The bureau maintains offices in 32 foreign countries. These are in charge of commercial attachés, and in countries where there is no American diplomatic mission, trade commissioners are in charge. Reports on trade conditions and prospects are received from these sources and are widely circulated among American firms.

Reports of the Consular Service of the Department of State on the trade of foreign countries and opportunities for the sale abroad of articles produced in the United States are transmitted to the Department of Commerce for distribution. This material is edited in the bureau and distributed to the commercial public by means of the weekly magazine, Commerce Reports, special monographs, bulletins, pamphlets, and circulars or letters.

Commodity divisions, in charge of technical experts, put the resources of the Government at the disposal of basic industries in the extension of their foreign trade. Services to the following industries are in operation: Agricultural implements, aeronautics, automotive products, chemicals, electrical equipment, foodstuffs, hides and leather, iron, steel, and hardware, lumber, machinery, minerals, motion pictures, paper, rubber and rubber products, shoe and leather manufactures, specialties, tobacco, and textiles. There is close cooperation with committees of trade associations and other representatives of American industry.

The organization of the bureau also includes eight technical divisions, besides three divisions devoted to problems of domestic commerce.

The Division of Foreign Tariffs collects and disseminates information regarding foreign tariffs, and the related conditions of movement of goods between countries. The division advises exporters and importers concerning commercial treaties and preferential arrangements; import duties, restrictions, consular documents, and customs requirements; foreign export duties, bounties, and subsidies; shipment of samples and advertising matter abroad; and foreign treatment of commercial travelers.

The Finance and Investment Division attends to all financial and economic questions that are international in scope and to matters connected with the flotation of foreign securities in the United States, the investment of American capital abroad, and the general aspects of foreign-trade financing.

Statistical information with respect to United States imports and exports is received by the bureau from the collectors of customs, showing the articles imported and exported and the countries from which imported and exported.

The Transportation Division compiles and furnishes to shippers information on freight rates, services, and facilities, both rail and ocean, which will enable them to route shipments economically and to quote c. i. f. prices. The division is prepared to give advice on how to pack shipments for foreign markets. It gathers and distributes data on facilities, regulations, and charges in the ports of the world. This division also deals with telephone, telegraph, cable, radio, and postal communication and is interested in all matters tending to protect and increase American facilities for world communication.

The Division of Commercial Laws furnishes information concerning commercial laws and judicial procedure, patent and trade-mark laws, the taxation of American firms doing business abroad, formalities in connection with bankruptcy proceedings, powers of attorney, the protesting of drafts, the legal aspects of construction enterprises, agency agreements, standardization of bills of exchange, etc.

An active trade directory of business houses and prospective buyers and agents all over the world is maintained by the Commercial Intelligence Division for the benefit of American manufacturers and exporters. The bureau also locates, in foreign markets, exporters of such raw materials as are needed by American manufacturers.

The services of the bureau in domestic commerce are directed toward providing the American manufacturer, wholesaler, and retailer with accurate and definite data upon which he can base efficient merchandising methods and thus eliminate the large wastes in our distribution system. These services aim to make available more adequate knowledge of markets and distribution costs. This work is carried on in close cooperation with commercial organizations.

The distribution work of the bureau is facilitated by district offices maintained in the important commercial centers of the United States. In addition, arrangements have been made with chambers of commerce and commercial organizations in many other cities which act as direct representatives of the bureau in the work of foreign and domestic trade promotion. These branch offices expedite the distribution of commercial information and establish closer relations between the Government and private industry.

NATIONAL BUREAU OF STANDARDS

The National Bureau of Standards was established by act of Congress approved March 3, 1901. Its functions are the development, construction, custody, and maintenance of reference and working standards and their intercomparison improvement, and application in science, engineering, industry, and commerce. Under the air commerce act of 1926, the Secretary of Commerce is authorized "to advise with the Bureau of Standards and other agencies in the executive branch of the Government in carrying forward such research and development work as tends to create improved air navigation facilities." By act of Congress approved May 14, 1930, there was established a national hydraulic laboratory at the bureau for "the determination of fundamental data useful in hydraulic research and engineering.'

The bureau's functions are exercised for the National Government, State governments and, subject to reasonable fees, the general public. Its unique research and testing facilities are used to discover and evaluate material standards and to solve basic technical problems. In connection with its work on standards of measurement, the bureau assists in size standardization of containers and products, in promoting systematic inspection of trade weights and measures, and facilitates research in science and technology through the standardization of measuring instruments. The establishment of more precise values for the standard constants furnishes an exact basis for scientific experiment and design and makes possible the efficient technical control of industrial processes. The bureau's work on standards of quality sets up attainable standards to assure high utility in the products of industry and furnishes a scientific basis for fair dealing by promoting truthful branding and advertising. Standards of performance are usually specifications for the operative efficiency of machines or devices; their ultimate purpose is to make exact knowledge the basis of the buyer's choice and to clarify the understanding between maker, seller, buyer, and user. To establish standards of practice the bureau collates data and formulates codes of practice for public utilities and other services. This work makes possible a single impersonal standard of practice mutually agreed upon by all concerned and clearly defined in measurable terms.

Congress has made special provision for research and testing in specific fields involving the five kinds of standards described above. Some examples of such functions are: Aid to State governments on technical details of weights and measures inspection service; standardization and testing of gages, screw threads, and other length standards required in manufacturing; investigation of railroad track scales, mine scales, and other large scales used principally for interstate shipments; investigations of methods of high temperature measurements and temperature control in manufacturing processes; promotion of economy and efficiency in automotive transportation by land and air through investigations of the basic principles underlying the design, performance, operation, and testing of automotive power plants; development of color standards and methods of color measurement; investigation and standardization of methods and instruments used in radio communication; investigation of principles of sound transmission and absorption and their application; preparation, analysis, and certification of the composition of technical materials either of typical composition or of high purity, for checking the accuracy of scientific and industrial analysis and for testing measuring instruments; investigation of the fire resistance of building materials; determination of the properties of stone, clays, cement, and other structural materials; development of improved standards for dental materials; investigations of the industrial utilization of waste products from the land; development of standards of quality and methods of measurement of textiles, paper, leather, rubber, and tests of paint, varnish, soap, ink, and other supplies for the Government services; study of ceramic materials and the processes used in their manufacture; investigation of problems involved in the production of optical glass; researches in metals, including melting, heat treatment, mechanical working, chemical and optical properties, and effects of corrosion; use of testing machines in the determination of physical constants and properties of materials; determination of technical specifications for all grades of sugars, involving their standardization and methods of manufacture, and study of technical problems relating to the collection of revenue on sugars; investigation of radium, radium compounds, and other radio-active materials, and the development of standard specifications for X-ray equipment and for the operation of X-ray machines; formulation of standards of performance for instruments, equipment, tools, and other devices, development of test methods to insure compliance with specifications, and simplification of varieties of products; solution of problems in connection with standards

for public utilities, such as gas, electric light and power, telephone, and electric railway services; technical cooperation with manufacturers upon fundamental research to promote industrial development and to assist in the permanent establishment of new American industries; the standardization of mechanical appliances; and the investigation of problems of flowing water in rivers, canals, and pipes, and of the design of hydraulic structures.

BUREAU OF FISHERIES

The work of the Bureau of Fisheries comprises (1) the propagation and salvaging of useful food fishes and shellfish and their distribution to suitable waters; (2) the inquiry into the causes of fluctuations in abundance of food fishes in the lakes, rivers, and coast waters of the United States, the development of methods of husbanding these resources, including improvements in methods of fish culture and the investigation of the fishing grounds of the Atlantic, Gulf, and Pacific coasts, with the view of determining their food resources and the development of the commercial fisheries; (3) the study of the methods of the fisheries and of the preservation, utilization, and merchandizing of fisheries products, and the collection and compilation of statistics of the fisheries; (4) the adminis tration of the salmon fisheries of Alaska, the fur-seal herd on the Pribilof Islands, and the care of the native inhabitants of those islands; (5) administration of the law for the protection of sponges off the coast of Florida; enforcement of the law regulating the interstate transportation of largemouth and smallmouth black bass.

BUREAU OF LIGHTHOUSES

The United States Lighthouse Service is charged with the establishment and maintenance of aids to navigation, and with all equipment and work incident thereto, on the sea and lake coasts of the United States, and on the rivers of the United States so far as specifically authorized by law, and on the coasts of all other territory under the jurisdiction of the United States, with the exception of the Philippine Islands and Panama.

The bureau publishes Light Lists giving information regarding all aids to navigation maintained by the Lighthouse Service; it publishes each week, jointly with the Coast and Geodetic Survey, Notice to Mariners, giving the changes in lights, buoys, etc.; it also issues broadcasts and local notices.

UNITED STATES COAST AND GEODETIC SURVEY

The Coast and Geodetic Survey is charged with the survey of the coasts of the United States and its possessions and with the publication of navigational charts of those regions. These surveys include base measurements, triangulation and traverse, hydrography and topography, tidal and current observations along those coasts; deep-sea soundings, temperature and current observations along the courses of the Gulf and Japan Streams; the survey of rivers to the head of tidewater; magnetic observations and researches; seismological investigations; gravity measurements; and the determination of elevations by trigonometric leveling. The Coast and Geodetic Survey is also charged with the determination of geographic positions by astronomic observations and by triangulation and traverse, and with the determination of elevations by spirit leveling, in the interior of the United States and Alaska.

The results of these surveys and investigations are published in the form of navigational charts, coast pilots giving detailed sailing directions, annual tables giving the predicted times and heights of the tide at many ports and the velocities and directions of tidal currents, charts showing the magnetic declination, Notices to Mariners (published jointly by the Coast and Geodetic Survey and the Bureau of Lighthouses), and in annual reports and special publications. The special publications contain specifications and instructions for the various classes of surveying executed by the Coast and Geodetic Survey and the results of observations, investigations, and researches carried on by the field and office forces. The bureau has been assigned the duty of compiling and publishing maps of civil airways.

BUREAU OF NAVIGATION AND STEAMBOAT INSPECTION

The Bureau of Navigation and Steamboat Inspection is charged with general superintendence of the commercial marine and merchant seamen of the United States, except so far as supervision is lodged with other officers of the Government, and administers the load line law. It is specially charged with the decision

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of all questions relating to the issue of registers, enrollments, and licenses of vessels and the filing of those documents, with the supervision of laws relating to the admeasurement, letters, and numbers of vessels, and with the final decision of questions concerning the collection and refund of tonnage taxes. It is empowered to change the names of vessels, and prepares annually a list of vessels of the United States. navigation and annually reports to the Secretary of Commerce such particulars It also investigates the operation of the laws relative to as may admit of improvement or require amendment.

In addition to the above statutory duties the Bureau is charged, under direction of the Secretary of Commerce, with the enforcement, through collectors and surveyors of customs, of the navigation and steamboat inspection laws, and the consideration of action to be taken on fines, penalties, and forfeitures incurred under those laws; administrative examination of accounts of collectors, surveyors of customs, and shipping commissioners covering fines, penalties, and forfeitures; services to vessels; navigation fees; amounts collected on account of decease of passengers, tonnage tax collections, refunds; shipment and discharge of seamen, etc.

The Bureau is further charged with the duty of inspecting vessels, the licensing of the officers of vessels, and the administration of the laws relating to such vessels and their officers for the protection of life and property.

The blue prints or drawings of water-tube and coil boilers used in vessels of the American merchant marine are passed upon by the board of supervising inspectors, while designs of marine boilers of other types are passed upon by the local inspectors having original jurisdiction. All material subject to tensile strain used in the construction of marine boilers is required to be tested by an inspector of the Service, so that not only is the material but the design of a boiler under the closest scrutiny. The inspectors of hulls look after the examination of the hulls of vessels and of life-saving equipment such as life preservers, lifeboats, life rafts, davits, etc., and once at least in each year vessels of the American merchant marine are required by law to be inspected. Excursion steamers are reinspected not less than three times during the year in addition to the regular annual inspection. The local inspectors are the officers who examine applicants for licenses for the deck department and engineer department of merchant ships. These examinations are conducted frequently, and at such times as to be most convenient to the applicants for licenses, and, as the result of this close supervision over the licensing of officers, a very high standard is maintained. The Bureau also is required by law to certificate the able seamen who form the crew of merchant vessels, and the inspectors of the Service, together with other Government officers especially detailed for that purpose, also certificate the lifeboat men. Not the least important of the work of the local inspectors is the investigation of violations of the steamboat inspection laws. of local inspectors have quasi-judicial authority, and these boards have conIn such instances the boards ferred upon them the authority and the right to suspend or revoke the licenses of officers who have been found guilty of violating these laws, negligence, inattention to duty, etc. The traveling inspectors of the service, in addition to following up vessel inspections made by local inspectors, conduct stability tests of the larger class of passenger and ferry vessels.

PATENT OFFICE

The Commissioner of Patents is charged with the administration of the patent laws and supervision of all matters relating to the granting of letters patent for inventions, and the registration of trade-marks.

UNITED STATES SHIPPING BOARD BUREAU

By Executive order dated June 10, 1933, the functions and duties of the United States Shipping Board were transferred to the Secretary of Commerce, and are administered through the United States Shipping Board Bureau.

The United States Shipping Board was created by an act of Congress approved September 7, 1916, entitled "An act to establish a United States Shipping Board for the purpose of encouraging, developing, and creating a naval auxiliary and naval reserve and a merchant marine to meet the requirements of the commerce of the United States with its territories and possessions and with foreign countries; to regulate carriers by water engaged in the foreign and interstate commerce of the United States, and for other purposes," generally known as the shipping act, 1916.

By the shipping act, 1916, regulatory powers were given to the board over common carriers by water engaged in interstate and foreign commerce of the United States and over persons carrying on the business of forwarding or furnishing wharfage, dock, warehouse, or other terminal facilities in connection with common carriers by water. These powers are principally in relation to rates, fares, charges, and practices. Carriers in interstate commerce subject to jurisdiction are required to file their maximum rates, fares, and charges, and after approval thereof, to keep such rates, fares, and charges open to public inspection. The act gives quasi-judicial authority to receive and determine complaints of shippers, passengers, and others alleging unreasonableness or unjust discrimination by carriers and others subject to its regulatory authority; and provides the method for the enforcement of orders, including orders directing the payment of money in reparation for violation of its regulatory provisions. An important regulatory power is the approval, disapproval, or modification of agreement entered into between carriers subject to the act respecting cooperative working arrangements. Approval of such agreements exempts the parties thereto from the operation of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act, Wilson Tariff Act, Clayton Act, and supplementary acts and amendments directed at monopolies in restraint of trade.

The act expressly provides that the jurisdiction is not concurrent with the Interstate Commerce Commission over transportation agencies within the latter's jurisdiction, and that its provisions do not apply to intrastate commerce.

The bureau is empowered to investigate the action of foreign governments with respect to privileges afforded and burdens imposed on vessels of the United States, and to make a report of the result of such investigations. The President is authorized to secure by diplomatic action equal privileges for United States vessels.

The bureau conducts all investigations and makes appropriate recommendations to the Secretary of Commerce with respect to matters arising under section 9 of the shipping act, 1916, as amended, relating to the sale, transfer, or mortgage, and chartering of vessels documented under the laws of the United States to persons not citizens of the United States, and the transfer of such vessels to foreign registry or flag. The bureau also conducts investigations and makes appropriate recommendations in connection with the surrender of marine documents of vessels covered by preferred mortgages, under the ship mortgage act, 1920.

The bureau is directed to investigate the relative cost of constructing vessels at home and abroad; to examine the rules under which vessels are constructed at home and abroad; to investigate matters relating to marine insurance, the classification and rating of vessels, and the navigation laws of the United States, and to make such recommendations as it may deem best for the improvement and revision of such laws.

The shipping act, 1916, was amended by an act approved July 15, 1918, which more particularly defined the various terms used and provisions contained in the shipping act and added eight sections at the end of the act whereby more complete control was granted over the use or sale, particularly to aliens, of marine property during the existence of a state of war or any national emergency declared to exist by proclamation of the President, and providing punishment for violations of certain provisions of the act as amended.

The shipping act, 1916, as amended by the act approved July 15, 1918, was further amended by the act of June 5, 1920, known as the merchant marine act, 1920, which transferred to the Shipping Board certain specified authority granted during the war by Congress to the President and by him delegated by various Executive orders to the Shipping Board and the United States Shipping Board Emergency Fleet Corporation. This act in section 1 sets forth in the following language the general merchant marine policy to be followed in its administration of the merchant marine acquired by the United States as a result of its European war activities: "That it is necessary for the national defense and for the proper growth of its foreign and domestic commerce that the United States shall have a merchant marine of the best equipped and most suitable types of vessels sufficient to carry the greater portion of its commerce and serve as a naval or military auxiliary in time of war or national emergency, ultimately to be owned and operated privately by citizens of the United States; and it is hereby declared to be the policy of the United States to do whatever may be necessary to develop and encourage the maintenance of such a merchant marine, and, in so far as may not be inconsistent with the express provisions of this act, the United States Shipping Board shall in the disposition of vessels and shipping property as hereinafter provided, in the making of rules and regulations, and in the administration of the shipping laws keep always in view this purpose and object as the primary end to be obtained."