Cuban Government, in connection with the American tariff situation as regards sugar. This analysis was made available also to representatives of the principal American associations of sugar producers and refiners.

There was prompt and effective assistance by the State Department, and its representatives abroad, in the solution of such difficulties as the Cuban warehouse situation, arising from the heavy accumulations of undelivered American goods, and the removal of the 20 per cent tare on American automobiles in Switzerland. On the other hand, the information and judgment of the division of foreign tariffs were called upon and made freely available to the officials of the State Department in connection with numerous problems.

A number of special studies were prepared for-use in connection with the Washington Conference on the Limitation of Armaments. A comparative analysis was presented of the customs treatment of the leading Chinese export products by the other countries represented at the conference. A compilation was prepared of the export duties on petroleum products imposed by the principal oil-producing countries, and of the import duties collected by the principal oil-importing countries. The situation with regard to the protection of foreign trade-mark and patent rights in the Orient was also made the subject of special analysis.

Cordial cooperation was received from officials of the American Customs Service, as well as from the officials of the Post Office Department concerned with foreign mails and parcel post.

The division cooperated with the Inter-American High Commission on problems affecting commercial relations between the United States and Latin American countries, principally consular and customs regulations, the uniform commercial-travelers treaty, and the Pan American Trade-Mark Bureau.

By arrangements made between the foreign-trade department of the United States Chamber of Commerce and the bureau's tariff division, the requests of American concerns for assistance in foreign customs difficulties, addressed to the chamber, were given special attention. A representative of the chamber was aided in preparing a review of the trend of commercial policy and tariff legislation in European countries since the war. This information was embodied in a pamphlet and later republished in The Nation's Business.

The tariff division is also cooperating with the International Chamber of Commerce on all problems relating to international commercial policy, tariff legislation and administration, and other regulations on trade. Several important projects for changes in the manner of publishing and administering tariffs, which are to be considered at the Rome congress of the chamber next March, have

been submitted for judgment to the chief of the tariff division and are now being considered.

The chief of the division addressed various groups of business men on current problems in regard to foreign tariffs and regulations and the services rendered by the bureau.

In the summaries of the work of the various field offices of the bureau, as given in preceding pages, it was noted that considerable attention has been given to the study of the reaction of newly-drawn customs tariffs upon American export trade and to representations in behalf of American commercial interests. Such activities on the part of the field officers of the bureau are under the direction of the tariff division and have, of course, been carried on in every case with the express permission of the American diplomatic representatives in the given countries. Action is taken in such cases as involve probable discrimination against American merchandise or at the express instance of the foreign importers of American goods.

Out of the more than 100 independent countries, revisions of the basic tariff systems, of more or less general scope, were effected during the past year in more than 40. The publication of analyses or abstracts of these major changes, in addition to the hundreds of minor changes in tariff duties and trade regulations of more limited scope, increased the number of items published by the division of foreign tariffs in Commerce Reports from 718, during the preceding year, to 1,048 in the fiscal year 1922.

The number of reports calling for study, and often translation and research, has averaged in recent months between 200 and 250 a week.

There was an increase of about one-third in the division's outgoing mail, as compared with the preceding year. Not including telephone inquiries, interdivisional requests, and information secured by visitors in person, the number of requests for information or advice replied to by the division of foreign tariffs during the past year totaled 5,227, as compared with 3,939 in 1921. The greater number of the replies were accompanied by specially prepared statements or memoranda. During the spring months the outgoing letters averaged 135 a week. These figures do not include trade-mark notices (numbering between 400 and 500 during the year), or the increasing number of special bulletins, or any material of a circular character.

DIVISION OF COMMERCIAL LAWS.

The division of commercial laws was organized in July, 1921, with Archibald J. Wolfe as chief. The need of such a unit had been urged by trade bodies, business organizations, and Government departments. The many perplexing legal problems resulting from

commercial disturbances in various parts of the world made the new division a source of instant help and advice in acute business situations.

One of the most gratifying achievements of the division was the investigation of existing facilities abroad for the collection of overdue accounts. A series of articles in Commerce Reports enabled many Americans to collect most of their outstanding accounts with a minimum of cost.

With the help of the State Department a list of dependable attorneys for all countries has been prepared.

Where satisfactory collection facilities are not available the division of commercial laws has undertaken to intervene in the actual settlement of trade disputes, with the cooperation of the bureau's foreign representatives and of consular officers. As regards the arbitration of commercial disputes, the division has cooperated with the United States Chamber of Commerce, the International Chamber of Commerce, the Chamber of Commerce of the State of New York, and a number of committees, and it examined and commented upon drafts of bills designed to improve arbitration methods. As a result of its activities a world-wide investigation into means and prospects of commercial arbitration in all countries was begun, and the results of the inquiry are now coming in.

The division has collected a library and accumulated a vast amount of data on the laws of foreign countries. It is to be immediately notified of any important changes.

The important problem of determining the liability of cargo carriers in international commerce, which led to the drawing up of The Hague rules, 1921, was thoroughly investigated by the division, and a pamphlet on the subject was prepared.

The division is installing a service for compiling the laws and regulations in foreign countries on commercial insurance.

Among the reports prepared by the division are the booklets on The Hague Rules, Incorporation in China, Branches of Foreign Corporations in France, New Cuban Law on Sugar Crop Financing, Doing Business in Hungary, and Commercial Laws in the Canal Zone.

Investigations on the following topics have been made through bureau field men and American consular officers: Regulations of interest to engineering companies undertaking contracts abroad; powers of attorney in foreign countries; foreign consignment laws; protesting drafts in foreign countries; bankruptcy and insolvency laws of foreign countries.

A number of manufacturers profited by the suggestions of the division in the matter of improving agency sales contracts.

The division has cooperated with a committee of six representative New York jurists specializing in international law and also with a committee appointed by the National Association of Credit Men.

The division sent out 2,957 letters during the fiscal year. Actual service of a legal character, as distinguished from routine inquiries, was rendered in 1,026 instances, excluding inquiries answered through branch offices.

RESEARCH DIVISION.

Among the more important studies that have been prepared during the year by the research division are the following: Reports for the Conference on the Limitation of Armaments, including the general direction of the country reports and the preparation of specific reports on the copra trade of the Pacific, Australia, New Zealand, Dutch East Indies, British East Indies, British Malaysia, and Central and South Pacific Islands; Vegetable Oil and Oil Materials in International Commerce; The Development of the MotionPicture Industry Abroad; Wholesale Prices in the United States; various analyses of foreign trade; the relation of exports of farm products to production; international trade statistics; translations of for eign import and export schedules; the planning and supervising of the bureau's exhibit for the Brazilian Exposition. In addition, there have been prepared, in connection with commodity work, reports on feldspar markets abroad, on markets for refractories in the Far East, on foreign periodicals, on margarine trade in European countries, on expositions and fairs in 1922, and several other studies.

The research division has acted as a commodity division for those commodities not covered by regularly organized divisions in the bureau. Much of its correspondence (averaging 275 letters per month) and a good deal of its research work have been devoted to the answering of trade inquiries concerning commodities as well as inquiries on general economic, financial, and statistical subjects. In connection with this work the division has distributed circulars on financial subjects to banks; a translation of the Japanese law for the encouragement of the manufacture of dyes and a bulletin on Markets for Chemicals in the Dutch East Indies and British Malaya have been sent to the chemical trade; a questionnaire on advertising media has been prepared and submitted to consuls; an exhibit of foreign advertising was assembled for the Milwaukee conventio of the Associated Advertising Clubs of the World, etc.

The division has also worked in close cooperation with the Ame. can Refractories Manufacturers' Association. As a result of t work done for it, the association has decided to make a thorou investigation of the possibilities of foreign trade and has detai

an expert to work up, in the bureau, the results of the questionnaire prepared by the research division.

The division has prepared the forty-fourth number of the Statistical Abstract of the United States, covering 1921. This has been improved by the addition of new material, the elimination of obsolete matter, and a basic revision of the arrangement of the contents. Preliminary plans have been made for publishing next year a statistical abstract of foreign countries. The division has rendered much statistical and other expert service to other divisions of the bureau. One section listed and classified the nearly 1,000 periodicals that are being received by the bureau from all parts of the world and planned an effective routing system by which individuals and divisions received regularly the journals that were of interest to them. Besides classifying and planning the routing, this section established a scheme for routing, clipping, and abstracting periodicals for distribution to the divisions interested. The work of this section, having been organized, has now been transferred to the department library and to the various regional divisions.

The statistical service section has compiled for other divisions a great amount of foreign statistical material, much of which has been published in special bulletins and in Commerce Reports. This section has also supervised all graphic work for Commerce Reports and other publications of the bureau.

The division supervised questionnaires originating in the bureau for transmission to Government representatives abroad. About 45 have been sent out.

The division has prepared reference lists to published material in the bureau, and bibliographies in connection with research work and the answering of trade inquiries. About 2,700 requests for such information were handled during the year.

The research division has had general charge of the preparation of the foreign-country material that is contributed by the bureau to the Survey of Current Business and has prepared monthly statistical material for the Bulletin of the League of Nations, the International Institute of Commerce, and other similar organizations. It has also done a very considerable amount of translation from foreign languages.

DIVISION OF STATISTICS.

The putting into effect on January 1, 1922, of the revised and extended export classification constituted the most important feature of the work of the statistical division, of which John Hohn has continued as chief. As compared with 710 classes in the old schedule, the new classification lists 1,250 separate items. Quantities are shown