the bureau in connection with trade reports, together with much more numerous requests for trade lists, confidential circulars, etc. The work of the division of commercial laws has aided greatly in the handling of trade disputes by the district offices. A plan now being completed provides that the United States Chamber of Commerce is to play a much greater part than heretofore in the settlement of such disputes. During the past year, a good many fairs, exhibitions, conventions, and similar gatherings have provided exhibition space for the bureau, which has had displays of publications, samples, etc., with local officers of the organization present as foreign-trade advisers. DIVISION OF CORRESPONDENCE AND DISTRIBUTION. This division (of which Royal H. Brasel has continued as chief) comprises two distinct sections, "correspondence" and "distribution." Supervision of the incoming and outgoing correspondence of the bureau is centralized in the first-named section. Correspondence handled directly by it, without reference to other divisions, includes requests for bureau publications, for lists of American manufacturers, for general Trade Opportunities and other confidential information, for names of importers in the United States, and inquiries concerning the general services of the bureau. General correspondence relating to the administration of the Exporter's Index is carried on and the file of applications for listing in that index is maintained in this division. The Exporters' Index is a classified file of American firms and individuals interested in foreign trade, and this record is the basis of the bureau's distribution of confidential and semiconfidential information. The stock of bureau publications is maintained in this division. The division continually furnishes stenographic and typing assistance to other units in the bureau. Approximately 590,000 commercial inquiries were answered by the bureau and its district and cooperative offices during the fiscal year, excluding requests for trade lists and Trade Opportunity addresses This is one-third more than were handled in the previous fiscal year. More than half a million of these were answered by the bureau in Washington and its seven district offices in the United States. There has been a general upward trend in the number of inquiries handled. About 127,000 requests were received for the information reserved from "Foreign trade opportunity" announcements printed in Commerce Reports. Nearly a million copies of lists of prospective foreign purchasers were supplied to American business men, an increase of 73 per cent as compared with the preceding year. More than 350,000 copies of confidential and special circulars, comprising 744 separate statements, were sent out during the year to firms on the Exporters' Index. Approximately 106,000 copies of "selling letters," calling attention to special publications issued by the bureau, were distributed. During the year, 178 new mailing lists were established. The bureau now has a total of 213 different mailing lists, carefully classified by commodities and topics, which are used currently for the effective distribution of bureau material. These have been consolidated into one file, the task involving an enormous amount of clerical work. The mailing list for special monthly statistical statements included about 19,000 names at the close of June, 1922, as compared with 1,742 at the end of the preceding fiscal year. MISCELLANEOUS ACTIVITIES OF BUREAU. INDUSTRIAL MOTION-PICTURE FILMS. Work in connection with the motion-picture activities of the bureau, for the purpose of exploiting American industries abroad, was started on January 1. Since that time four films have been completed "The story of a watch," "The story of an electric meter,” "The story of an automobile," and "The story of compressed air." The total cost of these has been approximately $75,000, this sum having been expended by the various industrial organizations that have cooperated with the bureau. The Government has been subjected to no expense whatever in the production of these films other than the salary and incidental expenses of the single engineer in charge. Four other films-"The story of paper," "The story of water power," "The story of transportation," and "The story of steel "are under way and will probably be completed early in August. These films are to be circulated through the Government agencies in foreign countries, as well as through numerous civic and educational organizations which have used such films extensively in the past. They are to be shown at the Brazilian Centennial Exposition at Rio de Janeiro. This work is carried on under the personal direction of M. F. Leopold, engineer of the United States Bureau of Mines, who has been assigned to the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce by a cooperative arrangement between the two bureaus. LIAISON WORK. Frank R. Eldridge, jr., chief of the bureau's Far Eastern division, has served as contact officer to facilitate relations with the Department of State and other Government departments, in order to elimi nate duplication of effort, unnecessary correspondence, and possible misunderstanding. Such relations have made satisfactory progress. An effective arrangement has been established between the bureau and the Consular Service. Through a series of questionnaires prepared by the bureau's experts, it has been made possible for the consuls to undertake to satisfy the precise wants of American busi ness men. RECOMMENDATIONS. Among the considerations which should be borne in mind in connection with the plans for the immediate future of this bureau are the following: 1. The extension of its activities and staff toward the fulfillment of the obligations originally placed upon it at the time of its foundation in connection with the study and promotion of domestic commerce. Its activities have been confined almost exclusively to the promotion of foreign trade, but the economic situation of the country now demands imperatively a more scientific investigation of the obstacles confronting domestic commerce. This need not involve, for the time being, any basic changes in the organization of the bureau; it would require the addition of experts to its existing divisions and especially to its district offices throughout the United States. 2. The strengthening of the foreign service of the bureau by the establishment of new offices in areas not yet covered and by the assignment to the present offices of more experts in special commodities and trade subjects. The specialization of the work of the bureau's establishment in Washington in divisions devoted to particular commodities, regions, and technical subjects has met with such enthusiastic support from the merchants and manufacturers of the country that similar improvement of the oversea staff is now urgently required. 3. The extension and elaboration of the commodity plan of organization of the bureau by the addition of experts in commodities not yet adequately covered by the present staff. These include some of the most important items in our export trade. 4. The statistical work of the bureau, which comprised originally all of its functions and still remains as its largest single undertaking, should be very considerably strengthened. It is earnestly hoped that the function of collecting foreign-trade statistics may be transferred from the Treasury Department to this bureau so as to improve the efficiency and general usefulness of that work. 5. The fiscal affairs of the bureau should be given careful attention. Some divisions have had more than 100 per cent turnover creasing diversity of activities. The appropriation estimates for the coming year are to be renamed and more clearly classified and subdivided as an aid to Congress and the officers of the Bureau of the Budget. The growth of the staff of the bureau, both foreign and domestic, will necessitate a material strengthening of the accounts section. 6. The salaries of many statutory positions are still badly in need of improvement. Most of them were fixed years ago when the responsibilities of the bureau were a mere fraction of their present proportions. It has been impossible to fill many important positions on the staff because of this defect in the present organization. Some divisions have had more than 100 per cent turnover in the course of the past year because of the inability to secure competent employees at the salaries stipulated in statutes drawn up years ago. Very truly yours, JULIUS KLEIN, Director, Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce. 11569-22-10 BUREAU OF STANDARDS. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE, Hon. HERBERT HOOVER, Secretary of Commerce. DEAR MR. SECRETARY: In response to your request I furnish the following condensed report upon the work of the bureau during the past year: The outstanding feature of the past fiscal year has been the great amount of attention which has been paid to industrial standardization, to the elimination of waste in the industries, and to simplification of industrial products. The relations between the bureau and the industries of the country have always been very close, and during the war the bureau was often able to aid American manufacturers in the solution of difficult problems growing out of war conditions. It is now particularly gratifying to note that this cordial cooperation is continuing in peace times, and that the assistance which the bureau is rendering appears to be regarded by the industries of the country as of equal if not greater importance than the help which it was able to give them during the war. SIMPLIFIED PRACTICE. The new division of simplified practice, which was organized in January, 1922, as one of the divisions of the Bureau of Standards, is vigorously engaged, on a basis of cooperation with American business groups, in developing a nation-wide program with a view to lending the hand of the Government to the elimination of collective wastes in commerce and industry. These wastes, it is estimated, imply a loss of 30 per cent of American energies. Our war experience, followed by the report, Waste in Industry, prepared by the Federated American Engineering Societies, proved conclusively the urgent necessity of utilizing standardization, the elimination of freak varieties, and the concentration of the processes of manufacturing and distribution upon the articles of greatest interchangeability. Accordingly, the division of simplified practice |