915.