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30030005363347

ANNUAL REPON i
GF ÏH K

SECRETARY OF COMMERCE

1911

AND LABOR

CONTENTS
Page.

Introduction........................................................................................................................
Office of the Secretary.......................................................................................................
Office of the Chief Clerk...........................................................................................
Quarters occupied by the Department in Washington..............................
Proposed new building for the Department.................................................
Provisions for the better protection of life and property..........................
Cooperation with the President’s Commission on Economy and Effi­
ciency................................................................................................................
Disbursing Office........................................................................................................
Appropriations......................................................
Disbursements.....................................................................................................
Appointment D ivision............................
Presidential appointments made solely on m erit.......................................
Thirteenth Decennial Census..........................................................................
Legislation affecting positions in the Steamboat-Inspection and Ship­
ping Services....................................................................................................
Foreign-born employees in the Immigration and Naturalization Serv­
ices...........................................
Temporary appointments.................................................................................
Promotions...................................................................
Transfer restrictions...................
Inquiry into the efficiency of the personnel................................................
Superannuation and retirement......................................................................
Leaves of absence...............................................................................................
Executive orders affecting the personnel.....................................................
Classification of presidential positions...........................................................
Alleged political a ctivity..................................................................................
Designations of officials to act as chiefs of bureaus.....................................
Division of Publications...............................................
Volume and cost of printing......... ..............................
Distribution of printed supplies.....................................................................
Publication work................................................................................................
Distribution of publications.............................................................................
Sale of public documents..................................................................................
Office of the Solicitor.................................................................................................
Bureau of the Census.........................................................................................................
Field work....................................................................................................................
General scheme of census publications.................................................................
General progress of census work..............................................................................
Office force....................................................................................................................
Tabulating machines..................................................................................................
Census frauds...............................................................................................................
Appropriations............................................................................................................
Proposed work for the fiscal year 1913........................................................
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CONTENTS.
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Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization.................................................................
Immigration in general.......................................................
Ages, literacy, and financial condition of immigrants..............................
Ages and periods of residence of departing aliens......................................
Occupations of immigrants and emigrants....................................................
Sources of immigration......................................................................................
Rejections of arriving aliens............................................................................
Alien contract laborers......................................
Arrests and deportations...................................................................................
Japanese and Korean laborers........................................................... , ...........
Chinese immigration...........................................................................
Immigration stations..........................................................................................
Division of Information............................................................................................
Division of Naturalization........................................................................................
Bureau of Corporations.....................................................................................................
Reports published......................................................................................................
Pending investigations..............................................................................................
Corporate regulation........... _......................................................................................
Bureau of Labor.................................................................................................................
Reports published............................
Bimonthly bulletins..................................................................................................
Reports transmitted and in course of preparation..............................................
Government workingmen’s compensation act.....................................................
Bureau of Manufactures...................................................................................................
Increased publicity secured....................................................................................
Commercial agents.....................................................................................................
Extension of work of commercial agents..............................................................
Publications.................................................................................................................
Foreign tariffs..............................................................................................................
Bureau of Statistics............................................................................................................
Values pf imports and exports.................................................................................
Characteristics of foreign-trade movements.........................................................
Needed extension in range of statistics.................................................................
Quarterly statement of imports for consumption................................................
Bureau of Standards..........................................................................................................
Custody of the standards..........................................................................................
Comparison of the standards....................................................................................
Construction of standards..........................................................................................
Testing and calibration of standards and instruments.......................................
Problems in connection with standards................................................................
Determination of physical constants......................................................................
Determination of the properties of materials.......................................................
Trade weights and measures investigation...........................................................
Bureau of Fisheries.............................................................................................................
Fish culture.............................
Biological investigations............................................................................................
Commercial fisheries...................................................................................................
Alaska salmon service................................................................................................
Fur-seal service............................................................................................................
Minor fur-bearing animals of Alaska......................................................................
International fishery matters....................................................................................
Recommendations......................................................................................................

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CONTENTS.

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Bureau of Lighthouses.. , ..................................................................................................
Reorganization of Lighthouse Service....................................................................
Cooperation with the Canadian Government and the Engineer Corps.........
Business methods........................................................................................................
Improvement of apparatus........................................................................................
Increase in aids to navigation..................................................................................
Lighthouse vessels...........................................................................................».........
Economy in appropriations.......................................................................................
Coast and Geodetic Survey.............................................................................................
Bureau of N avigation........................................................................................................
Panama Canal tolls.....................................................................................................
Free ships..............................................................,......................................................
Shipbuilding materials..............................................................................................
Wireless ship act.........................................................................................................
Motor-boat act.............................................................................................................
Navigation revenues..................................................................................................
Miscellaneous recommendations...............................................
Steamboat-Inspection Service.........................................................................................
Statistical summary of work....................................................................................
Scope of the Service............................................ - ..................................................
Motor vessels........................................................................................................
New features of hull inspection..............................................................................
Rearrangement of supervising-inspection districts.............................................
Transportation of explosives by water..................................................................
Conclusion............................................................................................................................

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NINTH ANNUAL REPORT
OF THE

SECRETARY OF COMMERCE AND LABOR.
D

epartm ent of

C

om m erce and

L

abor,

O

f f ic e

S

ecretary,

of

the

Washington, ■January 2,1912.

To t h e P r e s i d e n t :
I have the honor to submit my third annual report.
The total appropriations for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1911,
were $15,775,940.58, which, compared with the fiscal year ended June
30, 1910, shows a decrease of $6,641,551.56. This decrease is more
apparent than real, because the chief expense of the Thirteenth
Decennial Census was borne by the appropriations for 1910.
Eliminating the census, with respect to which it is difficult to
make comparisons, there is an increase over the preceding year of
$498,448.44 in the appropriations for the fiscal year ended June 30,
1911. This increase was made necessary chiefly by the demands of
the Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization for improved accom­
modations and service, but in some measure by the growth of other
bureaus. In fact, the activities of the Department have been ex­
tended in many ways—sometimes by the provision of new legislation,
at other times by natural development.
As will appear in my reference to the office of the Disbursing Clerk,
this Department collected in the course of its work during the fiscal
year ended June 30, 1911, the total sum of $5,691,256.06, a sum which
might be substantially increased if the right to collect fees for services
and to sell publications were extended by law. The net appropria­
tions out of the usual revenues amounted, therefore, to a balance of
only $10,084,684.52. Furthermore, the books of the Department show
that on December 1, 1911, there were unexpended balances of appro­
priations for the fiscal year 1911 aggregating $518,697.62. Against
this amount payments are still being made, but it is estimated that
the net balances of 1911 appropriations to be turned into the surplus
fund of the Treasury Department will be somewhat in excess of
$400,000.
The entire force of the Department on July 1, 1911 (not counting
2,014 employees appointed for all or part of the Thirteenth Decennial
Census and some temporary appointments in other branches of the
7

8

REPORT OF TH E SECRETARY OF COMMERCE ANU LABOR.

'

service), amounted to 10,413, a net increase over the preceding year of
155 employees. Of these, 8,464 are employed outside of the District
of Columbia, chiefly in the Bureau of Lighthouses, Steamboat-Inspec­
tion Service, Bureau of Fisheries, and Bureau of Immigration and
Naturalization.
Some of the bureaus may be expected to continue their work at
about the stage which they have now reached, incurring little in­
creased expense, and answering all legitimate demands upon them.
Of others this is hardly true. It will appear from the discussion of
the activities of the several bureaus that there is a constant normal
expansion in all of them, while in case of a few it is hardly an exag­
geration to say that the possibilities of their development have not
been more than suggested.
Generally speaking, the Department was designed to answer the
needs of the general public. Its organization was a response to
the modern demand for greater governmental assistance in the
solution of problems and regulation of interests which concern
all the people, and with which the individual is unable to cope.
Especially such modem bureaus as Corporations, Labor, Standards,
Manufactures, Fisheries, and even Immigration and Naturalization,
represent this idea. The older bureaus, too, such as the Coast and
Geodetic Survey, Lighthouses, Steamboat-Inspection, Navigation,
Statistics, and the Census (more especially in its later development),
belong to the constructive branch of the Government, which en­
courages active cooperation between public and private energy and
between Federal and State authority in the promotion of a common
policy.
The general condition of the work of the Department is good.
This must be attributed to close organization and the observance of
economy, for which credit should be given to the Assistant Secretary,
the personnel of the Secretary’s Office, and the chiefs of the bureaus
and divisions; as also to the devotion and vigilance of the general
force, to which I am glad to testify.
While all branches of the Department are discussed in my report,
there are some things to which especial attention may be called.
The Chief Clerk has, in addition to his regular duties and the
extraordinary work which a hearing before an investigating
committee entailed, rendered valuable service to the President’s
Commission on Economy and Efficiencj\ In this he has had the
cooperation of other members of the force, who have from time to
time been assigned for that purpose.
The Chief of the Appointment Division renews his recommenda­
tion for the enactment of a law providing for the retirement with
partial pay of superannuated employees, in which I earnestly join,
as I did in my last report. This subject was fully discussed in a

HEPORT OF TH E SECRETARY OF COMMERCE A M ) LABOR.

9

report submitted by this Department on the 23d day of February,
1910, to the chairman of the Senate Committee on Civil Service and
Retrenchment.
Mr. W. L. Soleau, in September, 1911, resigned the position of
Disbursing Clerk. As his successor I appointed Mr. George Johan­
nes, who has risen from the position of messenger, which he held as
late as 1902.
The economies which were introduced by the Chief of the Division
of Publications, and to which reference was made in my last report,
find further illustration in this year’s showing of that Division.
The Solicitor’s Office is not strictly a branch of my Department, but
dependence upon that office is so constant that I must express my
indebtedness to the Solicitor and his associates for their regular
assistance, and more especially for the unremitting interest which
they have shown in the success of the Department’s general work.
About the Bureau of the Census an adequate impression can be
gained only by reading the more complete report. The work of the
Thirteenth Decennial Census has, however, advanced sufficiently to
justify the statement that the regular administration in the District
of Columbia will cost less than it did in the last census; also that
a larger total appropriation than was made for the Twelfth Census
will be needed. This is explained by the larger territory to be cov­
ered, by the increase in population, by the enormous growth of indus­
tries, by the requirement for taking a census of a large class of ob­
jects not heretofore included, by the statutory provision for higher
compensation to supervisors, ai\d in certain instances to enumerators,
and by the absolute necessity for paying higher compensation to
enumerators generally. The reports of this Bureau, it is believed,
will be issued in a form both useful and convenient, and if necessary
‘appropriations are made will appear within the time contemplated
by law.
In connection with the Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization,
I renew my recommendations of last year; more particularly that in­
spectors and physicians be placed on ships carrying large numbers ot
immigrants, and that heavier fines be imposed upon steamship com­
panies for bringing aliens afflicted with contagious diseases. I also
recommend that provision be made for the continued protection of
immigrants after their landing, even to the extent of having receiv­
ing stations at important inland points; that a larger discretion be
lodged in some official to admit unfortunate members of an incoming
family, where the showing made protects society against burden and
danger; that more discretion be given commissioners to sustain ap­
peals from the decisions of boards, so as to relieve the immigrants
from unnecessary discomfort and delay and the Secretary’s Office
from the constantly increasing burden of detail work; that the period

10

REPORT OF TH E SECRETARY OF COMMERCE AND LABOR.

for deporting confessed criminals be extended; and that amendments
to the immigration laws, whatever their form, may look as far as
possible to examinations to be had before embarkation or at the time
of entry, and may not place too much reliance upon the drastic writ
of deportation.
I call particular attention to the much-needed improvements at
Ellis Island, a situation which was clearly shown during the hear­
ings before the House Committee on Rules. As much is true at Gal­
veston, where the detention station is finished and has been accepted,
but a small appropriation is needed to furnish the station. In Phila­
delphia an appropriation is needed to complete the authorized
expenditure for the completion of the station. In connection with
all of them it may be well to remember that the cost of the Immigra­
tion Service does not exhaust the head tax collected from immigrants
and turned into the Treasury.
The Division of Information has had increased success in the dis­
tribution of immigrants to points where labor is needed. This, of
course, means chiefly farm employment, for the supply of which
there is a steadily growing demand. The plans of the Chief of the
Division contemplate a system of cooperation between his Division
and the State immigration commissioners.
The Division of Naturalization is working with an inadequate
force, but returns a balance of $65,982.60 to the general revenue.
The Bureau of Corporations had an unexpected opportunity to
demonstrate the value of its work in connection with the reorganiza­
tion of the Tobacco Trust. This business had been investigated and
reported upon. When the Attorney General came to consider plans
for the reorganization, the Bureau was in a position to meet his re­
quest for assistance by assigning for that purpose an expert who was
thoroughly acquainted with the character and operations of the con-*
eern. Other investigations and reports pertain to the lumber indus­
try, transportation by water, the International Harvester Co., steel
industries, and State taxation of corporations.
The Bureau of Labor is engaged in a number of investigations,
among which, perhaps, the most immediately interesting is the in­
quiry into the cost of living. This report promises to be thorough
and to provide a basis for intelligent discussion of this much-mooted
question. In addition, reports are being prepared on conditions of
employment in the iron and steel industry, on the employment of
women and girls in the larger cities, on industrial diseases in various
industries, and on the labor laws of the principal industrial countries
of the world.
The Bureau of Manufactures reports unprecedented growth. Its
correspondence with representatives of commerce and industries has
almost doubled in the last year; the demand for Daily Consular and

REPORT OF TH E SECRETARY OF COMMERCE AND LABOR.

11

Trade Reports has nearly reached the authorized limit; acknowledg­
ment for opportunities presented and availed of ai’e many; and the
suggestion and demand for a closer relation between governmental
activity and general commerce and industry are becoming more and
more urgent.
The Bureau of Statistics has perfected its system of publications
so that its reports of exports and imports are promptly given to the
public. This information is of such general interest that it reaches
the public through the press at stated intervals in advance of regular
publications.
The Bureau of Standards is extending its work. Lengths, mass,
volume, temperature, quantity of heat, light, electrical quantities, and
properties of materials constitute the chief subjects of its investiga­
tions. Work done for private parties is paid for at fixed rates. If
its tests for departments of the Government were charged for at like
rates, a considerable sum would be collected. This Bureau establishes
standards, sometimes for the use and guidance of private parties, and
sometimes to enable State officials to enforce such standards. Tn the
latter cases it furnishes a happy illustration of successful cooperation
between Federal and State authority.
The work of the Bureau of Fisheries may be illustrated by the single
statement that during the year the fish and fish-egg output totaled
considerably more than 3,500,000,000; that is, 558,000.000 eggs, over
3,000,000,000 fry, and 14,800,000 fish of fingerling, yearling, or adult
size. It operates four steamers and one seagoing schooner in connec­
tion with its work, has 37 hatcheries, and several stations for sci­
entific experiment and investigation. Since the seal treaty has been
ratified, legislation must be had to carry out the terms of that treaty.
The value of this year’s yield of seal furs is about equal to that of
last year, which was $403,946.94 (the number of skins sold being
12.920). It exceeded that of last year under the leasing system by
$250,571.94 (the number of skins sold that year being 15,000). As
a result of the discontinuance of pelagic sealing it may be assumed
that within a few years the share for the United States will show a
large increase, even after the stipulated amounts have been paid to
participating nations.
The Bureau of Lighthouses has successfully reorganized its Service
in obedience to the act of June 17, 1910. The magnitude of this
Service may be appreciated when it is stated that it employs about
5,500 men and that it has under its control about 110 vessels (of
which 45 are steam and 2 gasoline vessels), 64 lightships (33 of
which are propellel by steam), lighthouses numbering about 775, and
aids to navigation of every grade numbering about 12,000. As to
the latter, particularly, constant experiments and improvements are
in progress.

12

REPOBT OF TH E SECRETARY OF COMMERCE AND LABOR.

The Coast and Geodetic Survey employs 14 steam and 3 sailing
vessels. 'In anticipation of the early completion of the Panama
Canal, instructions have been given to make a detailed survey of the
approaches to the canal. This Bureau furnishes another illustration
of cooperation with other governmental agencies. The State of
Delaware was assisted by experts from this Bureau and from the
Bureau of Fisheries in making an oyster survey. The delimitation of
the Alaska frontier and the re-marking of the boundary between the
United States and Canada is progressing under the direction of the
Superintendent of the Coast and Geodetic Survey acting for the
Department of State.
Under the direction of the Bureau of Navigation a complete wire­
less system has been installed in obedience to the act of Congress of
June 24, 1910. It has hired various motor boats to enforce naviga­
tion laws, and is now engaged in bringing to justice persons who have
been guilty of procuring crews by improper methods. Its immediate
force is small, because in many respects officials of the Treasury De­
partment represent this Bureau. In this connection the proposed
readjustment of customs districts is of great importance. Ports that
have practically no customs collections may have important work
for the Bureau of Navigation, and if the customs office is abolished
at such a point it may become necessary to provide another officer
for this Bureau. This would become even more important if provi­
sion is made for the police control upon navigable waters. It appears
to be a well-founded complaint that frequently the police control of
municipalities is evaded by vessels that go out beyond State jurisdic­
tion, and that many of the worst crimes are to be attributed to this
lack of police control. This condition can probably not be corrected
without Federal aid.
The Steamboat-Inspection Service reports 392 lives lost out of a
total of 314,768.885 passengers carried by water. This includes every
loss from any cause. Nevertheless. I am disposed to recommend that
the law governing the personnel of crews should be strengthened so
as to afford better guaranty, more especially as to the fitness of men
so employed. It appears to me that in this respect the law has not
kept pace with statutes governing common carriers by land.
COMPLAINTS.

There have been complaints made of the Immigration Service and
of the management of the seal interests in the Fisheries Bureau, both
of which have been conducted under my immediate supervision.

REPORT OF TH E SECRETARY OF COMMERCE AND LABOR.

13

IM M IG R A T IO N .

In the Immigration Service it would be unreasonable to look for
peace. The questions involved are in their very nature calculated
to excite controversy; particularly in a country which, on the one
hand, has a large population whose interest in new immigration is
based upon considerations of immediate relationship and natural
sympathy, and which, on the other hand, has a citizenship which
is strongly impressed with the need for more restriction. Such a
situation makes for unceasing agitation for the amendment of the
immigration laws, and it goes without saying that so intense a conflict
must be reflected in public judgment of the administration of existing
law. In point of fact, the contending forces to this controversy are
much more evenly divided than appears on the surface. It is true
that the critics of the law and of its enforcement are most successful
in bringing their grievances to public attention. It is equally true
that the files of the Department contain earnest declarations from
representatives of State eleemosynary institutions, from labor organi­
zations, and from others in favor of a strict administration of the
immigration laws. Again, while the criticism of too strict adminis­
tration has been practically centered upon one point—Ellis Island—
the criticism of too lax administration comes from different parts
of the country. The first appears to be predicated more especially
upon interest in individual cases, while the latter seems to be con­
cerned more with the general problem.
With the effect of this agitation upon proposed amendments the
Department has, of course, nothing to do, unless it be, upon in­
vitation, to make recommendations. The immediate effect upon
immigration may be matter of speculation. It is my impression that
the kind of criticism which has at times been offered must serve to
discourage desirable immigration. If people abroad who are free
to choose give any heed to the extravagant accounts which have
found their way into the press, the effect must be discouraging as
to them. On the other hand, undesirable immigrants are probably
affected very little by these reports, because it may be assumed that
at least a certain proportion of them do not come to our shores in­
duced by their own initiative or decision.
With respect to the administrators of the law, the effect has been
to guard in every way against hardship and discomfort, always with
an eye to the rational enforcement of the law. It is perfectly true
that many immigrants are temporarily detained, to their disappoint­
ment and discomfort, although they may subsequently be found to be
clearly admissible. But it would be unsafe to argue from this
premise that the detention was improper. We know from complaints

14

REPORT OF TH E SECRETARY OF COMMERCE AND LABOR.

of State officials and from our own deportation records that a large
number of immigrants are improperly admitted. We know that the
amount of false testimony given even in otherwise good cases is
very considerable, and our desire to make allowance for poor advice
and coaching by interested parties is often strained to the breaking
point. Questions of physical or mental soundness, and particularly
questions of character, involving criminal records, can not be deter­
mined at a glance.
Under these circumstances the effort to segregate those who should
be admitted from the rest involves patience, discretion, and, often,
time. Frequently the deserving suffer for the undeserving, but this is
not an uncommon experience. It is exemplified at the dock upon the
return of any steamer laden with American travelers. If all pas­
sengers made proper returns, there would be little delay. But they do
not all do it, and so there is delay and annoyance for everyone.
To sum it up, the administration of the Bureau has endeavored to
observe the general mandate of the law and to relieve against hard­
ship for the individual wherever the statute allows it. This appears
to be a reasonable administration of a law which deals with men,
women, and children who have disposed of their belongings, who
often have immediate alliances in this country, who may be destined
to become citizens, and who, in any event, are entitled to the fairest
possible treatment. Perhaps the hearing had before the House Commitee on Rules is best calculated to give a true picture of the character
of the Service.
All this is not said with the hope to satisfy criticism, which, under
existing Conditions, is probably unavoidable, and which should
be accepted as a further incentive to care, vigilance, and sympathy.
In the meantime Lincoln’s advice finds renewed application: “ If
both factions, or neither, shall abuse you, you will probably be about
right. Beware of being assailed by one and praised by the other.”
SEAL HERDS.

With respect to the management of the seal herds, the controversy
that was inaugurated in 1909 is still alive and is now pending before
the House Committee on Expenditures in the Department of Com­
merce and Labor. Indiscriminate attack has been visited upon every­
one who is concerned with the administration of the seal interests,
embracing those who have to do with making orders as well as those
who are charged with their enforcement. It is difficult to divine
a reason for such attack, because in no event can anything but a
question of judgment be involved; and it will be well at this time
not to permit the real issue to be obscured by a consideration of
personal controversy.

REPORT OF TH E SECBETARY OF COMMERCE AND LABOR.

15

Originally three suggestions were advanced: First, that every effort
should be made to stop pelagic sealing—that is, killing at sea; second,
that at the expiration of the North American Commercial Co. lease,
on May 1, 1910, the Government should take over the management
of the seal herds; third, that all killing of seals on land should be
abated for a number of years.
As to the first proposition, as far as I know all were of one mind—
those who believed that pelagic sealing was only in part responsible
for the depletion of the seal herds and those who contended that
it was the sole cause of the depletion. As is well known, the De­
partment of State had for many years endeavored to secure a
treat)’ to abolish pelagic sealing, and was, at the time this contro­
versy originated, actually engaged in negotiations looking to that
end. The only practical question, therefore, was how this muchdesired purpose could be best promoted by the Department of Com­
merce and Labor.
The second proposition (to have the Government take over the
herds) is one which had been advanced but was rejected upon the
ground that such a course would involve a business undertaking on
the part of the Government. However sufficient this ground may have
been in the past, it was not so regarded by those who now -considered
this matter. For one reason it may be said that perhaps such an
undertaking by the Government may not now be regarded quite as
it was then. No doubt the controlling reason for the changed atti­
tude was that, owing to the depletion of the herds, the business
feature of the undertaking had ceased to be paramount. Inasmuch
as the problem had really become one of conservation, there appeared
to be no impropriety, upon any theory, in having the Government
assume complete control. It was therefore recommended by me,
with the concurrence of the Secretary of State, that the law pro­
viding for leasing the right to kill seals be repealed, and that the
Government be placed in control. The President made the recom­
mendation to Congress, the law of April 21, 1910, was enacted, and
as Secretary of Commerce and Labor I took charge.
This law presented for immediate decision the one question, whether
the Government should continue to kill any male seals upon the Pribilof Islands, and the law placed the responsibility for that decision
upon the Secretary of Commerce and Labor. Two considerations
were weighed by me in reaching a conclusion: (a) What would be
the effect of my decision upon the prospect of securing a treaty to
abolish pelagic sealing? (b) Apart from this, what effect would
the killing of a certain percentage of male seals have upon the herd
itself?
Those who opposed all killing asserted, as their chief ground, that
unless a closed season was declared we could not hope to secure a

16

REPORT OF TH E SECRETARY OF COMMERCE AND LABOR.

treaty. It was urged that we must approach foreign countries with
clean hands. Undoubtedly one of the avowed grounds for the
changed policy in placing the Government in control and in giving
the Secretary discretion to kill or not to kill was to leave the Gov­
ernment free to respond to any exigency that might arise during the
negotiations for a treaty. To abolish pelagic sealing was the primary
purpose. To accomplish this, obviously, the policy in the manage­
ment of the herds best calculated to secure that result must be adopted.
In other words, all questions were subordinated to the one controlling
purpose—to stop pelagic sealing.
It appeared to me that this argument in favor of declaring a
closed season might have some weight. On the other hand, it was
urged that our failure to kill male seals on land would only serve
to increase the pelagic sealers’ catch and might therefore render it
more difficult to secure a treaty. The State Department, which was
engaged in negotiating the treaty, rather favored a continuation of
the practice of killing surplus male seals.
The second question (whether or not such killing would have a
deleterious effect upon the herds), while not of such immediate im­
portance, was also fully considered. As to it, the conclusion was
reached upon the advice of experts that the killing of such surplus
male seals would not have such an effect, but that, on the contrary,
the failure to kill them would positively injure the herd. The policy
to continue killing surplus male seals was therefore adopted and the
necessary rules were made.
It is unnecessary now to argue about the correctness of the de­
cision in so far as it affected the chances of a treaty. That question
has been disposed of. and the question as to the propriety of killing
surplus male seals may be judged upon its merits.
One of the results of the hearing before the House committee
has been the introduction of a resolution declaring a closed season
on the Pribilof Islands for 15 years, which is the period fixed by the
seal treaty for the suppression of pelagic sealing. It is not for me
at this time to discuss the wisdom of this resolution. I may, how­
ever, call attention to the fact that, while by the terms of the treaty
each country reserves control over its herds, nevertheless the inter­
ests mutually set aside by the several countries clearly contemplate
that there shall be sealskins to divide, and, indeed, the treaty pro­
vides money compensation in the event of a failure in that respect.
But in any event it is proper that I should at this time state unre­
servedly w'hat course I shall follow if the resolution referred to is
not adopted, and if the law leaves the decision with me. In the
light of what I have seen and heard, there is but one conclusion to
reach, which is to continue to kill surplus male seals. As to the cor­
rectness of the principle, I have no question; my only doubt arises

REPORT OF T H E SECRETARY OF COMMERCE AND LABOR.

17

as to the percentage which should be reserved and as to the age at
which it is most advantageous to take the seal.
As to the past I should say that if it was ever proper to kill any
male seals for their furs it would appear to have been so when the
number of female seals was reduced by pelagic sealers. According
to reports, 80 per cent of the seals taken at sea by pelagic sealers
were females; and it is admitted that those caught were only a small
percentage of those destroyed. It stands to reason, therefore, that
in any view of the question the policy so far pursued was calculated
to prevent the accumulation of more male seals than female seals.
But apart from conditions that obtained in the past, no recognized
authority doubts that the seal is highly polygamous; perhaps more
so than any other known animal. The consensus of scientific opinion
is that there is as little reason for saving all male seals as there is
in the case of cattle, sheep, and horses. In reaching my conclu­
sion I relied, as I was bound to do, upon the advice of the seal board
in the Bureau of Fisheries and the advisory board which had been
appointed by my predecessor. The first is composed of Dr. Barton
Warren Evermann. chairman, and Walter I. Lembkey, James Judge,
A. B. Alexander, and M. C. Marsh. The second is composed of Dr.
David Starr Jordan, president of the Leland Stanford University;
Dr. Leonhard Stejneger. head curator of the National Museum; Dr.
C. H art Merriam, Director of the Biological Survey; Dr. Frederic
A. Lucas, director of the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences;
Mr. Charles H. Townsend, director of the New York Aquarium;
Hon. Edwin W. Sims, and Hon. Frank II. Hitchcock. Their re­
ports have been confirmed by personal interviews or correspondence
had, both before my decision was reached and since this controversy
has been renewed, with those members who by experience and train­
ing were particularly qualified to judge of the question.
The advice of all experienced and unbiased men is that, whatever
the conditions, only a small percentage of male seals need and should
be reserved; and since the leasing system has been abolished, and the
treaty to suppress pelagic sealing has been ratified, there appears to
be no obstacle in the way of a rational system for the Government’s
management of the seal herds. On the other hand, it seems to me
that since the treaty is to go into effect the changed conditions should
at once be taken into account. A very considerable increase in the
number of female seals must be looked for. This would necessarily
affect the number of males to be reserved, and this number should be
large enough to meet every possible contingency. It will be safe to
err on the side of too large rather than too small a reservation.
Again, it may be well to. increase the age at which seals may be
taken. The law now fixes the limit at one year; the rule of the De­
partment at two years. Strictly speaking, assuming that a proper
21357°—12----- 2

18

REPOET OP T H E SECRETARY OF COMMERCE AND LABOR.

reservation has been made for the preservation of the herds, the age at
which killing is to be done presents a purely commercial question.
But now that the seal herds are to be left undisturbed at sea, it would
appear to be the part of wisdom to permit the seal to mature to the
highest commercial value. Furthermore, the higher age may enable
those who are charged with selecting seals to make more sure of
reserving the best specimens, in order that the herds may in that
respect be protected against deterioration. Upon these questions it
is proposed to invite again the advice of everyone who may be in­
duced to render assistance, and then to formulate new regulations in
accordance with such advice.
The several bureaus represent activities differing so widely from
each other that each must be separately and more extensively
discussed.

OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY,
OFFICE OF THE CHIEF CLERK.
Q U A R T E R S O C C U P IE D B Y T H E D E P A R T M E N T IN

W A S H IN G T O N .

During the year it has been necessary to acquire additional space
for those of the Department's bureaus occupying rented quarters in
the District of Columbia. Thus far no additional appropriation has
been necessary for this purpose, the annual expenditure for rent being
§47,581.24 out of the appropriation of §50,000. In some respects
present conditions are bad, and unless there is an increase in the rent
appropriation no satisfactory solution of the problem is possible. It
would be manifestly poor administration to move a bureau from one
location to another unless conditions would be thereby improved.
I t is equally clear that better conditions can not be found without
some increase in rent. Thé extraordinary growth of the Division of
Naturalization, located in the Adams Building, at 1.833-1835 F Street,
presents a good illustration. The situation was for a time relieved
by the conversion of a hall on the top floor into a workroom; but
this was only a temporary expedient, and larger quarters for this
Division had to be secured. Accordingly, space was rented in the
building next door, which avoided the necessity of moving anti fur­
ther scattering the Department’s activities, and which permitted the
rearrangement of the bureaus in this building so as to give the Divi­
sion of Naturalization sufficient room for its present needs.
In the meantime a more comprehensive plan for the relief of all the
Department’s bureaus has received the attention of the Chief Clerk’s
office, and it was as the result of this investigation that a plan was
submitted to the Congress at its last session which would enable the
Department to enter into a lease for a term of years for a building to
be immediately erected largo enough to accommodate all of its bureaus
now in rented quartern, except the Census.
At present the quarters occupied by some bmaches of the work aro
especially unsatisfactory. The Divisions of Publications and Supplies
are occupying a building two doors from the Annex, where the main
offices of these divisions are located, which is not suited to its present
uses. This building is not fireproof and has no elevators. Conse­
quently, the expense of handling the heavy publications which are
largely stored on the second floor is out of all proportion. It is not
possible to rent other quarters for this purpose unless the main offices
of these divisions should be moved, and it is not possible to move these
offices to suitable quarters with our present appropriation.
19

20

REPORT OF TH E SECRETARY OF COMMERCE AND LABOR.

It is therefore apparent that any arrangement that can now be
made for the accommodation of a division or a bureau, while it may
afford temporary relief, will not solve the problem and will only add
to the complexity of the situation. Loss of efficiency in administra­
tion is unavoidable where bureaus are scattered over considerable
distances; and any further scattering will obviously result in further
loss of efficiency. The only possible solution, until the Department
occupies the building which will be constructed by the Government,
is to find some building large enough to house all of the bureaus
(except the Census Bureau) now in rented quartern. There is no
satisfactory building available in tins city at the present time which
can be rented upon terms which we may consider, and the only
alternative is to find some peison or persons willing to construct
such a building.
Whether or not the Department is successful in its efforts to
obtain a building large enough to admit of consolidation, some
increase in the appropriation for rent for the coming fiscal year is
necessary.
PRO PO SED N EW

B U IL D IN G F O R T H E D E P A R T M E N T .

Whatever has been done or can be done in the way of providing
quarters for the Department in Washington must ultimately have
reference to the fact that in time the Department will occupy the pro­
posed new building to be located in the recently acquired area be­
tween Fourteenth and Fifteenth Streets and south of Pennsylvania
Avenue. This proposed new building has now reached a stage where
the architects are engaged in the preparation of detailed plans for
submission to the board authorized by law to pass upon the building
for this Department and the Departments of State and Justice.
It is now manifest that the ground area which it is understood may
be occupied by the building for this Department will not permit the
erection of a building sufficiently large to satisfactorily accommodate
the whole Department. Should the Department attempt to crowd
all of its bureaus and branches into this building, the inevitable result
would be that within a few years, perhaps not more than two or
three, it will be found absolutely necessary to remove some of the
bureaus to rented quarters. The wiser thing to do, therefore, would
seem to be to attempt to provide in the beginning only for those
bureaus and branches which are occupying rented quarters. This
would include everything under the Department of Commerce and
Labor in Washington, except the Bureau of Standards, the Coast and
Geodetic Survey, and the Bureau of Fisheries. The Bureau of
Standards is satisfactorily located in buildings already the property
of the Government, and has not been considered at all in connection
with the new' building, except in respect to the provision for one

REPORT OF TH E SECRETARY OF COMMERCE AND LABOR.

21

storeroom and one office room, the latter to be used as a down­
town office. Neither the Coast and Geodetic Survey nor the Bureau
of Fisheries is satisfactorily accommodated at present. The build­
ings occupied by the former are old, largely nonfireproof, and unsuited
for modern office purposes. The same is true of the building of the
Bureau of Fisheries. But to omit these bureaus from the new build­
ing does not jalace them in any worse position than they were before,
and the reasons for omitting them are apparently good. The Coast
Survey is a producing bureau. It has considerable machinery in its
printing and lithographic departments. The'Bureau of Fisheries
has laboratories and an aquarium, neither of which is properl}’ placed
in an administrative building. It was therefore thought that these
buildings might be left out of consideration in the preparation of
detailed plans. There is no question that both bureaus should have
better and more modern accommodations at the earliest possible
moment, but this does not appear to be sufficient reason for forcing
them into a building which would immediately be inadequate and
which is intended for purely administrative purposes.
It is hoped that with the omission of the bureaus just named the
new building will afford adequate space for a number of years. If
the Department of Commerce and Labor is properly developed, it
must grow with the commerce of the nation; and it would be poor
policy to provide for only immediate needs in a structure which will
endure for generations.
I therefore recommend that steps be taken to acquire property
in the immediate vicinity of the proposed new building of the
Department for the erection of one or two buildings for the accom­
modation of the Coast and Geodetic Survey and the Bureau of
Fisheries. In order to bring about the most efficient administra­
tion, these buildings should be adjacent to the main building, so
that there may be direct communication.
P R O V IS IO N S

FO R TH E

B E T T E R P R O T E C T IO N

O F L IF E

AND

PROPERTY.

During the year the matter of the safety of employees and of the
better protection of records has received the Department’s attention.
All elevators in buildings occupied by the Department have been and
are regularly inspected and certificated by the District authorities
at the Department’s request. New fire escapes have been erected
where necessary, stair wells and elevator shafts have been protected
by fireproofing, and fire signals have been installed. In the more
crowded buildings fire drills have been inaugurated, and every
reasonable step has been taken to guard against loss of life and prop­
erty by fire. Early in the year the District authorities examined the
buildings occupied by the Department at the Department’s request,
and submitted a full report of conditions. Most of the recommen­
dations have been followed and others are still under consideration.

22

REPORT OF TH E SECRETARY OF COMMERCE AND LABOR.

C O O P E R A T IO N W IT H T H E P R E S ID E N T ’S C O M M IS S IO N O N E C O N O M Y A N D
E F F IC IE N C Y .

The Committee on Economy and Efficiency of this Department,
appointed in September, 1910, has cooperated with the President’s
Commission on Economy and Eiliciency as fully as the regular work
of individual members of the committee would permit. I may say
that members have shown great devotion in their efforts to advance
the general economy and eiliciency program without permitting their
regular work to suffer.
The members of this Department’s committee have worked with
the President’s Commission both as a committee and individually;
and at the same time have independently of that body given atten­
tion to questions of economy within the Department. Much detailed
information on various subjects has been furnished the Commis­
sion, especially in respect to the details of administration, organiza­
tion, business methods and procedure, and along the lines of expendi­
ture, appropriation, and estimate classifications. Each member of
the Department’s committee has served on one or more special com­
mittees appointed at the suggestion of the President’s Commission,
and has assisted in the formulation of reports which have already
been submitted. In addition, other employees of the Department,
not members of the departmental committee, have served from time
to time on special committees, several of which are still at work.
Apart from the advantageous changes in Government methods,
which may result from expert study of the detailed information
which has been furnished the President’s Commission, it is thought
that the mere compilation of this information has been of substan­
tial advantage to the Department. It has afforded those in authority
an opportunity to analyze their own duties and responsibilities and
has thus put them in position to look at their own work from an
entirely new viewpoint.
While an advance has been made in this Department in the direc­
tion of efficiency and economy, much remains to be done, especially
in respect to duplication which is now unavoidable owing to the fact
that the Department’s bureaus are scattered over so wide an area.
As soon as these bureaus are brought together in one building a new
field will be opened to the Department’s committee, and it is the
intention to formulate a plan for closer and more compact coopera­
tion which it is hoped and expected will bring about greater efficiency
and substantial economy.
DISBURSING OFFICE.

The itemized statement of the disbursements from the contingent
fund of the Department of Commerce and Labor and the appropriation
for “ General expenses, Bureau of Standards,’’ for the fiscal year

23

BEPORT OP TH E SECRETARY OF COMMERCE AND LABOR.

ended June 30, 1911, required to be submitted to Congress by section
193 of the Revised Statutes of the United States, the itemized state­
ment of expenditures under all appropriations for propagation of
food fishes during the fiscal year ended June 30, 1911, required by
the act of Congress approved March 3, 1887 (24 Stat. L., 523), and a
statement showing travel on official business by officers and em­
ployees (other than the special agents, inspectors, and employees
in the discharge of their regular duties, who are required to travel
constantly) from Washington to points outside of the District of
Columbia during the fiscal year ended June 30, 1911, as required
by the act of Congress approved May 22, 1908 (35 Stat. L., 244),
will be transmitted to Congress in the usual form.
The following table shows the total amounts of all annual appro­
priations for the various bureaus and services of the Department
of Commerce and Labor for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1911,
of all appropriations made for public works in the various services
of the Department which, under the law, may be disbursed without
regard to any particular year, and of all permanent indefinite and
deficiency appropriations:
Objects of appropriations.

iPerm anen
A nnual ap ­ Appropriafor ; indefinite
propriations, turns
public
appropria1911.
works.
tions.

$266,740.00
Office of the Secretary of Commerce and L a b o r........
254.620.00
Bureau of C orporations..................................................
Bureau of M anufactures..................................................
85,100.00
175.570.00
B ureau of L ab o r..............................................................
Bureau of Lighthouses................................................... 5,461,110.00
C onstruction of oil houses, e tc ......................................
B ureau of the Census....................................................... 3,000,000.00
Bureau of S tatistics..........................................................
74.110.00
O ffice of Supervising Inspector General, Steam boatInspection Service.........................................................
14.440.00
Steam boat-Inspection Service.......................................
Bureau of N avigation......................................................
33.380.00
Shipping Service............... ...............................................
10.850.00
Refunding penalties or charges erroneously exacted.
Refunding m oneys erroneously received and
covered into T reasury..................................................
R efund of certain tonnage taxes and light dues........
Bureau of Im m igration and N aturalization............... 2,995,527.67
Im m igrant statio n s...........................................................
Bureau of Sta n d a rd s............................................. .........
367.790.00
Coast and Geodetic S urvey........................................... .
996.790.00
B ureau of Fisheries..........................................................
888.470.00
C onstruction of fish hatcheries, e tc ...............................
Miscellaneous expenses:
Judgm ents, C ourt of C laim s..................................
4,840.00
Special appropriations............................................
4,832.49
Certified claim s..........................................................
802.52
Total..

14,634,972.68

Total.

1266,740.00
254.620.00
85.100.00
175.570.00
5,461,110.00
78.000. 00
3,000,000.00
74.110.00

$78,000.00

$532,270.1
67,058.51
12,718.46
25.00
4,737.00
316,158.00
25,000.00

92,000.00

14.440.00
532,270.93
33.380.00
77,908.51
12,718.46
25.00
4.737.00
>3,008,527.67
' 316,158.00
392.790.00
996.790.00
888.470.00
92.000.
4.840.00
4,832. 49
802.52

511,158.00

616,809.90 >15,775,940.58

1Includes a deficiency appropriation am ounting to $13,000.

00

24

REPORT OF TH E SECRETARY OF COMMERCE AND LABOR.

The disbursements by the Disbursing Clerk of the Department of
Commerce and Labor during the fiscal year ended June 30, 1911,
arranged according to items of appropriation, are as follows:
O FFICE OF T H E SECRET A RY .

Salaries, Office of Secretary of Commerce and Labor, 1910....................
Salaries, Office of Secretary of Commerce and Labor, 1911.....................
Contingent expenses, Department of Commerce and Labor, 1908.........
Contingent expenses, Department of Commerce and Labor, 1909.........
Contingent expenses, Department of Commerce and Labor, .910.......
Contingent expenses, Department of Commerce and Labor, 1911......
Rent, Department of Commerce and Labor, 1910......................................
Rent, Department of Commerce and Labor, 1911......................................
Payment of attorney’s fees to R. L. R eid ....................................................
Payment of fees to Rafael Chapa and others...............................................
Payment to John J. Cannon and Benjamin Sm ith....................................

$6,806.11
148,717.17
9. 06
236.48
23, 918. 70
72,346. 01
5, 744. 71
43, 429. 03
150. 00
663. 00
1,250. 00

Total..........................................................................................................

303,270.27

B U R E A U OF CO RPO RA TIO N S.

Salaries, Bureau of Corporations, 1910 ..........................................................
Salaries, Bureau of Corporations, 1911..........................................................
Salaries and expenses, special attorneys, examiners, etc., Bureau of
Corporations, 1910..........................................................................................
Salaries and expenses, special attorneys, examiners, etc., Bureau of
Corporations, 1911..........................................................................................

3,464. 79
73,264. 61

112,505.58

Total...........................................................................................................

194,885.41

5, 650. 43

B U R E A U OF M A N U FA CTU RES.

Salaries, Bureau of Manufactures, 1910.........................................................
Salaries, Bureau of Manufactures, 1911............................■............................
Collating tariffs of foreign countries, 1910....... .............................................
Collating tariffs of foreign countries, 1911....................................................
Salaries and expenses, special agents, Department of Commerce and
Labor, 1910..................................................................................................
Salaries and expenses, commercial agents, Department of Commerce
and Labor, 1911..............................................................................................
Total..........................................................................................................

1,405. 87
34, 290. 70
375.96
7,514.77
7.31
1,282.89
44,877.50

B U R EA U OF LABO R.

Salaries, Bureau of Labor, 1910. . . . » ............................................................
Salaries, Bureau of Labor, 1911......................................................................
Miscellaneous expenses, Bureau of Labor, 1910.........................................
Miscellaneous expenses, Bureau of Labor, 1911.........................................
Library, Bureau of Labor, 1910......................................................................
Library, Bureau of Labor, 1911......................................................................
Medical examination of injured employees, 1911.......................................

4,392. 42
100,849. 53
13,407. 99
56,119. 80
235. 55
829.06
249.00

Total..........................................................................................................

176,083.35

KEPOET OP TH E SECEETAEY OP COMMERCE AND LABOR.

25

STEA M BO A T-IN SPECTIO N S E R V IC E .

Salaries, Office of Supervising Inspector General, Steamboat-Inspec­
tion Service, 1910............................................................................................
Salaries, Office of Supervising Inspector General, Steamboat-Inspec­
tion Service, 1911...........................................................................................
Salaries, Steamboat-Inspection Service.........................................................
Contingent expenses, Steamboat-Inspection Service.................................

13, 677. 20
427,178.11
92, 563. 39

Total...........................................................................................................

534,020.39

$601. 69

B U R E A U OP STA TISTICS.

Salaries, Bureau of Statistics, 1910.................................................................
Salaries, Bureau of Statistics, 1911 ................................................................
Collecting statistics relating to commerce, 1910..........................................
Collecting statistics relating to commerce, 1911..........................................

2 ,885.'53
66,435. 98
240.17
3, 718. 45

Total...........................................................................................................

73,280.13

B U R E A U O P N A V IG A T IO N .

Salaries, Bureau of Navigation, 1910..............................................................
Salaries, Bureau of Navigation, 1911.............................................................
Contingent expenses, Shipping Service, 1909............................................
Contingent expenses, Shipping Service, 1910.......................... ..................
Contingent expenses, Shipping Service, 1911.............................................
Salaries, Shipping Service................................................................................
Instruments for measuring vessels and counting passengers, 1911..........
Refund to Judson S. Walter.............................................................................

1,349. 21
30,538. 29
28. 80
1,166. 50
5,493. 58
65, 305. 15
195. 04
21. 00

Total...........................................................................................................

104,097. 57

B U R E A U OP STA ND A RDS.

Salaries, Bureau of Standards, 1910................................................................
Salaries, Bureau of Standards, 1911................................................................
Equipment, Bureau of Standards, 1910.........................................................
Equipment, Bureau of Standards, 1911.........................................................
General expenses, Bureau of Standards, 1909............................................
General expenses, Bureau of Standards, 19IÓ.............................................
General expenses, Bureau of Standards, 1911.............................................
Improvement and care of grounds, Bureau of. Standards, 1910 ................
Improvement and care of grounds, Bureau of Standards, 1911..............
Laboratory, Bureau of Standards....................................................................
Testing machine, Bureau of Standards..........................................................
Gaslight standards, Bureau of Standards, 1910...........................................
Weights and measures, Bureau of Standards, 1910.....................................
Weights and measures, Bureau of Standards, 1910-11..............................
Investigating effects of electric currents, Bureau of Standards, 1911...
Testing structural materials, Bureau of Standards, 1911..........................
Ereight truck, Bureau of Standards...............................................................
Testing machine, Bureau of Standards, Pittsburgh, Pa...........................
Testing structural materials of the United States, Bureau of Standards.
Total..........................................................................................................

6,511. 08
181,406. 84
8,370.18
38, 350. 18
9. 22
2, 648. 67
17,775.16
309. 06
2,192. 65
1, 910. OO
65, 463.03
1,338. 53
641. 31
7,466. 59
11, 587. 65
49,417. 24
4, 000. 00
146. 00
15,000. 00
414,543.39

26

REPORT OF TH E SECRETARY OF COMMERCE AND LABOR.
B U R E A U OP IM M IG RA TIO N A N D N ATURA LIZATIO N .

Salaries, Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization, 1910......................
Salaries, Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization, 1911......................
Expenses of regulating immigration, 1909 and prior years.......................
Expenses of regulating immigration (special fund)....................................
Expenses of regulating immigration, 1910....................................................
Expenses of regulating immigration, 1910-11..............................................
Expenses of regulating immigration, 1911....................................................
Immigrant station, Boston, Mass....................................................................
Immigrant station, Charleston, S. C..............................................................
Immigrant station, E llis Island, N. Y. (special fund)..............................
Immigrant station, Ellis Island, N. Y ., 1910..............................................
Immigrant station, Galveston, T e x ...............................................................
Immigrant station, Philadelphia, P a............................................................
Immigrant station, San Francisco, Cal.........................................................
Ferry steamer, Immigration Service, San Francisco, Cal........................
Special examiners, etc,, Division of Naturalization, 1910........................
Miscellaneous expenses, Division of Naturalization, 1911........................
Additional assistants to clerks of courts in naturalization cases..............
Additional assistants to clerks of courts in naturalization cases, 1910..
Enforcement of the Chinese-exclusion act, 1909................................ ........
Payment of fees to Austrian seamen detained at E llis Island, N . Y . . . .

$4,380.18
116,087. 72
11, 678.18
11, 686. 49
135,355. 68
105,534. 26
2,232,308.10
58. 00
2,086. 00
118,109. 47
21,959. 36
1,312. 76
19, 698. 45
42,032. 25
66,523.12
10,101. 22
137, 566. 91
503. 05
1, 707.12
9. 00
260. 00

Total..........................................................................................................

3,038,957.32

B U K EA U O F F IS H E R IE S .

Salaries, Bureau of Fisheries, 1910.................................................................
Salaries, Bureau of Fisheries, 1911.................................................................
Miscellaneous expenses, Bureau of Fisheries, 1910....................................
Miscellaneous expenses, Bureau of Fisheries, 1911....................................
Salaries, agents at salmon fisheries in Alaska, 1910....................................
Salaries, agents at salmon fisheries in Alaska, 1911....................................
Salaries, agents at seal fisheries in Alaska, 1909.......................................
Salaries, agents at seal fisheries in Alaska, 1910.......................................
Salaries, agents at seal fisheries in Alaska, 1911.......................................
Supplies for native inhabitants of Alaska, 1910.......................................
Supplies for native inhabitants of Alaska, 1911.......................................
Biological station, Mississippi River V a lley ................................................
Protecting seal fisheries of Alaska................................................ .................
Protecting seal and salmon fisheries of Alaska, 1911-12............................
Fish hatcheries:
Alaska...........................................................................................................
Boothbay Harbor, M e...............................................................................
Clackamas, Oreg........................................................................................
Green Lake, Me..........................................................................................
Lake County, Colo.....................................................................................
Mammoth Spring, Ark..............................................................................
Montana........................................................................................................
Puget Sound, W ash...................................................................................
Put-in-Bay, O hio........................................................................................
Tennessee.....................................................................................................
Upper Mississippi River V alley..............................................................
Vermont........................................................................................................

20, 773. 97
295,252.28
45, 828.36
328,324. 21
104.17
4, 620. 83
365. 00
6,228. 76
8,970. 91
16, 329. 39
19,210. 84
41,678. 41
133, 980. 41
3,834. 52

Total..........................................................................................................

990,066. 30

2,211.46
807. 68
4,000.00
459. 62
4,200. 64
2,614. 51
725. 59
5,866.13
3. 35
622. 28
32,307.33
10, 745. 65

REPORT OF TH E SECRETARY OF COMMERCE AND LABOR.

27

B U R E A U O P L IG H T H O U 8E S .

Salaries, Office of Lighthouse Board, 1910...................................................
Salaries, Bureau of Lighthouses, 1911............................................................
Supplies of lighthouses, 1911...........................................................................
Repairs and incidental expenses of lighthouses, 1911...............................
Expenses of buoyage, 1911..............................................................................
Expenses of light vessels, 1910.......................................................................
Expenses of light vessels, 1911.......................................................................
Maintenance of lighthouse tenders, 1911.....................................................
Repairs to lighthouse tenders, 1911...............................................................
Repairs of light vessels, 1911...........................................................................
Frying-Pan Shoal light vessel, N. C .............................................................
Milwaukee light vessel. Wis............................................................................
Relief light vessel, Ninth and Eleventh lighthouse d istricts.................
Tender for the First lighthouse district.........................................................
Tender for the Fifteenth lighthouse district................................................
Tender for engineer, Third lighthouse district............................................
Tender for engineer, Sixth lighthouse district............................................
Tender for inspector, Eighth lighthouse district........................................
Expenses of fog signals, 1911...........................................................................
Lighting of rivers, 1911.....................................................................................

$1, 998. 52
55,985. 38
3,515. 39
3,102. 41
3,190. 55
10,825. 00
248. 88
43.07
2,826.17
2,847. 59
8, 717. 56
38,504.16
16,141. 84
17.02
341.25
8, 360. 90
6. 51
20, 262. 37
.61
5. 69

Total..........................................................................................................

176,940. 87

Grand total...............................................................................................

6,051,022.50

The following statement shows the expenditures during the fiscal
year ended June 30, 1911, on account of all appropriations under the
control of the Department of Commerco and Labor, giving the total
amounts disbursed by the various disbursing officers of the Depart­
ment and miscellaneous receipts for the same period:
By the Disbursing Clerk, Department of Commerce and Labor, on
account of salaries and expenses of the Office of the Secretary of
Commerce and Labor, the Bureaus of Corporations, Manufactures,
Labor, Statistics, Navigation, Immigration and Naturalization,
Standards, Fisheries, and Lighthouses, the Office of the Supervising
Inspector General, Steamboat-Inspection Service, expenses of reg­
ulating immigration, salaries and expenses of Steamboat-Inspection
Service at large, and public works of the Immigration and Fisheries
Services (shown in detail in foregoing table of disbursements)........... $6,051,022. 50
By the authorized disbursing officers of the Lighthouse Establish­
ment.................................................................................................................. 5,130,028. 92
By the disbursing clerk, Bureau of the Census, on account of salaries
and expenses of the Bureau of the Census............................................... 7,841,583. 69
By the special disbursing agent, Coast and Geodetic Survey, on account
of salaries and expenses of the Coast and Geodetic Survey..................
955,418. 36
By the special disbursing agents of the Immigration Service.................
35,467.95
By the special agents of the Department investigating trade conditions
abroad, as special disbursing agents...........................................................
35,516.85
By special disbursing agents,Bureau of Fisheries.....................................
38,961.52
By special disbursing agents, Bureau of the Census.................................
3,449. 60
By customs officers on account of witnesses’ fees in steamboat inves­
tigations............................................................................................................
706.95
By warrants drawn on the Treasurer of the United States to satisfy
accounts settled by the Auditor for the State and other Depart­
ments............................................... .................................................................
419,182.79
Total.......................................................................................................... 20,611,339.13

28

REPO RT OF T H E SECRETA RY OF CO M M E R C E AND LABOR.
M ISCELLA N EO U S R E C E IP T S , FISCAL Y E A R

1911.

Coast and Geodetic Survey:
Sale of Charts, Coast Pilots, and Tide Tables......................................
Sale of property, outside work, e tc........................................................
Bureau of Standards: Standardizing and testing weights, e tc ................
Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization:
Head tax.......................................................................................................
Exclusive privileges...................................................................................
Naturalization fees.....................................................................................
Fines and court costs.................................................................................
Telephone rentals and sale of ic e ................ ..........................................
Bureau of Navigation: Navigation fees.........................................................
Bureau of Fisheries: Sale of sealskins........................................... ...............
Bureau of the Census:
Transcripts of census records...................................................................
Sales of publications......,...........................................................................
Sale of Government property...................................................................
Bureau of Lighthouses: Sale of condemned property, rentals, e tc ........
Proceeds of sale of condemned property, exclusive of Bureau of Light­
houses................................................................................................................

$14,037. 88
2,208.83
10,880. 73
3,655,721.00
13,262.86
288,034.00
37,338.12
1,618.14
137,632.08
403,946.94
.492.64
432.40
238.47
31,963.21
10,193.42

Other receipts: Tonnage tax............................................................................

4, 608,000. 72
1,083,255.34

Total...........................................................................................................

5,691,256.06

APPOINTMENT DIVISION.

The accompanying table shows bv biireajag the., mimber of posi­
tions in the service of the Department on July 1, 1911, and the,
increase or decrease in each bureau as compared with July 1, 1910.
Bureaus.

Statu­
tory'.

Nonstatutory.

In Dis­
trict of
Colum­
bia.
101
33
127
97
42
723
266
58

Steam boat-Inspection Service.............................
Bureau of Fisheries.................................................
Bureau of N avigation.............................................
B ureau of Im m igration and N a tu ra liz atio n .. .
Bureau of Stan d ard s..............................................

161
27
64
72
59
43
245
57
194
376
42
99
192

15
63
25
5,396
1,457
108
1
69
2
35
1,539
72

9
82
24
104
223

T o tal................................................................

1,631

8,782

1,949

Oustide
District Total
of Co­
lumbia.
161
42
127
97
5,413
5,455
777 i 1,500
353
87
58
254
263
296
378
77
53
1,534
1,638
264
41
9

8,464

10,413

In­
De­
crease. crease.

• 24
2
8
14
34
26
7
1
1
17
2
76
91
*229

74

1Does not include th e following employees appointed "or all or a p a rt of th e T hirteenth D ecennial Census
period, who were on d u ty at th e close of Ju n e 30, 1911: 1,948 clerks, 52 subclerks, 14 special agents; total,
2,014.
* N et increase 155, against a n et increase of 327 in the fiscal year 1910.

The classification of positions in the Department with respect to the Civil-Service Act and Rules is shown below:

Bureaus.

Competi­
tive.

Presi­
dential.

Total.

Unclassified.

E xcepted.

Special
agents,
Census.

Presidentisi.

All others.

U nskilled
laborers, etc.

O ut­ In
O ut­ In
O ut­ In
Out­ In
O ut­ In
In
side D.C. side D.C. side D.C. side D.C. side D.C.
D.C. D.C.
D .C.
D.C.
D.C.
D.C.
Office of the Secretary........................... { S t a t u t o r y ' '
Bureau of M anufactures........................iX o n s ta tu to ry ..
Bureau of Corporations......................... 1 V onspuuto-v
Bureau of L ab o r..................................... l N o n statu to ry ..
Bureau of Lighthouses.......................... \N o n statu to ry
B ureau of the Census.............................{ x o n s t S o r y : !
Coast and Geodetic Survey..................iN 'onstatuto'ry:;
Bureau of S tatistics............................... { x o n s ta m to ry !!
Steamboat-Inspection Service............. (v o nstatut'orv
Bureau of Fisheries................................{N o nstktutory!!
B ureau of N avigation............................1 N o n statu to ry '

Bureau of Stand ard s..............................!

25
6
61
57
69
25
38
27
572
232
18
55
1
8
72
2
22

2

‘ 3

115
1
1

8

2
777

7

175
68
256

14
34
97
5 1,289
1S2
38
30

462 i
1,003
...............................................{ x o n s ta tu to ry .. 716 4,030

43

161

26
6
62
63
69
25
42

1

27
6
64
63
72
25
42

2,705

171

1
80

1

1
15

1

4
1

1

10

2

8

48
12
3
2

5

1
124
1

......
21
66

41
032
232
18
55
1
8
17

1

i

n

O ut­
O ut­ In
O ut­ In
In
side D.C. side D .C. side
D.C. D.C.
D.C.
D.C.
118

2

19 1
312

14

114

7
18
7

9
1
777

72
52

3

Total
posi­
tions.

Total.

1

4
14
60

Unclassi­
fied.

41

2

1
6

1
17
2,520

O ut­
side
D .C.

Classified.

73
2
23

9

18
35
99
5 1,534
192
41
31

27
15
64
63
72
25
59
5,396
43
1,457
245
108
57
. 1
194
69
376
2
42
35
99
1,539
192
72

86
516
35 1,115
834 7,948
52 3,600

1,631
8,782

2
3

17
2,691

87
175
69
271

18
35
98
5 1,413
182
30
3S

17 1,029
481
782 4,342
2,822

161

2,705
2
48
13
3
2

777

1

10

7

25

i
1
10
1

121
3

43
680
245
21
57
1
9
80
2
24

9

17
5,396
777
87
185
69
296

B E P O R T O F T H E S E C R E T A R Y O F C O M M E R C E A N D L A BO R.

Classified.

Total classified........................................................................................................................... 6,034 i Total positions in D istrict of C olum bia.............................................................................. 1,949
Total unclassified...... ............................................................................................................... 3,779 T otal positions outside D istrict of C olum bia..................................................................... 8,464
Total.

10,413

Total.

10,413

to
O

30

REPOKT OP TH E SECRETARY OF COMMERCE AND LABOR.
P R E S ID E N T IA L A P P O IN T M E N T S M A D E S O L E L Y O N M E R IT .

During the incumbency of the present head of the Department
(Mar. 4, 1909, to Sept. 1, 1911), 29 appointments have been made to
presidential positions in this Department, some by the President
alone and others, as required by law, through nomination by the
President and confirmation by the Senate. No better indorsement
can be given to the principle of making appointments to public ofiice
solely on merit than to refer to the fact that 15 of the 29 appointments
mentioned were made by the transfer, promotion, or reinstatement
of persons who by reason of training and experience possessed the
qualifications required of them in their new and more important
positions. Of the remaining 14 presidential appointments made
under this administration, 6 were of former officials who had demon­
strated their fitness and were deserving of the consideration shown;
4 were of persons outside the service because competent ones could
not be found within it who would accept positions in Alaska; and 4
were of persons having well-known qualifications developed in lines
of work not pertaining to Government service.
T H IR T E E N T H

D E C E N N IA L C E N S U S .

The following statement shows the number of appointments to
and separations from the Thirteenth Decennial Census roll made by
the Director of the Census during the fiscal year:
A ppoint­
ments.

Positions.

T o ta l.......................................................................................................................................

Separa­
tions.

6,407
1,087
385
78
9

327
6,186
979
360
32
10

7,906

7,894

Satisfactory results have been obtained from the appointment of
the clerical force from the special examination provided for by the
census act.
L E G IS L A T IO N

A F F E C T IN G

P O S IT IO N S

IN

THE

S T E A M B O A T -IN S P E C T IO N

A N D S H IP P IN G S E R V IC E S .

By the legislative, executive, and judicial appropriation act
approved March 4, 1911, Congress transferred, effective July 1,
1911, the assistant inspectors of hulls and boilers in the SteamboatInspection Service (83 in number), the shipping commissioners under

REPORT OF TH E SECRETARY OF COMMERCE AND LABOR.

31

the Bureau of Navigation (17 in number), and a janitor in the Ship­
ping Service at New York City from the nonstatutory to the statutoiy rolls.
The maximum pay allowed clerks in the Steamboat-Inspection
Service was decreased from $1,600 to $1,500 per annum. This par­
ticular change did not necessitate any reductions in pay, as none
of the clerks was receiving more than $1,500 per annum when the act
was passed. There was, however, a decrease of $2,560 in the total
amount of the appropriation for clerk hire for the fiscal year ending
June 30, 1912, which was met by the discontinuance of two positions
and a general rearrangement of the salaries.
The change in the maximum compensation of clerks in the Shipping
Service to $1,600 per annum, and the reduction in the appropriation
for clerks for the fiscal year 1912 by $2,440, necessitated, on July 1,
1911, the reduction of 1 clerk from $1,620 to $1,600 per annum, the
reduction of 11 clerks in amounts ranging from $20 to $132 per annum,
and the discontinuance of 2 positions at S900 per annum.
Seven thousand dollars was appropriated to enable the Department
to employ such persons and means as may bo necessary to enforce
the act relating to the inspection of wireless apparatus on ocean­
going passenger vessels. In pursuance of this authority, throe wire­
less ship inspectors, with stations at New York, Baltimore, and San
Francisco, have recently been appointed.
F O R E IG N -B O R N E M P L O Y E E S IN T H E IM M IG R A T IO N A N D N A T U R A L IZ A T IO N
S E R V IC E S .

In connection with the complaint made during the early part of
the year that aliens coming to this country were not accorded fair
treatment on reaching the ports of entry, the Department made an
investigation and found that of 1,571 persons employed in the Immi­
gration and Naturalization Services 391, or 24.8 per cent, wero of
foreign birth, and that 17 of this number were pensioners. Not includ­
ing 1 born at sea, these employees came from 41 different countries.
Practically every class of positions in the services, from commissioner
of immigration and chief naturalization examiner to charwoman and
laborer, was represented by naturalized citizens, while their aggre­
gate salaries (not including 16 occasionally employed and paid by
tile day) was $441,252.50.
T E M P O R A R Y A P P O IN T M E N T S .

Believing that temporary appointments are, as a rule, not con­
ducive to the interests of good administration, the Department has
adopted as a policy the reduction of such appointments to the lowest
possible number. It is obvious that the Government derives more
faithful and intelligent service from a continuously employed per­

32

REPORT OP TH E SECRETARY OF COMMERCE AND LABOR.

sonnel than from a shifting, changeable, and temporary one, con­
sisting largely of employees who are unable, on account of inexpe­
rience, to cope with even the ordinary run of Government work.
Each recommendation for a temporary appointment is examined, and
to receive favorable consideration it must show unmistakably that
conditions justify the desired action. This procedure, and the sur­
veillance of the Civil Service Commission of all temporary appoint­
ments, constitute what might be termed a double-check system.
P R O M O T IO N S .

The promotion of employees strictly on merit is one of the most
important factors in raising and maintaining the efficiency of the
service. This Department aims to reward those who perform the
most efficient service and who possess the qualifications required in
the positions to which promotions are made. The efficiency ratings
submitted from timo to time by the chiefs of bureaus and offices are
used as the basis in determining who is best entitled to such promo­
tions; and whenever an employee not having the highest rating in
his class is recommended the officer making the recommendation is
required to submit satisfactory reasons before favorable action is
taken. In connection with the 1,378 promotions mado during the
current year, it was necessary in only 35 instances to request this
additional information.
The doubtful results obtained through the promotion examina­
tions which were hold at one time, and the fact that the Civil Service
Commission has not provided regulations on the subject, would seem
to justify the statement that in the last analysis the real value of an
employee can be best determined by the officer under whom he serves.
Seniority should not determine the question; for if it did, the effi­
ciency of the service would undoubtedly deteriorate, as there would
be no incentive for employees younger in point of sendee to put
forth their best efforts. Nor could anything be more demoralizing
to an office than the promotion of an employee to a position requiring
dutios which he is unable to perform, for such a course would result
only in decreased efficiency on the part of competent employees and,
in many instances, their loss to the service.
T R A N S F E R R E S T R IC T IO N S .

As the advantages which would accompany greater elasticity in
the transfer rules were dwelt upon at some length in the last annual
report, the Department desires merely to repeat its protest against
such unnecessary restrictions to transfers as the three-year limit
and apportionment rules have proved to be. The latter, in its
practical application, has been found to be particularly objectionable.

REPORT OF TH E SECRETARY OF COMMERCE AND LABOR.

33

due partly to the fact that it applies to every transfer from the
nonapportioned to the apportioned service (both interdepartmental
transfers and transfers within a department), and partly to the
fact that it is practically impossible for a department to know
prior to making formal request on the Civil Service Commission
whether or not a transfer is permissible under the rules. Of course,
the service suffers to just the extent of the time consumed by the
Commission to decide the question and, if the decision is unfavorable,
the additional time required to fdl the position in some other way.
IN Q U I R Y

IN T O

THE

E F F IC IE N C Y

O F T IIE

PERSONNEL.

The Department has about completed the third inquiry into the
efficiency of its subordinate officers and employees. In deciding
upon this inquiry considerable weight was given to the fact that
inquiries of this nature stimulate employees to increased activity
and cause them to realize that they must give to the Government
the service to which it is entitled. The primaiy object of the investi­
gation, however, was the desire of the Department to obtain efficiency
ratings to serve as a basis in determining the eligibility of employees
for promotion, the records of two years ago having been found to bo
no longer satisfactory for this purpose. It is gratifying to note that
the number of employees reported as inefficient is smaller than in the
last investigation. This would seem to indicate that the beneficial
results of that searching inquiry had been far-reaching, and that, in
the majority of cases, the increased efficiency on the part of employees
had been of a permanent rather than a temporary character.
S U P E R A N N U A T IO N

AND

R E T IR E M E N T .

Superannuation in the civil service and the proposed retirement of
employees who have passed their age of greatest usefulness have
attracted much attention. Considerable discussion of the subject
has appeared in the public press, and many Government officials in
reporting on conditions affecting the personnel of their respective
departments or offices have laid more or less stress on the evils of
superannuation in the service and the necessity of providing, as has
been done by a number of countries and private business concerns,
some equitable scheme of retirement of those who are no longer able
to render a fair degree of service, but who would be left without ade­
quate means of support if dismissed. Many difficulties, of course,
may be expected to attend the passage of any law looking to the
retirement on pay of superannuated employees in the civil service,
whether such retirement is accompanied by annuities paid outright
by the Government or whether it is made possible by contributions
in whole or in part by the employees themselves.

34

REPORT OF TH E SECRETARY OF COMMERCE AND LABOR.

Incomplete reports recently received from the bureaus show that
there are 72 employees of this Department who are more or less super­
annuated; that the aggregate of their salaries is $73,385; and that
their average age is 70 years. Perhaps a greater amount of superan­
nuation and consequent loss to the Government may be found in the
older departments and offices. As this Department last year recorded
its opinion on the subject of superannuation, it is unnecessary to
again point out the advantages and economy that would result from
the retirement, which practically everyone admits should be on an
adequate annuity, of the civil employees of the Government who
have become inefficient through advancing age.
LEA V ES O F A BSEN CE.

In December, 1910, after considerable discussion had taken place
with regard to the claim that the leave privilege was being abused
in all departments, this Department instituted ah investigation with
respect to its own employees in the District of Columbia. Briefly,
without including statistics involving the bureaus separately, the
following general information was compiled from a consideration of
the leave taken during the calendar year 1909:

Sex.

Em­
ployees
consid­
ered.

Days taken.

D ays taken per
employee.
Total.

Annual.

Sick.

Annual.

Sick.

M a le ................................................................
F cniate......., ...................................................

1,143
418

29,596.0
10,680.5

7,232.5
4,966.5

25.89
25.55

6.33
11.88

32.22
37.43

T o tal.....................................................

1,561

40,276.5

12,199.0

25.80

7.81

33.61

With a view to determining whether an arbitrary rule should be
formulated which would absolutely prevent any infringement of the
leave privilege, the Department, in February last, addressed letters
to the officers presiding over bureaus and offices in which employees
had taken practically the full amount of annual and sick leave during
the past three years, and requested them to suggest what, if any,
remedial measures should be prescribed. The answers submitted
show that the cases of apparent abuse are very rare, so it was deemed
imprudent and injudicious to enforce an arbitrary rule which would
affect the guilty and the innocent as well. It was decided, however,
to send to each chief of bureau or office the names of the employees
subordinate to him who had taken excessive leave, with directions
that, notwithstanding the regulations on the subject, no sick leave be
granted the employees referred to unless, in addition to the usual
physician’s certificate, the officer under whom the employee serves

REPORT OF TH E SECRETARY OF COMMERCE AND LABOR.

35

is personally satisfied, and so certifies, that such person is actually
so physically incapacitated as to be unable to appear for duty.
The burden therefore rests, as heretofore, with such officers, under
the careful supervision of the Department, to enforce the proper dis­
cipline with respect to this subject. Finally, as an additional safe­
guard to prevent the abuse of the privilege, the leave status of the
employee was made an important part of his efficiency rating and
therefore an essential element in determining questions relating to
promotions.
E X E C U T IV E

ORDERS

A F F E C T IN G

THE

PERSO NN EL.

During the year ended June 30, 1910, five Executive orders having
direct application to the personnel of this Department were pro­
mulgated. During the past year there were only two such orders.
One authorized the reinstatement of a clerk without reference to the
year limitation of the reinstatement rule, because of her efficiency
wliile in the service and the general good that would accrue to
the service by her return thereto. The other authorized the trans­
fer to the departmental service at Washington, D. C., without
regard to the apportionment of the States of which they were legal
residents, of certain employees whose services had been satisfactory
but who had been furloughed without pay because of a general reduc­
tion in the force resulting from the reorganization of the Light­
house Service.
C L A S S IF IC A T I O N

O F P R E S ID E N T IA L

P O S IT IO N S .

There are certain positions in the Department now in the presi­
dential class and subject to confirmation by the Senate which might
very properly be brought within the competitive classified service.
These positions are supervising inspectors in the several districts
of the Steamboat-Inspection Service; and agent, Alaska Salmon
Fisheries; two assistant agents, Alaska Salmon Fisheries; warden,
Alaska service; and four deputy wardens, Alaska service, of the
Bureau of Fisheries.
There are apparently no reasons to bo urged against the classifica­
tion of supervising inspectors of the Steamboat-Inspection Service.
While it is not unlikely that thoy were originally political offices and
filled as a result of political favor, those conditions no longer exist, as
is shown by the fact that the incumbents have retained their offices
through changes of administration and that tlioro has been a tend­
ency of late to fill vacancies by promotion. If these positions were
classified, all vacancies would undoubtedly be filled by promotion
from within the service, and the Government would be benefited by
having this particular line of its business under the management of
well-trained officers.

36

REPORT OF TH E SECRETARY OF COMMERCE AND LABOR.

One position of assistant agent and those of warden and deputy
warden, in the Bureau of Fisheries, were created by the sundry civil
act of March 4, 1911, effective July 1. When the annual estimates
wero submitted to Congress, it was tho intention of the Department
that theso positions should bo treated as classified, although possibly
in somo instances excepted from examination, but on June 1, 1911,
the Attorney General expressed the opinion that, as thore was no pro­
vision of law to the contrary, appointment to tho positions was vested
in tho President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate.
To classify the positions referred to would require an act of Congress
bestowing upon tho Secretary the power of appointment, and this
may be conveniently accomplished by the incorporation of suitable
language in the next appropriation act.
ALLEGED

P O L IT IC A L

A C T IV IT Y .

Under Rule I, section 1, of the Civil-Service Rules, employees are
prohibited from using their official authority or influence for the pur­
pose of interfering with elections or affecting the results thereof, and
from taking an active part in the management of political campaigns.
They may, however, vote as they please and express privately their
opinion on political subjects. Although a great deal of literature on
the subject has been distributed among employees by the Department
and the Civil Service Commission, it is but natural that in a great
Department having thousands of employees in all sections of the
country there should be some few who are unaware of the existence
of this rule or perhaps unfamiliar or careless with its interpretation.
During the last fiscal year only 10 cases of alleged political activity
on the part of its employees were brought to the Department’s atten­
tion. In 2 cases the charges were not proved; in 2 the employees
were warned; while in the remaining 6 cases the employees con­
cerned resigned from the Federal positions they were holding or from
the political associations of which they were members.
D E S IG N A T IO N S O F O F F I C I A L S T O

A C T A S C H IE F S

OF

BUREAUS.

I t was found during the past year that section 178 of the Revised
Statutes, which designates the officer who shall act in the absence of
the chief of a bureau or service whose appointment is vested in the
President, could not be applied to certain bureaus in the Department.
Under the terms of this statute, during the absence of the chief “ the
assistant or deputy of such chief or of such officer, or if there be none,
then the chief clerk of such bureau,” is authorized to perform his duties.
Thus, no provision is made to cover bureaus where there are neither
deputies nor chief clerks, such as, for instance, the Bureau of Standards
and the offices of the different districts of the Steamboat-Inspection
Service, and bureaus from which, although there may be a chief clerk,

REPORT OF T H E SECBETARY OF COMMERCE AND LABOR.

37

the chief and his assistant are absent at the same time, as has
occasionally happened.
To remedy this condition Congress, at the Department’s request,
incorporated a clause in the last legislative, executive, and judical
appropriation act authorizing the Secretary to designate some
employee to act as chief of bureau in any case where this action
was thought to be necessary.
DIVISION OF PUBLICATIONS.
VOLUM E AND

C O ST O F P R IN T IN G .

There was allotted to the Department (exclusive of the Bureau of
the Census) for printing and binding for the fiscal year ended June
30, 1911, the sum of $375,000, and for the publication of the World
Trade Directory, prepared by the Bureau of Manufactures, a further
allotment of $6,500 was made, making the total amount available
$381,500. Of the regular allotment, $370,030.22 was expended,
leaving a balance of $4,969.78 to be covered into the Treasury. The
total amount appropriated for printing the World Trade Directory
($6,500) was consumed in printing the work, the Department paying
also out of its general allotment $840.45 for 100 bound copies and
50 press proofs printed on one side for office use for the Bureau of
Manufactures. The increase in expenditures for the regular work
of the Department, as compared with the fiscal year 1910, was
$8,499.79, or 2.35 per cent.
The following table shows the quantity and cost of each class of
work ordered from the Public Printer during the fiscal years 1909,
1910, and 1911:
1910

1W9
Q uantity.
B lank forms.................................
R eports, pam phlets, etc............
L e tte rh e a d s ................................
Envelopes.....................................
Circulars an d decisions.............
Index card s..................................
Guide cards and folders............
M emorandum sh eets.................
B lank books................................
Miscellaneous books (binding).

Total

9,178,840
4,201,069
2,165,250
78,824
409,450
600,350
247,150
2,389,500
22,502
2,570

1911

Cost.

Q uantity.

Cost.

Q uantity.

$40,686.60
288,079.38
6,847.30
232.95
3,865.83
715.05
1,388.28
2,313.93
26,462.43
4,268.21
79.95

9,639,875
3,118,330
2,056,500
85,577
350,775
994,000
426,400
3,802,900
52,977
3,057

$43,038.25
263,873.66
5,432.36
220.80
4,013.93
1,025.97
2,04^.32
3,135.66
32,147.14
5,804.18
795.16

12,378,007
5,276,0S0
2,254,000
08,250
370,525
1,644,500
623,310
3,506,700
28,069
2,858

Cost.
$51,232.41
209,387.90
4,209.92
175.10
2,986.76
1,307.56
2,352.07
2,665.00
30,103.46
5,448.64
71.25

361,531. 13 .....................j 370,030.22

38

REPORT OF TH E SECRETARY OF COMMERCE AND LABOR.

An examination of the above figures will show that there was
an increase in the quantity ordered of each of the classes of work
with the exception of memorandum sheets printed, blank books
made, and miscellaneous books bound for library purposes. Of
blank forms there was an increase in the number printed of nearly
2,750,000, or 28.40 per cent; of reports and pamphlets, an increase
of about 2,160,000, or 69.16 per cent; of letterheads, 197,500, or
9.60 per cent; of envelopes, 12,700, or 14.81 per cent; of circulars
and decisions, 19,750, or 5.63 per cent; of index cards, 650,500, or
65.44 per cent; and of guide cards and vertical folders, 197,000, or
46.18 per cent. The increase in the number of reports and pam­
phlets printed in 1911 over 1910 is due principally to the act of June
25, 1910, which authorized the edition of the Daily Consular and
Trade Reports to be increased from 10,000 to not exceeding 20,000
copies. More than 4,000,000 copies of this publication alone were
printed and distributed during the past year. The increase in the
number of blank forms printed is due largely to the substitution of
loose forms and cards for blank record books in the SteamboatInspection Service and to the use of card forms for reporting immi­
gration statistics.
The statement presented below gives the expenditures for printing
and binding for each bureau, office, and service (except the Bureau
of the Census) for the fiscal years 1909, 1910, and 1911, and the
increase or decrease in 1911 as compared with 1910:
Offices, bureaus, and services».

1909

1910

1911

/
Office of the S ecretary .................................. $17,038.22 » $21,026.94
9,511.00
8,177.84
B ureau of C orporations................................
50,226.55
B ureau of M anufactures.............................. 57,466.97
90,258.97
B ureau of S tatistics...................................... 84,226.61
B ureau of L a b o r............................................ 42,624.73
33,904.76
Coast and Geodetic S u rv ey ......................... 39,291.42
31,138.93
9,378.22
B ureau of Fisheries......................................
14,916.45
B ureau of N avigation................................... 10,616.20
9,034.08
2,012.05
Shipping Service............................................
2,494.04
Office, Supervising Inspector General,
Steam boat-Inspection Service................
5,619.66
5,870.12
Steam boat-lnspect ion Serv ice.................... 12,095.21
9,607.59
Bureau of L ighthouses................................. 25,174.58
17,930.11
Lighthouse Service.......................................
11,279.69
8,019.76
B ureau of Im m igration and N aturaliza­
tion ................................................................
4,843.66
5,999.70
Im m igration Service..................................... 13,483.35
19,240.08
755.24
Division of N aturalisai ion..........................
(*)
N aturalization Servi-e..................................
9,769.78
11,116.01
Division of Informal ion...............................
3,610.41
744.78
8,360.64
9,982.98
B ureau of S ta n d a rd s.....................................
8,537.42
11,085.50
Customs Service.............................................
T o tal...................................................... 374,939.91

361,530.43

$17,619.14
10,799.12
54,528.57
83,692. 47
39,870.96
22,510.15
14,942.87
9,399.64
2,410.15

Increase ( + ) or decrease
(—) in 1911.
Cost .
-$3,407.80
+ 2,621.28
+ 4,302.02
- 6,566.50
+ 5,966.20
- 8,628.78
+
26.42
+
365.56
83.89

P e r ce n t.

-16.20
+32.05
+ 8.57
- 7.28
+17.59
-27.71
+ .18
+ 4.05
- 3.36

3,931.87
11,140.62
20,229.48
10,636.51

+
+
+

1,938.25
1,533.03
2,299.37
2,616.75

-33.02
+ 15.96
+ 12.82
+32.63

6,476.40
17,542.38
1,046.83
18,520.57
429.21
15,764.51
8,538.77

-F
+
+
+
-

476.70
1,697.70
291.59
7,404.56
315.57
5,781.53
2,546.73

+ 7.95
- 8.82
+38.60
+66.61
-42.37
+57.91
-22.97

+ 8,499.79

+ 2.35

370,030.22

1 Of this am ount, $1,337.43 was for supplies furnished to th e B ureau of the Census, which reim bursed
the D epartm ent's allotm ent to th a t extent.
*Cost of work for Division of N aturalization carried un d er th e N aturalization Service account.

REPORT OF TH E SECRETARY OF COMMERCE AND LABOR.
D IS T R IB U T IO N

OF

P R IN T E D

39

S U P P L IE S .

During the past year there were received and filled 11,918 requisi­
tions from the various outside services of the Department calling for
8,821,689 blank forms, as compared with 5,860,337 in 1910 (an
increase of 2,961,352, or 50.53 per cent), and 343,867 books and
pamphlets, as compared with 269,418 in 1910 (an increase of 74,449,
or 27.67 per cent). There were also received and filled during the
year 709 requisitions for printed stationery, 380 of which were from
offices and bureaus of the Department in Washington and 329 from
the outside services. These requisitions called for 7,166,650 envel­
opes, 2,254,000 letterheads, 3,299,800 memorandum sheets, 8,100
stenographers’ notebooks, 5,307 blank books, 970,800 index cards,
175,550 guide cards, 158,250 vertical folders, 131,503 blank forms,
and 27,500 embossed envelopes.
P U B L IC A T IO N

W ORK.

During 1911 the Department, exclusive of the Bureau of the Census,
issued 795 publications, against 798 in the fiscal year 1910. Twentyseven of these, against 28 in 1910, were printed in two or more edi­
tions, while a still larger number were reprints of issues of earlier
years. These publications contain a total of 47,534 printed pages, as
compared with 42,125 in 1910, and there were issued of them a grand
total of 5,241,612 copies, against 3,363,323 in the preceding year.
The following table affords a comparative summary of the publi­
cation work of each bureau for the past two years:
Publications.

Pages.

Copies printed.

urea s.
1910

1911

1910

1911

1910

1911

Office ol the S ecretary..................................................
Coast and Geodetic S u rv ey ........................................
Corporations B u reau ....................................................
Fisheries B ureau............................................................
Im m igration and N aturalization B ureau...............
Labor B ureau.................................................................
Lighthouse B u re au .......................................................
M anufactures B u reau ...................................................
Navigation B ureau.......................................................
Standards B u reau .........................................................
S tatistics B u re au ...........................................................
Steam boat-Inspection Service...................................

31
27
11
109
43
23
80
208
10
65
121
10

34
21
14
48
38
26
84
340
8
86
84
12

1,150
2,907
1,746
2,382
1,315
3,912
3,008
10,804
2,018
1,970
9,428
1,485

1,302
2,778
4,786
3,420
1,061
8,534
3,419
8,541
1,343
3,155
7,808
1,387

227,650
39,150
22,040
115,000
99,100
136,600
163,728
2,075,430
18,200
45,350
166,425
254,650

255,500
16,300
17,200
38.000
96,900
93,200
189,630
4,060,732
17,000
62,350
96,400
298,400

T o ta l......................................................................

798

795

42,125

47,534

3,363,323

5,241,612

D IS T R IB U T IO N

OF

P U B L IC A T IO N S .

The attention of tjie Division of Publications has, for the past two
years, been directed largely toward the centralization within it of the
work incident to the distribution of the publications issued by the

40

REPORT OF TH E SECRETARY OF COMMERCE AND LAROR.

several bureaus and offices of the Department, as required by section
92 of the act of January 12, 1895. This has been done gradually,
only one bureau at a time being considered, until there remain only
the Bureau of t..e Census and the Bureau of Standards which dis­
tribute their own publications; and arrangements are now being
made for commencing at an early date the distribution by this
Division of the publications of the latter. During the past year
the mailing lists and reserve publications of the Coast and Geodetic
Survey and the Bureau of Fisheries have been taken over in their
entirety.
Greater haste has not been made in this work of centralization
because of the desire to perfect the working organization as far as
possible while it is being built up, and because it is important that
the distribution of the publications of any bureau be not suspended
or interfered with, even for a . hort time. There are many details
in connection with each transfer the correct conduct of which requires
the exercise of care in order that he main purposes of centraliza­
tion—economy and efficiency—may best be subserved. This work
falls altogether on the regular force engaged in the distribution work
and must be don at times wlrm work already in hand may not suffer.
The large increase in the number of publications issued by the
Department increases of course the labor in connection with the mail­
ing and distribution of them. For instance, a year ago only about
12,000 publications were being mailed each day from the Division,
whereas at the present time the number is about 19,000. Thus
the work in connection with the distribution has within a year
increased nearly 60 per cent.
There has been installed in the Division of Publications a con­
solidated mailing list of all publications sent out by the Division. By
consulting this list, or index, as it may properly be called, it can be
ascertained in a moment just how many and what publications any
individual receives. In compiling this index numerous duplications
of names on mailing lists were detected, and a large number of in­
accuracies in both names and addresses were discovered and cor­
rected. It was also found that some of the publications were being
sent in large quantities to individuals for distribution. This was
believed to be a source of waste, and was brought to the attention of
the heads of the bureaus involved, with the result that the practice
was stopped.
This index serves a number of useful purposes, not the least of
which is its use as a guide when a request for a change in address is
made. The great majority of these merely request the Department
to change a certain address on its mailing lists. There are 78 such
lists, and it was formerly necessary to examine each of these to see
if the name of the individual appeared thereon. By consulting the

REPORT OF TH E SECRETARY OF COMMERCE AND LABOR.

41

consolidated index it can be seen at once on which lists the name
appears, thus reducing to a minimum the time and expense required
in making the change.
The Division has installed also a record of issues of publications,
by consulting which it can be seen at a glance how many copies of
any publication have been printed, how many have been issued and
when, and how many are on hand. Not only is this information
available for each publication, but also for stated periods for all
publications issued by a bureau and for all publications issued by
the Department. This kind of information it was not formerly pos­
sible to procure, although frequently called for, without considerable
delay and much clerical labor on the part of the several bureaus.
As anticipated by the Department, the centralization within one
division of the work incident to the distribution of all the publica­
tions of the Department has resulted in many economies and advan­
tages to the service. Many thousands of dollars have been saved in
the cost of stencils, containers or wrappers, labor, hauling, etc., while
equally large savings have come from reductions in the mailing lists
as a consequence of thorough revisions of them. And, more impor­
tant still, thero has been brought about a higher degree of efficiency
in an important line of departmental work—that of disseminating
information.
SA LE

OF

P U B L IC

D O CU M EN TS.

I have each year in my annual report had a word to say in favor
of placing a nominal price on certain classes of public documents,
because I am thoroughly convinced that it would restrict excess­
ive demands from sources which frequently can not possibly bo
benefited by the publications, and thus leave the distribution of
necessarily limited editions to those for whom thc}^ have the greatest
interest or value. Already Tide Tables, Coast Pilots, and Coast
Charts, issued by the Coast and Geodetic Survey; Heads of Families,
First Census of the United States, 1790, issued by the Bureau of the
Census; and World Trade Directory, issued by the Bureau of Manu­
factures, are being sold by the Department or by the Superintendent of
Documents. Steps will probably soon be taken by the Department to
limit the distribution of copies of the Bulletin of the Bureau of Stand­
ards to those who are willing to pay for them a sum which will cover the
actual cost of their production, though reprints of papers from the
Bulletin will continue to be supplied free of charge. This rule could
with advantage be extended to many others of the technical and
scientific publications issued by the Coast and Geodetic Survey, the
Bureau of Fisheries, and the Bureau of Standards, as well as to many
of the costly statistical publications issued by the Bureaus of the
Census, Statistics, and- Manufactures. Practically all European
countries have adopted the practice of placing a very low limit to

42

REPORT OF TH E SECRETARY OF COMMERCE AND LABOR.

the free distribution of public documents, and no doubt our Govern­
ment will come to realize that in this way only can an effective check
be placed on the extravagance and waste in public printing which has
for so long been a source of complaint both in and out of the Congress.
OFFICE OF THE SOLICITOR.

The following is a condensed summary of work done by the Office
of the Solicitor during the fiscal year ended June 30, 1911:
Legal opinions rendered, formal and informal (memorandum).............................
505
Claims, injured employees compensation act (involving examination as to law
and facts)......................................................................................................................... 3,055
Contracts examined (approved, disapproved, drafted, redrafted, modified;
involving expenditures amounting to $1,453,503.89)............................................
408
Contracts examined (indeterminate amounts; fuel,supplies, e tc .)........................
84
Leases examined (approved, disapproved, e tc .; involving expenditures amount­
ing to $250,532.91).........................................................................................................
159
Bonds, contract, examined (approved, disapproved, etc.; amounting to
$647,345.50)......................................................................................
204
Bonds, official, examined (approved, disapproved; amounting to $285,000)..
73
Bonds, alien immigrants, examined (approved, disapproved; amounting to
$974,000)..................................................................................................
1,580
Insurance policies, construction, examined (approved, disapproved; amounting
to $463,925)......................................................................................................................
6
Miscellaneous matters, embracing everything submitted for the advice or sug­
gestion of the Solicitor, or for the formulation of departmental action, not
included in the foregoing item s.................................................................................
968
Total number of matters disposed o f................................................................. 7,042

BUREAU OF THE CENSUS.

Much the greater part of the work of the Bureau during the fiscal
year has been on the tabulation of the results of the Thirteenth De­
cennial Census. The usual annual investigations regarding statis­
tics of cities, production and consumption of cotton, vital statistics,
and forest products have been carried on, but none of the special
investigations authorized by the permanent census act and intended
to be pursued primarily during the intercensus period has occupied
the attention of the Bureau.
F IE L D W O R K .

For these reasons the Bureau has had very little field work during
the year. The field work on the population and agricultural statis­
tics had been completed during the preceding fiscal year and also the
greater part of the field work on the manufactures statistics. A con­
siderable number of special agents were, however, employed during
part of the year in the collection of statistics of irrigation called for
by an amendment to the Thirteenth Census act, and a large expense
was incurred in securing returns from institutions for the defective
and delinquent classes. The usual annual field work on the collection
of cotton statistics and the collection of statistics of cities has also been
pursued. The greater part of the permanent force of the Bureau,
however, has been employed in the office at Washington in connection
with the tabulation of the results of the decennial census, upon which
work also a large number of temporary clerks have been employed.
G E N E R A L S C H E M E O F C E N S U S P U B L IC A T IO N S .

During the year a general plan for the arrangement, publication,
and distribution of the information derived from the census has been
devised ¡yid is in process of carrying out. This scheme differs in im­
portant respects from that employed in connection with previous de­
cennial censuses. The principal aim has been to disseminate the im­
portant results of the census in a form more convenient and intelligi­
ble to the ordinary reader than that heretofore used. The plan also
contemplates a reduction in the expenditure for the distribution of
the more detailed results of the census, which are of use only to libra­
ries and a comparatively small number of individuals and institutions.
It is conceived that most citizens interested at all in statistical mat­
ters desire to know the details with regard to the population, agri­
culture, manufactures, and mining industries of their own State and
43

44

REPORT OP TH E SECRETARY OF COMMERCE AND LABOR.

of their own county and community, and to know the principal facts
with regard to other States and the country as a whole. Ordinarily
they are not interested in a mass of details with regard to other States
or other local communities.
With this conception in mind the Bureau of the Census proposes to
issue a series of bulletins giving details for each State and a series of
general bulletins giving the principal facts for the country as a whole,
by States and by leading cities. The detail bulletins for any given
State will in general be distributed only to the citizens of that State,
while the bulletins containing the more general information will be
distributed throughout the country. Later there will be prepared a
series of bound compendiums, one for each State. The compendium
for a given State will contain all the material in the sepai’ate bulletins
for that State and all the material in the general United States bul­
letins, together with some additional information and text discussion
which will perhaps not have been issued at all in bulletin form. The
compendium of any given State will thus be a convenient volume,
containing perhaps three or four hundred pages, which will be of
great practical value to the people of that State. It will be much
easier for them to find the information desired in a small volume of
this character than to pick it out of a long series of bulky volumes.
Moreover, owing to the comparatively small cost of such State compendiums, they can be distributed in a larger edition than the Gov­
ernment could afford to publish of the complete census.
While the proposed State compendiums will cover all three of the
main branches of the census, namely, population, agriculture, and
manufactures, mines and quarries, the nature of their contents can
best be understood by describing the part which will relate to popula­
tion only. For any given State the section of the compendium relat­
ing to population will contain (1) the number of inhabitants, for
three censuses, by minor civil divisions (counties, cities, townships,
precincts, wards, etc.); (2) facts with regard to the sex, color, gen­
eral nativity, country of birth, citizenship, illiteracy, and school
attendance of the population of each county, so arranged as to bring
all the facts with regard to any one county into immediate'juxtaposi­
tion; (3) similar detailed facts for each municipality of 2,500 or more
inhabitants; (4) facts classified in somewhat greater detail with ref­
erence to the subjects above specified, and also with reference to other
subjects, for the population of the State as a whole, it being desirable
to publish a more complete statistical analysis for the State as a whole
than for its smaller subdivisions; (5) statistics on similar subjects,
with reference to cities of 25.000 or more inhabitants, in somewhat
greater detail than for counties and smaller cities, but in less detail
than for the State as a whole.

REPORT OF TH E SECRETARY OF COMMERCE AND LABOR.

45

The various tables above mentioned as appearing in the State compendiums will contain approximately all the information which ap­
pears in the final reports with reference to that particular State and
its subdivisions. There will, however, be another section (6) of the
compendium for each State, which will present for all of the States
comparative figures on the various subjects covered by the popula­
tion census, only the more important items on each subject being
included. In other words, this section will constitute an abstract
of the population census by States. There will further be a similar
abstract (7) for all cities in the United States of 25,000 or more in­
habitants; likewise (8) a table showing the population of each county
of the country and (9) a table showing the population of each incor­
porated place of 2,500 or more inhabitants.
The material with reference to population contained in the State
compendiums will, as above stated, be largely issued in advance in
the form of bulletins. One series of State bulletins on population is
already in process of publication, the bulletins for numerous States
having been issued and the remainder about to appear. This first
series of State population bulletins deals exclusively with the num­
ber of inhabitants without presenting their characteristics; it gives
the population of counties and minor civil divisions, together with
comparative statistics of the distribution and growth of urban and
rural population. An introductory text is written in connection
with each of these State bulletins, so as to make the figures more
intelligible. A second series of bulletins, giving the principal char­
acteristics of the population, by counties and for the State as a whole,
will be begun shortly.
The complete sets of final reports of the census, which, as before
stated, are intended only for limited distribution, will comprise all of
the material in detail for all of the States. These final reports will
consist of two classes of volumes. In the volumes of the first class
will be bound up together the contents of the several State com­
pendiums. They will thus constitute a geographical presentation of
the census material on all subjects with regard to each State and its
subdivisions appearing in one place. The second set of volumes in
the final reports will consist of subject presentations, in which the
facts on any given subject will be published together, the data for
each State or for each city being placed in comparison with those for
other States and cities.
There will thus be to some extent a duplication of the material in
the final reports, the same data appearing once under the geographical
arrangement and again under the subject arrangement. This dupli­
cation will not, however, be very great; for, in the first place, the
details with regard to the population of individual counties or of the
smaller cities will appear only in the volumes based on geographical

46

REPORT OF TH E SECRETARY OF COMMERCE AND LABOR.

grouping, and, in the second place, some of the analytical presenta­
tions for States and large cities in the tables on special subjects will
not be reproduced in full in the geographical presentation.
It is intended also to issue a series of monographs or special reports
covering individual subjects of the census. These will be merely re­
prints from the final reports, intended to save the expense of furnish­
ing a complete volume or series of volumes to persons desiring
information on a single subject only. To some extent monographs
of this character were issued at previous censuses, but it is expected
that the plan will be further developed.
The Bureau of the Census has taken special measures to secure the
wide dissemination of the principal results of the census through
the press. Statements consisting of simple text and tables, arranged
for convenient publication, have been distributed to the press, with
the result that a much wider publicity has been given to the census
data than could ever be secured through the direct distribution of
the bulletins and reports.
G E N E R A L PR O G RESS O F C E N S U S W O R K .

The census act requires that the results of the census shall be pub­
lished within the census period ending June 30, 1912. The Bureau
expects to be able to comply with this requirement, provided ade­
quate appropriations are made by Congress. The results can, with
sufficient funds, be published by that date quite as completely as the
law requires or as was the case with the Twelfth Census. The
Director of the Census, however, finds it impossible to publish before
June 30, L912, in the form of final bound volumes, absolutely all of
the information which ought to be derived from the census. The
scope of the census is so enormous and the material so complex that
it is impossible to perform all the tasks required—examination of
original schedules, tabulation under a complex scheme of classifica­
tion, checking of results, preparation of careful explanatory and
summarizing texts, proof reading, printing, and binding—and to go
into the most complete possible analysis of ever}' subject within such
a short period of time. As at the census of 1900, it may be possible
that some even of the basic results can be published only in unbound
bulletins, in some cases perhaps lacking full text discussion.
Moreover, there are at least three important subjects covered by
the population census, concerning which only part of the tables which
should be compiled can be compiled before the end of the fiscal year
1912. These are the subjects of occupations, characteristics of the
foreign-born population by country of birth, and family statistics.
The principal facts relating to each of these subjects, embracing all
which may be considered as necessary in compliance with the law

REPORT OF TH E SECRETARY OF COMMERCE AND LABOR.

47

authorizing the collecting of the statistics, can be published by June
30, 1912. For example, there can, if appropriations are adequate,
be published prior to that time statistics showing the number of per­
sons employed, by sex and broad age classifications, in each occupa­
tion. More detailed analyses, showing the race, nationality, conjugal
condition, and age in some detail of the persons in different occupa­
tions, would be of great value, but, no matter how large a force be
put upon them, they can not be completed until after the end of the
census period. Precisely the same thing was done at the Twelfth
Census, the greater part of the details regarding persons in the
several occupations having been compiled and published after the
three-year census period.
At the Twelfth Census practically no information was published
concerning the characteristics of the foreign-born population, as
classified by country of birth. The great interest in the subject of
immigration during recent years makes it of the highest importance
that such detailed statistics should be compiled, and this also must
necessarily be deferred to the fiscal year 1913. The number born in
each country, and the characteristics of the foreign-born as a general
class, will be tabulated during the census period.
At the Twelfth Census comparatively little information regarding
family conditions was published. Preparations were made for the
compiling of statistics regarding the number of children born to each
married woman and the number of such children living, together with
other facts regarding family conditions, but the tabulations wero
never completed nor the results published. It is proposed in connec­
tion with the Thirteenth Census to issue, prior to June 30, 1912, facts
similar to those w'hich were issued at the Twelfth Census, but it would
be desirable during the fiscal year 1913 to tabulate in cdnsiderable
detail statistics regarding fecundity; that is to say, statistics showing
the number of children born and the number living for married
women, in comparison with the duration of marriage, and on the basis
of classification according to race and nativity. The profound inter­
est which attaches to the question of the relative fecundity of the
different races and of the native and foreign-born populations would
render such statistics of great value.
O F F IC E FO R C E .

The office work in connection with the decennial census required
a very large addition to the force of the Bureau. At the beginning
of the fiscal year 1910 the Bureau employed in Washington about 650
persons. By the end of the fiscal year the force had increased to
about 3,000. The maximum was reached in September, when more
than 3,800 were employed. Since that time the force has been
gradually reduced as different branches of the work have been

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REPORT OF TH E SECRETARY OF COMMERCE AND LABOR.

brought to completion. On June 30, 1911, the force employed in
Washington amounted all told to 2,868 persons, consisting of 24
administrative officers, 93 special agents, 2.540 clerks, 169 subclerical
employees, together with 42 employees in the machine shop, the latter
being appointed, in part, without civil-service examination. Since
the close of the fiscal year the force has been still further reduced, the
aggregate on September 30, 1911, being 2,458. It is expected that a
rapid reduction in the force will take place after January 1,1912, and
that by the end of the present fiscal year it will be reduced to nearly
the same level as at the beginning of the census period.
On July 1,1910, there were on the rolls of the Bureau of the Census
a limited number of clerks holding emergency appointments by au­
thority of a provision of the census act permitting, in the case of
emergency, appointments to be made, for not to exceed 60 days, of
persons who had had previous census experience or of persons selected
from the eligible register without regard to apportionment. This
emergency force, which was appointed primarily for the purpose of
the temporary rush work of punching population cards, was entirely
dropped in December, 1910, when the work of punching was com­
pleted, and no further emergency appointments were made during
the fiscal year ended June 30, 1911, but in October, 1911, 35 clerks
with previous experience were taken on for a short period. The
entire temporary force of the Bureau of the Census, therefore, has,
during most of the past fiscal year, consisted of persons appointed as
a result of competitive civil-service examination, apportioned among
the States, and selected in all cases from the top of the register.
Owing to the fact that in many States, particularly in the West
and South, the number of persons who successfully passed the exam­
ination for'the Thirteenth Census force was not sufficient to equal the
quota of such appointments to which the State was entitled, it became
necessary—although two examinations were held—to appoint a dis­
proportionate number from some of the other States, notably from
Maryland and the District of Columbia. In the reductions of the
temporary force which have been made up to the present time it was
deemed desirable that dismissals should be made first from among
persons appointed from those States which thus had an excess of
original appointments, in order, as far as possible, to restore the
proportion of equality among the States. This policy had necessarily
to be modified in a certain measure by considerations of efficiency and
economy. It would obviously be undesirable to drop a clerk appointed
from, say, the District of Columbia in the midst of a piece of work
upon which that clerk had become expert and transfer to that work
a clerk from some other State who had had no experience in the par­
ticular task. So far as practicable, clerks from States having excess
of appointments were assigned to work which would terminate

REPORT OF TH E SECRETARY OF COMMERCE AND LABOR.

49

at a relatively early date, and clerks from States having a deficiency
of appointments were assigned to work which would continue longer.
In this way the force has been gradually, although not completely,
readjusted so as to secure a distribution more nearly in accordance
with the law of apportionment.
T A B U L A T IN G M A C H IN E S .

The tabulating machinery of the Bureau of the Census has been
employed to its maximum capacity during the fiscal year and has
proved eminently satisfactory. In the population division, as stated
in my last annual report, the work of tabulation is almost wholly per­
formed by means of punched cards, each individual inhabitant hav­
ing a card punched with the facts concerning his characteristics. The
punching of the population cards was completed in December, 1910.
About two-thirds of the cards were punched on the new electric key­
board machines and about one-third on the old-style pantograph
machines. Toward the close of the work, when the operators became
expert, an average of about 2,000 cards per day' per operator was
reached on the electric machines and about 1,200 on the other ma­
chines. The system of piece-price payment upon these machines
worked most satisfactorily.
The cards, after being punched, are sorted by electric sorting ma­
chines and tabulated by electric machines, part of which are fed by
hand and designated as semi-automatic, and others fed automatically.
The semi-automatic machines, of which the Bureau possesses 100,
have been used for the greater part of the work, although increasing
use has been made of the automatic machines. The semi-automatic
machines proved even more rapid in operation than was anticipated.
The speed which can be made depends upon the frequency with which
readings of the results have to be made, and it is therefore greater for
those runs of the cards in which the units of area or the groups into
which the cards are divided are large. In the first run of the curds
for regular tabulation purposes—a prior run having been made for
purposes of verification only—the operators working on a piece-price
basis averaged, for all classes of cards combined, 17,046 cards per full
working day of seven hours. On the same run the piece-price oper­
ators handling the cards of native white persons of native parentage—
the class in which the groups are usually largest—averaged 22,274
cards per day. The speed of these machines was therefore much more
than double the speed obtained in 1900. This was partly due to the
improvement of the machines, including the use of an automatic
printing mechanism, and in part to the introduction of the piece-price
method of payment. The piece-price rates differ for different classes
of cards. For the native white cards of native parents on the first run
21357°—12---- -4

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REPORT OF TH E SECRETARY OF COMMERCE AND LABOR.

the rate of pay was 15 cents per thousand cards. On this basis oper­
ators were able to earn in the neighborhood of $1,000 per year on the
average. The system of piece-price payment has proved highly
satisfactory.
On the third run of the cards, which, like the first, includes the
entire population of the United States, a rate of speed has been main­
tained substantially the same as on the first run. On the second and
fourth runs, which deal with the foreign-born population exclusively,
and in which readings have to be taken for relatively smaller numbers
of cards, the speed has been naturally somewhat less.
The Bureau of the Census now possesses seven automatic tabulating
machines. These machines were designed and built in the Bureau.
Mechanical difficulties encountered at the outset have now been largely
remedied. Some difficulty still occurs from the fact that the automatic
machines require cards of almost absolutely perfect dimensions and
with holes punched in almost mathematically exact positions. Some
defects in the manufacture of part of the cards and in the adjustments
of part of the punching machines have interfered with the greatest
success in the use of the automatic tabulating machines. If these
difficulties can be remedied in the future, there is reason to believe
that the automatic machines can advantageously be used exclusively,
or almost exclusively. The possibilities of these machines are evi­
denced by the fact that a single machine has in actual operation
turned out as many as 150,000 cards in a day, and on certain days the
average for all of the machines in operation has run as high as
80,000 cards. These machines require about three operators for each
two machines.
The sorting machines used by the Bureau of the Census for the
sorting of population cards have also been highly satisfactory. The
suit of the Tabulating Machine Co. against the Director of the
Census, on the ground that the alteration of these machines was prac­
tically equivalent to the construction of new machines and an in­
fringement of its patents, is still pending.
In the agricultural division of the Bureau of the Census the results
have demonstrated the wisdom of the decision to use adding and
listing machines instead of punched cards and electric tabulating
machines. The adding and listing machines have proven in every
way satisfactory, and the work of tabulating the agricultural census
is proceeding with much less cost than at the census of 1900. On
account of the wide variety of the tasks performed, the piece-price
method of payment is impracticable in the agricultural work, but by
comparisons between different clerks doing the same work adequate
pressure has been brought to bear to maintain a proper standard of
output. The same circumstance makes it impossible to present any
condensed statement with regard to the average output per operator.

REPORT OF TH E SECRETARY OF COMMERCE AND LABOR.

51

C E N S U S FR A U D S.

At the time of my last annual report investigations were still going
on with respect to frauds in the population census, and it was there­
fore deemed inexpedient to make any detailed reference to them.
These investigations, so far as they directly aifect the census statis­
tics, have now been completed, although the Department of Justice
is still pursuing inquiries for the purpose of prosecution.
The number of instances of fraud in the census of 1910 disclosed
by the investigations made by the Bureau of the Census is greater
than that disclosed at any previous census, but there is reason to
believe that the actual amount of fraud was not greater, as the inves­
tigations were more thorough at this census than before. It was
found that the population had been overcounted in 28 cities and
towns, the number of enumeration districts affected being about 200.
In some cases these overcounts were due less to deliberate fraud than
to errors of judgment, but in many cases the fraud was of a serious
character. The cities in which overcounts were found were as fol­
lows: Fort Smith, Ark.; San Francisco, Cal.; Boise, Idaho; Duluth
and Minneapolis, Minn.; Billings, Great Falls, Missoula, and Havre,
Mont.; Portland, Oreg.; Ogden, Utah; Aberdeen, Bellingham, Centralia, Everett, Iloquiam, Montesano, Seattle, Spokane, Tacoma, and
Walla Walla, Wash.; Superior, Wis.; and Rawlins, Wyo.
The methods of fraud were numerous. The names improperly
enumerated included names of purely fictitious persons; names of
persons who were residents of the city, but who did not reside in the
district in which fictitiously reported, and had already been enu­
merated at their true residence; names of former but not present
residents of the city; names of persons who had no permanent resi­
dence in the city, but who were temporarily present and not entitled
to enumeration; and names of persons who had never had a per­
manent residence and were not present at the time of enumeration,
but who had been temporarily present at some previous time. In
many cases the names of persons thus fraudulently enumerated were
assigned as additional residents, usually under the guise of boarders
and lodgers, of houses which had already been properly enumerated.
In other cases they were assigned as residents of vacant lots or
fictitious houses.
In a considerable proportion of the cities in which overcounting
took place it was due largely to the unauthorized activity of private
individuals in collecting names and turning them over to the enumera­
tors. In a number of cities so-called census committees were consti­
tuted. The nominal purpose in all cases was merely to make sure that
the enumeration was complete, and in some instances the activities of
these committees were entirely legitimate and helpful to the census.

52

REPORT OF TH E SECRETARY OF COMMERCE AND LABOR.

Even where the purposes of the committees were legitimate, however,
the result was sometimes an overcount of the population through the
failure of the enumerators to verify the information turned over to
them by these private organizations. There is reason to believe that
in some cities, at any rate, there was a deliberate design on the part
of certain citizens or organizations, in conjunction with enumerators,
and possibly in conjunction with supervisors and special agents, to
pad the returns.
This Department has turned over to the Department of Justice the
facts with regard to census frauds, and that Department, with the
assistance of special agents of the Bureau of the Census, has been
conducting careful investigations to develop the responsibility for the
frauds and to secure prosecution of those guilty. A large number of
enumerators have already been indicted. In a majority of these cases
which have come up for trial the enumerators have pleaded guilty and
been punished with fines and imprisonment ; in several other cases
convictions have been secured on trial. Only two enumerators indicted
have been acquitted. Still other cases remain to be tried. One census
supervisor and several special agents who acted as assistants to super­
visors have also been indicted. Two private individuals were also
indicted for conspiring with Government employees to secure fraudu­
lent returns and, having pleaded nolo contendere, were heavily fined.
I consider it of importance that all cases of census frauds should
be prosecuted. The abuse is of a serious character, and it can not
be wholly stopped except through a wholesome fear of the conse­
quences. It is believed, however, that the publicity which has been
given by the Bureau of the Census to the facts with regard to the
padding of the population returns will itself have a powerfully
deterrent effect upon attempts to commit similar frauds in the future.
A P P R O P R IA T IO N S .

In my annual report for 1910 I estimated that the total expense of
the Bureau of the Census during the Thirteenth Census period, in­
cluding the census work proper and the annual work of the Bureau,
would amount to $14,500,000, and requested an appropriation of
$2,500,000 in addition to the $12,000,000 theretofore appropriated.
This appropriation was duly granted by Congress. It is now found,
however, that the estimate of expense was too low. On account of
the extraordinary changes made with respect to the questions in the
schedules, the character of the machines employed, the methods of
checking the accuracy of the returns, and the character and form of
the tables prepared, it was quite impossible, from the experience of
the census of 1900, to make any accurate estimate of the cost of the
office work of the census of 1910. The estimate contained in my last

EEPOET OF TH E SECEETAEY OF COMMEBCE AND LABOB.

53

annual report was necessarily only approximate. It now appears
that the total cost of the work during the Thirteenth Census period
will be approximately $15,500,000, and I have therefore submitted
to Congress an estimate for a further appropriation of $1,000,000 to
complete the work up to June 30, 1912.
Should this appropriation be granted and the amount expended,
the total cost of the Thirteenth Census work proper during the census
period will be in the neighborhood of $13,800,000, the remaining
$1,700,000 representing the cost of the current annual work of the
Bureau. This estimated expense of $13,800,000 is all that can be
compared with the expense of about $11,770,000 incurred by the
Census Office during the Twelfth Census period, ended June 30, 1902.
The increase in the total cost of the Thirteenth Census as compared
with the Twelfth will therefore be about 17 per cent, whereas the
population of the country has increased 21 per cent. So far as office
work alone is concerned, the actual cost of the Thirteenth Census
will probably be less than that of the Twelfth Census, notwithstand­
ing the increase in population. The increase in the aggregate cost
is wholly in the field work.
The approximate cost of the field work of the Twelfth Census
was $4,925,000, and that of the Thirteenth Census $7,059,000, an
increase of a little over 40 per cent. This increase was due to tliree
principal causes—(1) the great increase in population and number of
farms, and in magnitude of manufacturing establishments to be can­
vassed ; (2) the necessity of paying higher rates to enumerators and
supervisors by reason of the general increase of wages throughout
the country, a necessity which was recognized in the census act itself,
which fixed higher salaries for supervisors and a higher minimum
rate of compensation for enumerators for collecting farm schedules;
(3) the increase in the number of inquiries upon the schedules, in
part due to positive enactments of law, the increase in territory
required to be covered, and the addition by law of certain special
investigations not covered by the census of 1900. The present census
covered Hawaii and Porto Rico, which were not covered in 1900;
it also included special investigations of irrigation; of institutions
for the dependent, defective, and delinquent classes; and of slaughter­
ing establishments, the latter for the purpose of ascertaining the
number of animals slaughtered for food or for hides.
The actual cost of the office work of the Twelfth Census, including
salaries, tabulating machinery, printing, and miscellaneous expenses,
was about $0,845,000, while the estimated cost of the same items for
the Thirteenth Census is slightly less, about $0,730,000. As a large
part of the office expenditures of the present census have already been
incurred, this estimate is a fairly close one, and it indicates that,
despite the great increase in population and in the magnitude of the

54

REPORT OF TH E SECRETARY OF COMMERCE AND LABOR.

work generally, and despite the additional inquiries covered by the
Thirteenth Census and the additional elaboration of certain classes of
the statistics, there will actually be a net saving in office expenditures.
The Director of the Census has very little discretionary control over
the cost of the field work of the census, and it is practically only in
the office work that reductions in expenditures can be brought about;
it is evident that in this branch the present administration has been
very successful in securing economy.
PR O PO SE D W O R K FO R T H E F IS C A L Y E A R

1913.

From what has been said above, it is seen that a large amount of
work in further elaboration of the Thirteenth Decennial Census ought
to be performed during the fiscal year 1913. It is, in fact, recom­
mended that the work of the Bureau of the Census during that fiscal
year lie confined substantially to this supplemental work and to the
annual investigations required by law. Very little work needs to be
done upon the special intercensal inquiries, quinquennial or decennial,
authorized by the permanent census act. On the other hand, the
activity of the Bureau during the fiscal years 1914 and 1915 should
properly be devoted to such intercensal inquiries.
This policy is substantially in accord with that in the fiscal year
following the Twelfth Census period. Much the greater part of the
work of the Bureau of the Census in the fiscal year 1903 was in the
supplemental analysis of the results of the Twelfth Census. A be­
ginning was made upon the special investigation of wealth, debt, and
taxation; but this investigation was not completed for several years.
It is considered preferable at the present time to defer the work on
wealth, debt, and taxation to the fiscal year 1914. The statistics of
this subject being based primarily upon the records of State and local
governments, the data can not be collected until after the close of the
fiscal year to which they relate. The proposed investigation, there­
fore, would best cover statistics for States and localities having fiscal
years ending June 30, 1913, or at any subsequent date up to but not
including June 30, 1914; in most cases, however, relating to fiscal
years ending June 30, 1913, or December 31 of that year.
It is not necessary or desirable, however, to defer the statistics of
electrical industries to any appreciable degree, and some field workon these industries should therefore be begun toward the close of
the fiscal year 1913, the greater part being performed during the
fiscal year 1914. This investigation would relate to the business year
of the various firms ending December 31, 1912, or at the nearest date
thereto, being thus at an interval of five years after the last similar
investigation.
By thus excluding, for the most part, during the fisc’al year 1913
work on intercensal inquiries other than those of an annual character,

REPORT OF TH E SECRETARY OF COMMERCE AND LABOR.

55

it will be possible to maintain a substantially uniform force in the
employ of the Bureau. Otherwise it would be necessary, provided
the desirable work in supplementing the Thirteenth Census is per­
formed, to have a much larger force for the fiscal year 1913 than for
the years immediately following. No real loss in the regular
periodicity of intercensal reports or in their value will result from
this policy; for, as already stated, very little work on such reports
was done during the fiscal year 1903, and the permanent force of the
Bureau will be adequate to perform all the required investigations
promptly during the years following 1913.
In order to completely finish all the supplemental tabulations and
analyses of the results of the Thirteenth Decennial Census which are
desirable, and at the same time to carry on the annual work of the
Bureau of the Census, it will be necessary to employ a somewhat
larger force during the fiscal year 1913 than during the fiscal year
1909, the last preceding the census period. The average number of
employees, including special agents, in the census force in Washing­
ton in 1909 was about 625, while it is expected that an average of 770
will be necessary for 1913, the number at the beginning of the year
being perhaps somewhat larger and at the end less than this figure.
As it is not believed that the number of employees for the fiscal year
1914 should appreciably exceed the number for 1909, it seems desir­
able that this temporary excess of clerical force should be provided
for through the retention of a limited number of the temporary Thir­
teenth Census clerks. The long experience of these clerks in census
work would render them more valuable than clerks who could be ob­
tained from the ordinary civil-service register, particularly in view of
the temporary character of the employment. I have, therefore, rec­
ommended to Congress, in connection with the estimates of appro­
priations for the Bureau of the Census for the fiscal year 1913, a
proviso that in addition to the regular force the Bureau may em­
ploy from among the temporary Thirteenth Census clerks on its
rolls on May 1, 1912, not to exceed 175 clerks for a period not to
extend beyond June 30, 1913, and have included an estimate of
$120,000 for the payment of such clerks at salaries not to exceed
$1,000 each or at piece-price rates of payment.
Owing to separations from the service which have occurred in the
Bureau of the Census since June 30, 1909, it will be necessary to
make a considerable number of appointments to the permanent census
force during the fiscal year 1913. I t is highly desirable that, in
making these appointments, the Bureau should be able to profit by
the training which it has given to temporary clerks during the Thir­
teenth Census period. Nevertheless, it is also desirable that these
permanent appointments should be made under the ordinary civilservice procedure. Many, however, of the temporary Thirteenth

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BEPORT OF TH E SECRETARY OF COMMERCE AND LABOR.

Census clerks have already successfully passed competitive civilservice examinations for departmental positions, and others will
doubtless pass such examinations in the near future. I have, there­
fore, recommended to Congress, in connection with the estimates for
the appropriations for 1913, that a proviso be inserted to the effect
that the Civil Service Commission, in certifying eligibles from the
examination registers for appointment to positions in the permanent
census force during the year 1913 at salaries of $1,200 or less, shall
give preference to those who have had at least one year’s experience
in census work. Such preference, however, is proposed to be subject
to the rule of apportionment, which rule would take precedence in
case there should not be, from a State entitled to appointment under
the apportionment, any candidate who had had the prescribed experi­
ence. It requires no argument to show that clerks who have had a
year or more of census work and who have also successfuly passed
a competitive examination for departmental clerkships would be
more useful additions to the census force than could possibly be
found among those who have had no such experience.

BUREAU OF IMMIGRATION AND NATURALIZATION.
IMMIGRATION IN GENERAL.

The report of the Commissioner General of Immigration shows
that the number of aliens who entered the country during the past
fiscal year was considerably smaller than the number that entered in
the fiscal year 1910, viz, 878,587, as compared with 1,041,570, the
difference being 162,983. At the close of the fiscal year 1910 the
influx of foreigners was large and continuous. This condition is
shown to have obtained throughout the next four months—July,
Augilst, September, and October—but beginning with November and
extending throughout the remainder of the year there was a constant
falling off in the number of arrivals.
The figures given above relate to immigrant aliens, viz, those com­
ing to the country with the avowed purpose of remaining. In addi­
tion to the 878,587 such persons, 151,713 of the nonimmigrant, class
entered, making a total of 1,030,300, compared with 1,198,037 for the
previous fiscal year. During the year there departed from the coun­
try 518,215, of whom 295,666 were of the emigrant and 222,549 of
the nonemigrant class. In the previous fiscal year 380,418 aliens left
the country, of whom 202,436 were of the emigrant and 177,982 of
the nonemigrant class. A comparison of these figures shows that the
actual increase in the alien population for the fiscal year 1911 was
512,085, as compared with 817,619 for the fiscal year 1910 and 543,843
for 1909.
A G E S, L IT E R A C Y , A N D F I N A N C I A L C O N D IT IO N O F IM M IG R A N T S .

The following facts regarding the 878,587 immigrant aliens ad­
mitted during the year are significant. The ages of 714,709 of them
ranged between 14 and 44 years, while 117,837 were under 14 and
46,041 were 45 or over. Concerning those over 14 years of age,
182,273 could neither read nor write, and 2,930 could read but not
write, a total of 185,203. It is interesting to compare this with the
number of illiterates admitted in the fiscal year 1910—258,140—espe­
cially as the decrease of 72,937 is not explained by the general de­
crease in immigration, but is an actual lowering of the ratio, thus:
Of those admitted in 1910 over 14 years of age 28 per cent were illit­
erate, while of those admitted in 1911 over 14 years of age only 24.5
per cent were illiterate. The total amount of money shown to inspec­
tion officers by arriving aliens was $29,411,488, or an average of about
57

58

REPORT OF TH E SECRETARY OF COMMERCE AND LABOR.

$33 per person. There is no way to determine how much of this was
sent the applicants by relatives or friends living in the United States.
Of the aliens entering 586,904 claimed to have paid their own
passage, while 281,718 admitted that their passage had been paid by
relatives and 9,965 admitted that it had been paid by some person
other than a relative. On this point it is difficult to obtain reliable
information, as dependence must be placed upon the statements made
by the aliens, who frequently feel that it is to their advantage to not
disclose the facts. The fact that over 33$ per cent of the total num­
ber admitted ivere assisted, whereas in 1910 only 25 per cent were,
indicates a remarkable increase.
A G ES A N D P E R IO D S O F R E S ID E N C E O F D E P A R T IN G A L IE N S .

During the year 295,666 aliens emigrated from the United States.
Concerning 49,080 of these, a record of the period they had lived here
could not be procured, as they left across the Canadian border. The
statistics show, however, that 15,889 of these emigrants were less
than 14, 248,021 were from 14 to 44, and 31,756 were 45 years of age
or over; 201,294 had resided in the United States less than 5 years,
35,323 from 5 to 10 years, 4,990 from 10 to 15 years, 2,438 from 15 to
20 years, and 2,541 over 20 years.
O C C U P A T IO N S O F IM M IG R A N T S A N D E M IG R A N T S .

It is interesting to note the general classes into which the occupa­
tions of the aliens entering and leaving the country, respectively, are
segregated. Of common unskilled laborers, 155,996 immigrated and
173,952 emigrated, compared with 148,892 skilled immigrating and
33,473 emigrating. Thus, there was an actual decrease during the
year in unskilled laborers of approximately 18,000, while there was
an increase of skilled of over 100,000.
SO U R C E S O F IM M IG R A T IO N .

The growing disparity between the number of aliens entering the
United States from countries of northern and western Europe and
those entering from countries of southern and eastern Europe is
again illustrated by the statistics for the past year. Formerly a large
proportion of our immigration came from Teutonic and Celtic coun­
tries. During the past year only 202,391 immigrants, or about 23
per cent of the total, came thence, constituted as follows: Belgium,
5,711; Denmark, 7,555; France, 8,022; German Empire, 32,061;
Netherlands, 8,358; Norway, 13,950; Sweden, 20,780; Switzerland,
3,458; England, 52,426; Ireland, 29,112; Scotland, 18,796; Wales,
2,162. On the other hand, 572,218 immigrants, or about 65 per cent

REPORT OF TH E SECRETARY OF COMMERCE AND LABOR.

59

■of the total, came from the Iberic and Slavonic countries, segregated
as follows: Italy, 182,882; Russia, principally southern, but in­
cluding Finland, 158,721; Austria, 82,129; Hungary, 76,928; Greece,
26,226; Turkey in Europe and adjoining principalities, 21,655;
Turkey in Asia, 10,229; Portugal, 8,374; Spain', 5,074.
R E J E C T I O N S O F A R R IV IN G A L IE N S .

During the year 22,349 aliens were rejected as belonging to the
excluded classes. This important subject is clearly stated by a table
given in the report of the Commissioner General of Immigration,
showing the principal causes of rejection for the years 1906 to 1911,
inclusive, which table is reproduced here. Particular attention
should be directed to the fact that the two classes “ Likely to become
a public charge,” and “ Physically or mentally defective ” often merge;
some of the 12,048 of the former and many of the 3,055 of the latter
shown by this table having been rejected on both grounds, it not
being easy to determine in preparing statistics which was the prin­
cipal reason for exclusion.
Causes of rejection.

1900

1907

Id io ts.........................................................................................

02

29

Insanity (including epileptics)...........................................
Likely to become a public charge, Including paupers
and beggars...........................................................................
Afflicted w ith contagious d ise a se ......................................

139

189

7,009
2,273

0.8G6
3,822

C rim inals..................................................................................
P rostitutes and other immoral w om en.............................
Procurers of p ro stitu tes.......................................................
C ontract laborers.....................................................................

205
30
2
2,314

341
18
1
1,434

1908

1009

1910

1911

20
45
121
184

18
42
121
167

16
40
125
198

12
20
126
144

3,741
2,847
59
870
130
124
43
1,932

4,458
2,308
82
370
273
323
181
1,172

15,927
3,033
95
312
580
316
179
1,780

12,048
2,735
111
3,055
044
303
141
1,330

A L IE N C O N T R A C T L A B O R ER S.

The satisfactory conditions with respect to the enforcement of this
feature of the law set forth in the Commissioner General’s reports
for 1909 and 1910 are shown by his report for the past year to have
been continued. In fact, the examples contained in his report seem
to show that the year has witnessed noteworthy success, especially
by way of prosecutions against flagrant violations of the law. Tak­
ing the more important cases, it is shown that as much as $79,506
were assessed in fines and that several suits involving amounts of
considerable size are still pending.

60

REPORT OF TH E SECRETARY OF COMMERCE A STD LABOR.
A R R E ST S A N D D E P O R T A T IO N S .

During the year 2,788 warrants of deportation were executed after
granting hearings to the arrested aliens, compared with 2,695 for the
previous year. These were divided as follows: Members of the ex­
cluded classes at the time of entry, 1,151; those who became public
charges from causes existing prior to entry, 857; those who were
found to be prostitutes subsequent to entry, 129; those who en­
tered without inspection, 555; together with 71 members of the new
class created by the amendatory act of March 26, 1910, viz, the
sexually immoral who had been in the country more than three years.
To the 2,788 deportations on warrant above mentioned should be
added the 22,349 rejected at the ports as members of the excluded
classes, making a total of 25,119 depox-ted. Attention is directed to
the fact that of the total number 8,767 were deported or rejected
because physically, mentally, or morally below the standard set by
the law, compared with 6,612 in the previous year.
J A P A N E S E A N D K O R E A N LA B O R ER S.

With respect to the enforcement of the President’s proclamation of
March 14, 1907, satisfactory results are shown. During the year
4,328 Japanese applied for admission to continental United States,
4,282 of whom were admitted and 46 debarred. Of those applying,
4,179 were and 149 were not in possession of proper passports. Of
those holding such passports, 4,090 belonged to classes entitled under
the proclamation and understanding with Japan to receive such cre­
dentials, and only 89 were not entitled thereto. The said 4,090 con­
sisted of 1,146 former residents, 2,185 parents, wives, or children of
residents, and 759 new arrivals, who were nonlaborers. The 89 not
entitled to passports were laborers who were neither former residents
nor the parents, wives, or children of such residents. During the
same period 2,193 Japanese applied for admission to Hawaii, 2,159
of whom were admitted and 34 debarred. Of those applying, 2,153
had and 6 had not proper passports. Of those holding such passports,
2,069 were entitled and 118 were not entitled to them. Of the 2,069,
413 were former residents and 1,656 the parents, wives, or children of
such residents.
C H IN E S E

IM M IG R A T IO N .

The Commissioner General’s report shows that the difficulties of
enforcing the Chinese-exclusion laws have not decreased. While
every possible effort is exerted to insure the prompt admission of
Chinese entitled to enter and the rejection at the ports or apprehen­
sion along the border of those who attempt to enter in violation of
law, the conditions which confront the administrative officers in en­
forcing these laws are so great that a reasonable degree of success

KEPORT OF TH E SECRETARY OF COMMERCE AND LABOR.

61

is accepted as cause of congratulation. The policy of making it
convenient for Chinese lawfully residing in the United States to
leave and return has been continued, as has also the practice of ac­
cording full value to certificates approved by consular officers and
presented by Chinese arriving for the first time, but with respect to a
considerable number of this last-mentioned class of cases palpable
frauds have been detected.
During the year the applications for admission of 5,935 Chinese
were considered, of whom 5,107 were admitted, 692 deported, with
136 cases pending at the close of the year. The corresponding figures
for the previous year were: Total applications, 7,064; admissions,
5,950; deportations, 969; escapes, 6; and pending at close of year, 139.
IM M IG R A T IO N S T A T IO N S .

It is necessary again to report slow progress in the erection of the
several immigration stations, some time since authorized by Congress,
and comment with respect to which has been made in several previous
reports. A site has finally been acquired for the Boston station, the
complications which arose with respect to same having been adjusted.
The site and old buildings acquired for the Philadelphia station at
Gloucester City, N. J., have already been occupied by the immigra­
tion commissioner and his force of employees, and the erection of
additional buildings and the construction of a wharf are being pushed
as rapidly as possible, though an additional appropriation to cover
an expenditure already authorized is necessary and has not yet been
made. A site has been acquired at Locust Point, Baltimore, for the
building of a station and plans are now being prepared. The con­
struction of a wharf and building at Charleston, S. C., is now well
under way. Additional appropriations for land and buildings aggre­
gating $65,000 having been made by Congress in March last, it be­
comes necessary to acquire another lot of ground and to change the
plans which had been prepared for the station at New Orleans. The
immigrant station at Galveston, Tex., is completed and has been ac­
cepted, and will be occupied as soon as an appropriation is made by
Congress for furnishing it.
DIVISION OF INFORMATION.

The Chief of the Division of Information reports that 30,657 per­
sons received information from this service during the year, no one
being registered more than once. This is an increase of 12,418 over
the previous year.
The number of those giving their occupation as farm laborer was
7,134, an increase of 1,932 over the last fiscal year; 8,028 day laborers
applied, an increase of 3,171; 978 carpenters were registered, but, as

G2

REPORT OF TH E SECRETARY OF COMMERCE AND LABOR.

in the case of skilled laborers generally, many of these made inquiry
concerning opportunities on the land, either as “ share croppers ” or
as prospective purchasers.
Of the number applying, 5,176 went direct to places where they
were employed, an increase of 893 over the previous year. The ap­
plicants made their own selections and terms, the Division merely
directing them in order that they might reach destination without
delay or inconvenience. Only 5 failed to report to their prospective
employers.
The carpenters, machinists, painters, pipe fitters, tailors, weaver’s,
and other skilled workmen distributed went principally to villages
and towns where they could follow other lines of activity and derive
benefits accruing from the use of garden plats and low house rent.
Particular care is exercised to direct no one where he might replace
labor already employed.
One thousand one hundred and twenty-seven Germans and 1,044
Poles made use of the information given them, as compared with 939
Germans and 700 Poles in 1910. Of the 19 Germans going to Texas,
2 are now engaged in securing land for a German colony to be re­
cruited from eastern cities.
New York State was selected by 2,545, New Jersey by 1,236, Con­
necticut by 252, Tennessee by 233, Alabama by 136, and Texas by
211. The balance were divided among other States, as shown in
detailed tables in the report of the Commissioner General of Immi­
gration.
The Assistant Chief visited the capitals of the States of Ohio, Illi­
nois, Indiana, Iowa, Nebraska, Wisconsin, and Michigan to confer
with the governors and other State officials, with a view to securing
their cooperation in the work of promoting a beneficial distribution
of admitted aliens and others. The State of Ohio has established a
bureau of farm labor and with other States is actively cooperating
with the Division.
The Southern Commercial Congress, representing 16 Southern
States, at its meeting at Atlanta, Ga., on March 12, 1911, adopted
resolutions setting forth the need for immigrants in the South and
urging the various States to establish bureaus or boards of publicity
and information, with a view to cooperating with the Division.
The National Board of Trade, meeting in Washington on January
17-19, 1911, adopted resolutions commending the work of the Divi­
sion and recommended “ the providing by Congress of a larger appro­
priation, to make possible the opening of branch offices at the vari­
ous seaports of our country.”
On May 16, 1911, a note was addressed to the governor of each
State and Territory in the United States, requesting data with regard
to opportunities offered sellers. The replies evidence a keen interest

REPORT OF TH E SECRETARY OF COMMERCE AND LABOR.

63

in the subject, and the interest created resulted in a conference of
immigration, land, and labor officials at Washington, D. C., in
November, 1911.
The applications on file show that thousands could be directed toplaces as farm workers where, in addition to the monthly wage,
house rent, garden plat, fuel, and, in most cases, milk are offered free.
The wages for this class of work have risen with the increased de­
mand for farm products. The Division again reports a growing
tendency on the part of laboring men to seek farm work as a means
of obtaining a livelihood, and, as heretofore, it has devoted its prin­
cipal efforts to fostering the sentiment in favor of farm life and
farm work, which must continue to expand and grow in importanceDIVISION OF NATURALIZATION.

During the past fiscal year the work of the Division of Naturaliza­
tion has shown a large increase in the number of naturalization
papers received from the various courts, both State and Federal,
exercising naturalization jurisdiction. There were 314,484 decla­
rations, petitions, and certificates for naturalization received, as
compared with 261,470 for 1910 and 222,727 for 1909. These figures
represent an increase of 41 per cent, or 91,757 naturalization papers,
in the annual volume of the work of this office since 1909. This lias
been chiefly true of declarations of intention, 186,157 declarations
having been received, as against 143,212 in 1909 and 167,226 in 1910.
Petitions reached 72,998, an increase over 1909 of 30,820. The num­
ber of certificates of naturalization was 55,329, being an increase of
16,123 over the 39,206 shown in the last annual report and 17,992
over the total of 37,337 in 1909. This increase in the filing of natu­
ralization papers has been general throughout the United States,
although it has been especially true in a few courts, due to the em­
ployment of assistants to clerks of courts for the purpose of relieving
congestion in naturalization matters in those courts.
There are now 2,499 courts exercising naturalization jurisdiction,
and during the period covered by this report 64,346 petitions for
naturalization were heard and disposed of. The result of the judicial
action upon these petitions was the admission of 55,329 aliens to
citizenship and the denial of 9,017 applicants, for various causes,
among the more important being immoral character, ignorance,
both of a general nature and of the institutions of our Government,
incompetency of witnesses, invalid declarations of intention, want of
prosecution, and various failures to comply with the naturalization
law.
In endeavoring to represent the Government at as many of the
hearings upon these petitions for citizenship as possible, the natur­

G4

REPORT OF TH E SECRETARY OF COMMERCE AND LABOR.

alization examining force has spared neither time nor labor. The
services of the 55 men who constitute the full force are inadequate
to investigate effectively and to report upon this large number of
cases to so many different courts. The force of examiners is not large
enough to cope with the entire naturalization business of the
country. It is impossible for them to make the preliminary exami­
nation of more than a fraction of the cases and to be prepared to
satisfy the courts as to tjie admissibility of candidates.
To cope with the large volume of work thus thrown upon the
Division and its field force a further increase in the appropriations
should be made to admit of the employment of additional clerks
and examiners.
The total expenditures on account of the Naturalization Service
during the past year were $224,568.92. Of this there, was expended
for the administrative force in Washington $43,947.10, and for the
field service $149,878.30, which includes $18,448.29 for the assistants
to clerks of courts for naturalization purposes. In addition to this
the service was supplied with stationery and office equipment worth
$5,246.90, envelopes and special paper worth $5,929.22, and printing
and binding valued at $19,567.40. The amount received on account
of naturalization business during the year for deposit in the mis­
cellaneous receipts of the Treasury was $290,551.52, so that the cost
of the administration of the naturalization law was borne entirely
by the alien applicants for citizenship, and was $65,982.60 less than
the fees received.
It is again urged that provision be made for a review by appeal
or writ of error of the decisions of the courts of original jurisdic­
tion in naturalization matters so as to attain the end contemplated
by the framers of the Constitution, viz, “ a uniform rule of natural­
ization.”
It is also urged that legislation be had to permit the amendment
of naturalization papers which have been improperly executed by
clerks of courts, so as to prevent the dismissal of petitions which fail
in this particular.

BUREAU OF CORPORATIONS.
R E P O R T S P U B L IS H E D .

During the last fiscal year the Bureau of Corporations has continued
its investigation of industrial corporations and related subjects.
In September, 1910, it published Part III of its Report on Trans­
portation by Water in the United States. Parts I and II, previously
issued, had dealt with the physical characteristics of waterways and
their floating equipment, and with the domestic water-borne traffic.
Part III treated of water terminals, and has perhaps been the part
most widely cited and used.
In February, 1911, the Bureau published the Summary of Part I of
a Report on the Lumber Industry. This part treats of the standing
timber of the country, its amount, its geographical distribution, and
especially the remarkable and growing concentration in its ownership.
This report on standing timber is one of the first to deal with a great
natural resource. It raised questions of national importance, not only
with respect to problems directly connected with our timber supply
but, by close and plain analogy, in regard to similar problems involved
in our other natural resources, such as coal, iron ore, etc. The task of
ascertaining the amount, location, and ownership of our standing
timber, distributed as it is over the entire United States, was neces­
sarily a diilicult one, but the results and tho broad conclusions reached
are of great value, especially as applied to our past and present publicland policy.
P E N D IN G

IN V E S T IG A T IO N S .

The Bureau had on hand, also, as current work at the end of the
fiscal year, investigations into the International Harvester Co. and
the ownership of water powers, and is also preparing further reports
on the lumber, steel, and tobacco industries, on transportation by
water, and on State taxation of corporations.
The Bureau’s reports, while embodied in full in somewhat large
volumes, have also been digested in each case into very brief sum­
maries, adapted for wide circulation. This method, presenting the
important facts and tendencies of great industries directly to all citi­
zens, is a vital point in the Bureau’s publicity policy. The Bureau rec­
ognizes that to make its work of real value it must bring home the
results of its investigations to the general public. To do this it must
not only have broad and accurate information, but also must publish
briefly and clearly the fundamental facts in the given industry. It
21357"—12-----5

65

66

REPORT OF TH E SECRETARY OF COMMERCE AND LABOR.

is believed that improvements in the conditions of corporate busi­
nesses have been and are steadily being brought about by the
Bureau’s work.
C O R P O R A T E R E G U L A T IO N .

The decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States in the
Standard Oil and American Tobacco Co. cases have brought forcibly
to public attention a fact that has been repeatedly presented in the
reports of the Department. That fact is the imperative need for
the positive administrative regulation of great industrial corpora­
tions.
The Sherman antitrust act has been demonstrated to be a
thoroughly effective measure. But the mere breaking up of large
combinations into a number of separate parts by no means meets
the whole question. A certain degree of combination of capital is
admittedly essential for the carrying on of our great business enter­
prises. To control properly such necessary combinations, we must
have some administrative Federal office or commission which shall
make this work its business. We must have a permanent authority
which shall by steady and continuous supervision and publicity
safeguard the public interests, and at the same time allow full scope
for necessary and proper business efficiency and development.
The recent decisions and the reorganizations which followed have
made it clear that another imperative step remains to be taken, and
that this step is the establishment by appropriate legislation of a
broad system of supervision and publicity for all those industrial and
commercial organizations that are engaged in interstate and inter­
national business.
Whether this shall be done by means of Federal incorporation, or
by a Federal office or commission exercising powers of supervision
and regulation, may be a secondary question. The first considera­
tion appears to be the establishment of permanent administrative
publicity, supervision, and regulation. The time is peculiarly ripe
for such action. Public opinion and the views of many corporate
managers are at one.
The experience and information acquired by the Bureau of Cor­
porations through eight years of work investigating such problems
will necessarily be of great importance in the development of any
system which would, in a sense, be the logical expansion of the
Bureau’s operations and policy. The Bureau’s past work, relying
solely on publicity, has demonstrated beyond question what such a
system of permanent supervision can do, and presents one of the
strongest arguments for the broadening of that system into some
such form as is here suggested.

BUREAU OF LABOR.
R E P O R T S P U B L IS H E D .

During the fiscal year ended June 30, 1911, the Bureau published
its Twenty-fourth Annual Report, relating to Workmen’s Insurance
and Compensation Systems in Europe, in two volumes, and its Fourth
Report on Hawaii, a report on industrial and commercial conditions
in the Territory which is made regularly at intervals of five years.
In addition, eight volumes of the Report on Condition of Woman
and Child Wage-Earners in the United States (S. Doc. No. 645, 61st
Cong., 2d sess.) were issued. These volumes embody a portion of
the results of an investigation of this subject made in compliance with
an act of Congress and their titles are as follows:
Volume I. Cotton Textile Industry.
Volume II. Men’s Ready-Made Clothing.
Volume III. Glass Industry.
Volume IV. Silk Industry.
Volume V. Wage-Earning Women in Stores and Factories.
Volume VI. The Beginnings of Child-Labor Legislation in Certain States: A Com­
parative Study.
Volume V II. Conditions under which Children Leave School to go to Work.
Volume V III. Juvenile Delinquency and its Relation to Employment.

Since the close of the fiscal year additional volumes have been
issued as follows:
Volume X . History of Women in Trade Unions.
Volume X I. Employment of Women in the Metal Trades.
Volume X II. Employment of Women in Laundries

The Twenty-fifth Annual Report of the Commissioner of Labor,
which relates to industrial education in the United States, and which
was transmitted early in June, 1911, has also been printed and dis­
tributed. This report is limited to trade, vocational, and other indus­
trial education of a strictly practical character.
B IM O N T H L Y B U L L E T IN S .

The bulletins of the Bureau issued during the year have contained,
in addition to one or more special articles in each number, digests of
recent reports of State bureaus of labor, digests of recent foreign
official labor publications, decisions of courts affecting labor, and
laws of various States and of the United States relating to labor.
67

68

REPORT OF TH E SECRETARY OF COMMERCE AND LABOR.

The special articles included in the bulletins for the past fiscal
year are as follows:
Bulletin 89. Child-labor legislation in Europe.
Bulletin 90. Fatal accidents in coal mines; Recent action concerning accident
compensation; Foreign workmen’s compensation acts; Cost of industrial accident
insurance.
Bulletin 91. Working hours of wage-earning women in Chicago; Labor laws
declared unconstitutional; Review of labor legislation of 1910; Law3 of various
States relating to labor enacted since January 1, 1910.
Bulletin 92. Industrial accidents and loss of earning power: German experience;
Workmen’s compensation insurance: Laws and bills, 1911.
Bulletin 93. Wholesale prices, 1890 to 1910; Report of British Board of Trade on
cost of living in the principal industrial towns in the United States; Reports of
British Board of Trade on cost of living in England and Wales, Germany, France,
Belgium, and the United States; Hours of labor of men, women, and children in
factories in Austria.
Bulletin 94. Fourth report of the Commissioner of Labor on Hawaii.
R E P O R T S T R A N S M IT T E D A N D IN

C O U R S E O F P R E P A R A T IO N .

In addition to the eleven volumes of the Report on Condition o f
Woman and Child Wage-Earners in the United States which have
been issued, the following four volumes are in the hands of the
printer, and will appear at short intervals:
Volume
Volume
Volume
Volume

IX. History of Women in Industry in the United Suites.
XIV. Employment of Women and Infant Mortality.
XV. Relation of Occupation and Criminality of Women.
XVI. Family Budgets of Typical Cotton-Mill Workers.

Four other volumes of this report, relating to various special
aspects of the employment of women and children, will soon be ready
for the printer.
A large part of the force of theBureau has been engaged throughout
almost the entire year upon an investigation of the iron and steel
industry, in compliance with a resolution of the Senate. The iirst
volume of the report of the investigation, which is devoted to wages,
hours of labor, and days worked, was transmitted to the Senate
during July, 1911, and is now in press. The volume covers condi­
tions in practically every important plant in the industry in the
United States. Other volumes which are in preparation will relate
to conditions of work and to accidents and accident prevention.
An investigation is in progress in regard to retail prices of food and
wages in the principal industries in the United States, the results
to be presented as the Twenty-sixth Annual Report of the Bureau.
The information will cover the period 1890 to the end of 1911, in con­
tinuation of the previous studies of the Bureau on wages and prices.
Work is also going on in preparation of a comprehensive study of
the labor laws of all the principal industrial countries. Other lines of
special investigation now being carried on will be continued through

REPORT OP TH E SECRETARY OF COMMERCE AND LABOR.

69

the coming year, and the results will be published from time to time
in the Bulletin. One involves a series of special studies relating to
the employment of women and girls, while another is a study of indus­
trial diseases as related to various employments and industries, and
still another will cover in a comprehensive way the subject of col­
lective agreements and conciliation and arbitration in this and other
countries.
G O V E R N M E N T W O R K IN G M E N ’S C O M P E N S A T IO N A CT.

Under the act of May 30, 1908, providing for compensation for
injuries to certain employees of the United States, 2,895 claims for
compensation were received during the year ended June 30, 1911,
besides 16 cases pending July 1 , 1910. Of these (2,911), 136 were
claims for compensation on account of deaths of employees, of which
106 were found to be established, 28 were not allowed, and 2 were
pending at the close of the year. The cases in which death did not
result were 2,775 in number, of which 2,611 were found to be enti­
tled to compensation, while in 152 cases the claim for compensation
was not supported, and 12 cases were pending at the end of the year.
In connection with the administration of the compensation act,
provision is also made for reporting of injuries to all classes of em­
ployees of the Government not covered by the compensation act
which occur in the course of employment when the injury causes disa­
bility for one day or longer or results in immediate death. The total
number of accidents thus reported was 5,201.
The above totals do not include cases of injury to employees of
the Isthmian Canal Commission where the resultant disability was
of less than 15 days’ duration; neither do they include injuries or
claims arising since March 3, 1911, on account of accidents to em­
ployees of the Isthmian Canal Commission, the administration of the
law in respect to such employees having been transferred to the
Commission on that date.
Various amendments to the law have been proposed in Congress
within the past year, of which but one was adopted. This amend­
ment had the effect of transferring the entire administration of the
law, in so far as it affects employees of the Isthmian Canal Commis­
sion, to that body. Reports of the operations of the law will, however,
be made byT the Commission, as well as of the number of accidents
occurring, regardless of the application of the law thereto. This act
also fixed the period for filing claims for compensation on account
of death at one year instead of 90 days, as heretofore, and makes the
law applicable to all employees under the Isthmian Canal Commis­
sion when injured in the course of their employment.

BUREAU OF MANUFACTURES.

The Bureau of Manufactures has carried forward its allotted work
for the promotion and development of the manufacturing interests
of the United States, and a considerable growth in this service during
the fiscal year is to be noted. The fiscal year was marked by
the increase of the export trade of the country to a total of over
$2,000,000,000 in value, manufactured exports comprising approxi­
mately half of this amount. This expansion of our foreign commerce
emphasizes the importance of the work of the Bureau of Manufactures
through its investigations and reports respecting its various phases.
Manufacturers are relying on the Bureau more and more for informa­
tion in regard to general trade conditions in foreign countries as
reported by consular officers and commercial agents, and increasing
interest is shown in the bulletins of the Bureau respecting foreign tariffs,
special manufacturing industries, and other subjects. The outgoing
correspondence of the Bureau has grown from 23,410 letters in 1910
to 40,140 letters during the year 1911—an increase of 70 per cent—
and the distribution of its publications has been correspondingly
increased. Letters received in June, 1910, numbered 3,132; in June,
1911, 4,338—an increase of nearly 40 per cent. In 1910, 12,987
letters regarding trade opportunities were sent out, and in 1911,
20,043 were mailed.
With the increase in the edition of the Daily Consular and Trade
Reports to a maximum of 20,000 copies, which was authorized by
Congress in June, 1910, it has been possible to distribute the valuable
trade information in that journal much more generally than hereto­
fore; and the work of consular officers and commercial agents in
behalf of export trade has been made more effective. It is now
necessary to recommend a further increase in the edition of the
Daily, as the present mailing list already contains nearly 18,000
names of manufacturers and exporters.
It is estimated that at least 30,000 firms in the United States
are directly interested in export trade, although no definite figures
are available to this office for this estimate. The Bureau is now
endeavoring to complete its knowledge of such firms, and is develop­
ing its list of manufacturers classified by product, with a view to
the prompt and efficient distribution of the useful trade facts received
or collected by the Bureau.
70

REPORT OF TH E SECRETARY OF COMMERCE AND LABOR.

7]

IN C R E A S E D P U B L IC IT Y S E C U R E D .

To secure the widest publicity for such facts is deemed one of the
most important of the duties imposed on the Bureau. Much atten­
tion has been paid during the year to the establishment of suitable
filing methods, mailing lists, and other similar office adjuncts, in
order to have available well-correlated and effective working systems.
Such methods will make possible the prompt and intelligent dis­
semination of the bulletins, confidential circulars, reports, and
correspondence of the Bureau. With the same purpose in view in
sending forth the publications on special topics such as “ Packing
for Export,” “ Underpaid Foreign Postage,” and “ Export Trade
Exploitation,” letters have been written to many journals and to
officers of commercial and manufacturing organizations and trans­
portation lines calling attention to the subjects treated and seeking
cooperation in the distribution of such material. That such methods
are effective is shown by the fact that of the pamphlets just men­
tioned more than 10,000 copies have been distributed, several thou­
sand copies having been sold by the Superintendent of Documents
as a result of the publicity secured through these special efforts.
The success that has been secured, however, has added materially
to the volume of work imposed on the Bureau, and recommendation
has been made to Congress for additions to the personnel of the
Bureau sufficient to meet the increasing demands on the service.
C O M M E R C IA L A G E N T S .

The investigations of the commercial agents of the Bureau have
been continued actively, and this service promises to become as
important a factor in the effort to promote and foster the manu­
facturing interests as similar work has become in several foreign
manufacturing countries. In accordance with the policy of the Bureau
to make the work of commercial agents supplement rather than dupli­
cate the work of consular officers, technical and special experts have
been sought, and there have been engaged men with expert knowledge
of cotton textiles, machinery and tools, boots and shoes, chemical
manufactures, electrical manufactures, and similar interests. Other
lines of manufacture and export will be taken up as rapidly as prac­
ticable. The interest by manufacturers in the investigations of
these commercial agents is growing, and the Bureau is in receipt of
many inquiries and suggestions in connection with this work.
No recommendation has been made for any increase over the
current appropriation for commercial agents for the coming fiscal
year, as it is deemed inadvisable to suggest extending investigations
which will impose an additional burden on the editorial division of
the Bureau until that branch of the office has been sufficiently

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REPORT OF TH E SECRETARY OF COMMERCE AND LABOR.

strengthened to permit it to takecareof agreater volumeof manuscript.
Recommendation has been made for suitable salaries in that division
to permit the logical growth of the work of the Bureau. The very
success of the efforts of the Bureau in interesting manufacturers will
tend to hamper and reduce its efficiency unless liberal support is
given by providing a well balanced and competent corps of assistants
to carry forward this important work.
E X T E N S IO N O F W O R K O F C O M M E R C IA L A G E N T S .

The recent legislation modifying the law in regard to the service of
commercial agents, permitting them to extend their investigations to
the United States and the insular possessions, is important, and
it is certain will materially enhance the usefulness of these agents.
This will permit a commercial agent to make effective the results of
his researches, not only by written reports, but by direct and personal
communication with the commercial associations and manufacturers
interested in the subject of his studies, and will also help to provide
the Bureau with definite knowledge of domestic conditions related to
its work.
P U B L IC A T IO N S .

Twenty-five monographs and pamphlets on miscellaneous trade
and tariff subjects were issued during the year; also the usual
annual volume of Commercial Relations for 1909, containing 1,035
pages. Four confidential bulletins and 97 confidential circuláis
were also distributed. The World Trade Directory, for which an
appropriation of $6,500 was made, was issued in February, and to
July 1, 1911, 2,600 copies at S5 each were sold through the Super­
intendent of Documents. Over four million copies of the Daily
Consular and Trade Reports were distributed during the year. It
is deemed that the opportunity is presented to the Bureau to make
this daily journal, which is reaching a constantly increasing num­
ber of the important manufacturing finos of the country, the medium
for the distribution of useful information, not only in regard to foreign
trade, but also concerning many matters of strictly domestic interest.
Much of the valuable work of the Federal Government for the promo­
tion of commerce and manufacture loses some of its effect through
the failure of the interests concerned to receive prompt and specific
information in regard to such work, and the Daily Consular and
Trade Reports might be developed into an admirable vehicle for
publicity along these lines. Its readers are a special class of practical
men to whom such information would bo of undoubted value. A
beginning has already been made by publishing notes of forthcoming
publications, special departmental work, and similar matters relating
to the various bureaus of the Government, and this service will be

REPORT OF TH E SECRETARY OF COMMERCE AND LABOR.

73

extended as opportunity is presented. It is believed that the
special attention which has been paid to the methods of distribution
of this and other publications has resulted in a material increase in
the practical results of this service.
F O R E IG N T A R IF F S .

As in the other branches of the office, special efforts have been
made during the past year to increase the practical usefulness of
the foreign tariff work of the Bureau to the business interests of the
United States. Manufacturers and exporters have been invited to
register their names and to indicate the articles of merchandise and
the countries in which they are most concerned, for the twofold
purpose of selecting for immediate treatment in publications the
subjects that are shown to be of widest interest and also to facilitate
the prompt transmission of notices of recent or impending tariff
changes.
The current tariff publications of the Bureau have been kept up to
date, and printed supplements are issued whenever the changes be­
come sufficiently numerous to justify that action. In the meantime,
multigraphed supplemental circulars containing current information
to date are distributed with already published tariff bulletins.
Requests for statements of the duties imposed by foreign countries
have been received from manufacturers in much larger numbers than
heretofore, and whenever possible the statements requested have been
furnished.
Experience has demonstrated that the compilation of reports
giving the rates of duty on a group of commodities in various coun­
tries is of even greater usefulness than the publication of the com­
plete tariff's of individual countries. The preparation of a report
showing the duties on textile manufactures in Latin-American
countries is now in progress and a report on metal manufactures in
all countries will follow.
An added service was installed during the year by the publication
at intervals in pamphlet form of all notices of changes in tariff rates
and customs regulations that appear in the Daily Consular and Trade
Reports. The necessity for this new bulletin, which has been given
the title of “ Foreign Tariff Notes,” arose through the discontinuance
of the publication of the Monthly Consular and Trade Reports, in
which formerly items appearing in the Daily and Weekly Consular
and Trade Reports were assembled. Three numbers, containing in
all 96 pages, giving a brief description of all proposed revisions of
foreign tariffs, as well as actual changes in the rates and regulations,
were published.
By the act of June 17, 1910, the Bureau was intrusted with the
duty of furnishing “ information to Congress and the Executive

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REPORT OF TH E SECRETARY OF COMMERCE AND LABOR.

relative to the customs laws and regulations of foreign countries,”
and this branch of the work has already assumed considerable pro­
portions.
The library connected with the foreign tariff work, in which can be
found official publications of the various governments, reference
books, and general works treating of foreign tariffs, has been enlarged
until it now contains approximately 2,000 volumes and pamphlets.
Access to the library is granted freely to students and business men
engaged in researches in the field of foreign customs legislation, and
whenever practicable documents and manuscript reports on file are
loaned for a limited time to responsible persons.
It is believed that the importance of the work of this Bureau to
manufacturers and exporters justifies special interest in its growth
and liberal support of its activities by Congress. The Bureau has
been thus far, as stated in my report last year, scarcely more than
well established. The field to be developed is very large and has
great possibilities of useful and profitable service. When these
possibilities are fully understood by commercial, industrial, and
manufacturing interests, there will no doubt be an insistent demand
for an adequate personnel of commercial experts and ample equip­
ment to carry forward the legitimate work of the Bureau for the “ fos­
tering, promoting, and developing of the manufacturing industries of
the United States.”

BUREAU OF STATISTICS.

The Bureau of Statistics, which records the foreign commerce of
the United States, together with such information regarding the
interna] commerce as can be gathered with its limited facilities
therefor, has materially increased the detail of its work during the
year.
V A L U E S O F IM P O R T S A N D E X P O R T S .

According to the records of the Bureau, the foreign commerce of
the country in the fiscal year 1911 showed a larger total in value of
exports than in any earlier year and a larger value of imports than
in any year except 1910. The total value of the exports, was
82,049,320,199, an increase of $304,335,479 over 1910 and of
$168,469,121 over the former high-record year, 1907. The imports
wrere valued at $1,527,226,105, a reduction of $29,721,325 below the
figures of 1910.
The fall in the value of imports occurs in the group “ Manufacturers’
raw' material,” and is chiefly due to a reduction in the importation of
india rubber, hides and skins, and wool, of which the imports of 1910
were exceptionally heavy, the other classes of raw materials showing
larger totals in 1911 in most cases.
The growth in exports is about equally divided between manufac­
tures and manufacturers’ materials, the increase in the value of
manufactures exported (including manufactures ready for use and
those for further use in manufacturing) being $140,538,596 and the
increase in manufacturers’ raw materials 8147,083,249. The growth
in exports of raw' materials occurs chiefly in cotton, of which the
export price was exceptionally high. The increase in manufactures
exported occurs in many of the important articles, but especially in
manufactures of iron and steel, which amounted to $230,725,352 in
value, against $179,133,186 in the preceding year. Manufactures of
wood also show a grow'th of $13,442,148, those of cotton $7,454,821,
agricultural implements $7,849,365, and copper $15,080,502.
C H A R A C T E R IS T IC S O F F O R E IG N -T R A D E M O V E M E N T S .

The foreign commerce of the United States has greatly increased
during recent years, and with this increase has also come a marked
change in the character of trade movements. Manufactures, which
in 1880 formed less than 15 per cent of the exports and in 1890 but
about 21 per cent, formed in 1911 over 45 per cent of the greatly
increased total, and at certain seasons of the year were more than 60
75

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REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF COMMERCE AND LABOR.

per cent of the total, while manufacturers’ raw material, which in
1880 formed less than 20 per cent of the imports, formed in 1911
33$ per cent of the greatly enlarged total. The actual value of manu­
factures exported in 1911 (including in this term both manufactures
ready for use and those for further use in manufacturing) amounted
to $907,519,841, against $465,777,992 in 1901, having thus practi­
cally doubled in a single decade, while the value of manufacturers’
raw material imported increased from S248,006,751 in 1901 to
$511,362,140 in 1911. Meantime the value of foodstulTs exported
has fallen from $5S2,999,518 in 1901 to $385,418,436 in 1911, despite
the advance in prices during the decade. The share which foodstuffs
formed of the exports of domestic merchandise has fallen from 56 per
cent in 1SS0 and 42 per cent in 1890 to less than 20 per cent in 1911.
N E E D E D E X T E N S IO N

IN R A N G E O F S T A T IS T IC S .

These changes in the character of the imports and exports have
materially affected trade currents, the share of our exports which
is sent to Europe having fallen from approximately 80 per cent a
quarter of a century ago to less than 64 per cent in 1911, and that
to other parts of the world proportionate!}’ increased. These changes
in the character of the commerce and its movements, as well as the
increase in the volume of both imports and exports, have stimulated
(he desire on the part of the public for commercial information in
much greater detail and to be presented with much greater prompt­
ness. Such increases in the detail of the statistics and the process of
presentation could only be obtained by a material enlargement of
the force now assigned to their preparation in this Department and
presumably also in the customs service of the Treasury Department,
by which the figures of imports and exports are now supplied. In
order to fully and intelligently consider this subject of a material
enlargement of the statistical statements of our commerce, com­
mittees have been appointed by this Department and the Treasury
Department to jointly consider the entire subject, including a com­
parison of our own methods with those of other countries, and these
committees have already entered upon a consideration of the subject.
Q U A R T E R L Y S T A T E M E N T O F IM P O R T S F O R C O N S U M P T IO N .

The statement entitled “ Imports for consumption,’’ which shows
about 3,000 articles imported, stating value in each case, quantity
wherever possible, rate of duty, and duty collected on each,
formerly issued as an annual statement only, is now issued in
quarterly as well as annual form and distributed to importers,
customhouses, trade bodies, the daily and commercial press, and
others interested in the details of the import trade of the country.

REPORT OF TH E SECRETARY OF COMMERCE AND LABOR.

77

The preparation and publication of this statement in quarterly form
has materially increased the labor of the Bureau and also added con­
siderably to the expense of its publications. The monthly state­
ment of foreign commerce was, at the close of the fiscal year, so
enlarged as to increase by about 20 per cent the number of articles
enumerated in both the import and export statements, an increase
which will add considerably to the work and in some degree to the
expense of the Bureau. Both these enlargements of the work were
made as a result of numerous requests from trade bodies and indi­
viduals engaged in commerce, requests which were so numerous and
urgent as apparently to justify the increased expense of preparation
and publication.
The increase in the labor of the Bureau consequent upon the
enlargement of its statistical statements, coupled with the unusually
large demands upon it for special information for the legislative
and executive branches of the Government, renders necessary a
small addition to its working force, the details of which are shown
in the annual estimates for the expenses of the Department of Com­
merce and Labor, forwarded to Congress by the Secretary of the
Treasury.

BUREAU OF STANDARDS.
C U ST O D Y O F T H E S T A N D A R D S .

The standards of the Bureau include those used in the measure­
ment of length, mass, volume, temperature, quantity of heat, light,
electrical quantities, and the properties of materials. Many of these
are based upon standards adopted by international agreement. The
custody of these standards comprises not merely their care and
preservation, but also comparisons and researches necessary to main­
tain their constancy. The standards are of great variety. Some
standards, such as the platinum-iridium standards of length and
mass, are very permanent in character and are preserved in the
standards vault of the Bureau. The duplicates of these reference
standards are used for ordinary work. Others, such as electrical and
photometric standards and standard thermometers and pyrometers,
require constant stud}7 and comparison to maintain their constancy.
For example, the standards of electrical pressure are kept in an
underground vault in an oil bath and maintained at constant tem­
perature, not varying more than one hundredth of a degree. The
conditions necessary to insure the perfect constancy of such stand­
ards are studied with the greatest care, and the Bureau is provided
with unique facilities required for the most exacting systems of con­
trol. The construction and maintenance of such standards becomes
an important part of the Bureau’s work. For example, the standards
of light intensity now consist of specially prepared electric lamps
whose values are accurately known. Their values change very
slightly with use, and frequent comparisons are made to detect and
reject any lamp showing appreciable change. Every effort is made
to prevent possible drift in the value of the standard candlepower.
Similar care is required in maintaining the constancy of the other
standards. It has been found by the Bureau that electrical resistance
standards should be protected from the effects of atmospheric mois­
ture, that standards of electrical capacity may be affected by changes
of atmospheric pressure, and that the heating and reheating of ther­
mometers affects their zero points. Precautions must be taken
against such changes or exact allowance made therefor.
In addition to the instrument standards, the Bureau has also the
custody of certain standard materials used in industrial work. These
comprise 37 different standards, such as steels, irons, ores, brasses,
limestone, sugar, and others. During the year nearly 1,500 of these
standards of materials of known composition were furnished to the
78

REPORT OF TH E SECRETARY OF COMMERCE AND LABOR.

79

various industrial plants and laboratories, affording reliable means
of checking the accuracy of industrial analyses. The Bureau also
prepares and maintains the standards of combustion, used in stand­
ardizing calorimeters, consisting of highly purified materials of con­
stant heating values, such as naphthalene and benzoic acid. The
distribution of nearly 100 standard combustion samples during the
year has already done much to place the testing of fuels upon a uni­
form and comparable basis.
C O M P A R IS O N O F T H E STA N D A R D S.

The comparison of standards has been carried on for the general
public, including those engaged in engineering, manufacturing, and
commerce, as well as those engaged in scientific and technical work.
Many comparisons of length standards were made during the year
for municipal and State governments. The capacity standards
tested included those for Porto Rico, a set for the Panama Railroad,
and sets for the States of Wisconsin and Alabama.
The purpose of comparing standards is to enable the manufacturers
to make instruments of the highest grade, according to the most
approved specifications. By testing the manufacturers’ standards
the public is assured of accuracy, since by this means precision is
established at the outset, namely, in the factory. It is also possible
for the manufacturers and the public to have such instruments
retested from time to time to check their accuracy. The Bureau
is constantly engaged in intercomparing its standards with those of
standardizing institutions of other nations, since international trade
demands that the units of measure shall be to the highest degree
uniform throughout the world. Only recently have such compari­
sons given promise of a substantial uniformity.
During the year, by act of Congress, the old troy pound of the
Mint was superseded by the standard of the Bureau. This places all
measures of mass in the United States upon the basis of the standard
kilogram.
C O N S T R U C T IO N O F STA N D A R D S .

The Bureau now has excellent facilities for the construction of
standards. A corps of expert mechanicians, with a well-equipped
shop, are available for such work, which may be done under the
direct supervision of the experts who design the standards and instru­
ments. New standards are based upon careful study of the best
practice, and in some cases the construction is prescribed by inter­
nation. J congresses. Multiples and subdivisions of the standards are
constructed to provide for all ranges of measurement. Their values
must be established by comparison with the primar}7 standards.
During the year four separate standards of electrical resistance, con-

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REPORT OF TH E SECRETARY OF COMMERCE AND LABOR.

strutted at the Bureau, agreed within 5 parts in 1,000,000—a highly
gratifying degree of precision.
On January 1 the Bureau adopted, by international agreement,
the new value for the international volt. This creates uniformity
between England, France, Germany, and other countries.
During the year a number of new photometric standards were
prepared and studied as to their reproducibility and constancy.
Carbon-lamp standards have been prepared as standards of light and
intensity and distributed to the various departments of the Govern­
ment.
T E S T IN G A N D C A L IB R A T IO N O F S T A N D A R D S A N D IN S T R U M E N T S .

The testing and calibration of standard measuring apparatus
during the year included a wide variety—length measures, from
microscopic scales to geodetic tapes; balances; sealers’ measures;
chemical measuring apparatus; standard instruments for tempera­
ture measurements, adapted to ranges from liquid hydrogen to the
highest attainable temperatures, flash-point apparatus, etc.; stand­
ards of composition for materials; standards of light intensity, such
as electric lamps, gas-flame standards, and many others.
The testing of such standards and measuring apparatus is in many
cases for the purpose of insuring compliance with contract specifica­
tions. In other cases the tests are made because the required pre­
cision is not attainable elsewhere, and in still more important cases
the manufacturers themselves are establishing, by means of the
Bureau, standards of measurement for their industries. By coopera­
tion with the manufacturers, for example, the thermometer industry
and the lighting industry have been placed upon an industrial
uniformity heretofore impossible.
There is being published the results of an extended investigation of
electric switchboard instruments. This was undertaken at the
request of the Navy Department, and the results will be made public
with the approval of the manufacturers concerned.
During the year a comparative test has been made of various sys­
tems of master clocks and their secondaries. The test covered the
leading makes and continued for six months. The results were
placed at the disposal of the Treasury Department for use in select­
ing the most efficient system for Government buildings.
As to the extent of this work, 853 electrical standards and meas­
uring instruments have been tested; nearly 19,000 thermometers
wrere tested during the year, besides tests of 90 high-temperature
measuring instruments and materials; 240 standards of length and
length-measuring instruments were compared; 2,400 hydrometers,
used to determine the density of liquids, were tested, largely for the
Internal-Revenue Service; 9,000 volumetric measures were tested

REPORT OF TH E SECRETARY OF COMMERCE AND LABOR.

81

during the year, including cubic-loot bottles for gas-meter testing,
sealers’ standards, and chemical measuring apparatus; and the
Bureau’s traveling inspectors visited the factories and inspected
944,000 electric lamps for the Government; of these, 3,483 were
tested by the Bureau for life and candlepower. In addition, about
300 photometric standards of various kinds were prepared.
P R O B L E M S IN C O N N E C T IO N W IT H S T A N D A R D S .

In connection with standards of every kind, many scientific prob­
lems arise which must be solved in order to improve the standards
or the methods of using them. Thus, progress in standardization
depends upon the results of such researches. Several examples of
such problems completed or in progress during the last year may be
mentioned.
Important progress has been made in the designing of apparatus
to regulate; temperatures in length measurements, resulting in an
excellent temperature control—a condition vital to precision workFor heat measurements new comparators, furnaces, and testing
equipment have been designed. Two investigations in progress
during the year have had for their object the more rigorous determi­
nation of the unit of electric current. The results of the investiga­
tions have been prepared for publication.
The Bureau is cooperating with the national and international
technical societies wherever such cooperation gives promise of fur­
thering the standardization of methods and specifications. Among
the cases may be cited the cooperation with the American Chemical
Society as to standards of composition and purity of materials;
with the American Society for Testing Materials as to methods of
testing, standards, specifications, and other subjects; with the Ameri­
can Institute of Electrical Engineers in the establishment of standard­
ized definitions and practice; As a result of careful determination
of conductivity of commercial copper, the Bureau prepared tables of
copper-wire constants. These copper-wire tables have been approved
by the latter society and will soon be published as a suggested basis
for international agreement.
In establishing standards of gaslight intensity much work has
been done on the Harcourt Pentane standard to secure reliable
results. The conditions affecting constancy are being ascertained
and a great improvement in gaslight measurements may be oxpected.
Other problems include the study, of the sources of error in aneroid
barometers for the purpose of adopting standard methods of testing;
a research to test the value of purified benzoic acid as a standard of
acidity in aoidimetry; the refinement of sodium sulphate which at
a definite temperature exhibits a marked change in conditions well
21357°—12------(i

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REPORT OF TH E SECRETARY OF COMMERCE AND LABOR.

adapted for use as a reliable fixed point in thermometry; a research
aiming to free naphthalene from obscured impurities.
The problem of producing pure oxygen in large quantities has
now been solved by newly devised apparatus. The oxygen is used
for combustion purposes in precision testing of heat values. A
number of highly purified gases for heat determination have also
been prepared as a basis for gas engineering tables. Such tables
will pormit tho calculation of the heat value of illuminati- g gas
direct from tho chemical analysis.
During the year there were published the results of 44 investiga­
tions concerning standards, measuring instruments, and methods of
measurement.
D E T E R M IN A T IO N O F P H Y S IC A L C O N S T A N T S .

Physical constants are the measured data relating to materials
and energy which underlie scientific and technical work. Hence
they are of fundamental importance in the work of standardization.
Among these would be the melting and boiling points of materials,
flash points, breaking and crushing strength, hardness, density,
expansivity, and conductivity. A few researches of this character
may be cited, e. g., the thermal expansion of 25 different specimens
was determined for ranges from below freezing to above the boiling
point of water; the density and thermal expansion of linseed oil
and turpentine was determined, a constant much used in specifica­
tions for purity.
In connection with standards for commercial use, the density of
ethyl alcohol is of great importance. This physical constant has
been under investigation at the Bureau for several years. The
alcohol was purified by the most refined methods which could be
devised and the density was determined with high accuracy, prob­
ably correct to within 1 part in 100,000. The values of the densities
of alcohol-and-water mixtures were determined with an accuracy
within 2 parts in 100,000.
A physical constant of importance in atomic-weight work is the
atomic weight of bromine, which is now being determined by the
Bureau as a logical conclusion to similar work on chlorine. The
materials have been purified and the work is well advanced.
A number of boiling-point and freezing-point determinations have
been made for use in temperature work. For example, the boiling
point of sulphur has been accurately determined for use as a fixed
point in thermometry corresponding to the temperature 444?7 C.
The concordance of this work gives promise of international agree­
ment on the scale of temperature above the boiling point of water,
ranges in which uncertainty has always existed.

REPORT OF TH E SECRETARY OF COMMERCE AND LABOR.

83

In practically every line of work similar researches are in progress,
with the aim of providing reliable data upon which to base units and
standards. The pressing need for such work and its utility can
hardly be overestimated.
D E T E R M IN A T IO N O F T H E P R O P E R T IE S O F M A T E R IA L S .

The determination of the quality of materials is a most important
problem in the industries, since to the consumer quality is the real
object of purchase and sale. The modern view that value rests upon
measurable properties which combine to fix the quality is the basis
for the determination of quality by measurement.
The materials tested by the Bureau during the year include such
materials as the cements, metals, and other materials used in the
construction of the Panama Canal; the supplies for the executive
departments atWashington; and bookmaking materials—paper, type,
ink, cloth, and glue—used by the Public Printer for Government
documents. Here, as elsewdiere, the investigations have resulted in
great saving and efficiency in buying by basing such purchases upon
tested quality and price alone.
Of the determinations of the properties of materials involving
chemical work there were during the year 8,868 separate tests for
practically every department of the Government and many times
this number of separate determinations. Important investigations
are in progress in connection with the properties of paper, paper
pulps, and the composition and manufacture of paper. The prop­
erties of the new monel metal are being investigated to determine its
suitability for laboratory utensils and appliances. The properties
of materials—such as steels, irons, refractory materials, and other
materials of construction—have been under investigation to determine
their suitability for the particular uses for which they are intended.
The purity of platinum sold for chemical purposes has been studied
with the greatest care to ascertain the nature of the impuri­
ties present—a research of vital importance to chemical analysts.
In this work the Bureau has cooperated with other laboratories con­
cerned. The Bureau is cooperating, also, in an international com­
parison of the magnetic properties of materials.
T R A D E W E IG H T S A N D M E A S U R E S IN V E S T IG A T IO N .

The investigation of trade weights and measures conditions through­
out the country, for which Congress has made special provision, has
practically been completed and will form the subject of a special
report. Every State in the Union, with the exception of Arkansas and
Oklahoma, has been visited, and inspections in the two mentioned
will be made in the near future.

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REPORT OF TH E SECRETARY OF COMMERCE AND LABOR.

Of the incorrect apparatus found, a large proportion discriminated
against the consumer, and consequently furnished the strongest argu­
ment for the establishment of inspection services by the States. The
investigation has attracted the widest attention and has resulted in
either the enactment by the States of laws to render efficient the old
weights and measures laws or the enactment of entirely new ones.
Altogether, the legislatures of 26 States in different parts of the
Union have acted upon the information obtained by the Bureau, and
others are preparing to take up the matter at the next meeting of
their legislatures.

BUREAU OF FISHERIES.
F I S l i CU LTU RE.

The fish-cultural efforts of the Bureau were directed chiefly toward
the development of present resources and the increase of the output
by extension of operations over a wider territory in fields contiguous
to existing stations. One new permanent station was added to the
existing 36 of this class, the establishment at Homer, Minn., being
completed and opened at the beginning of the year. The cultivation
of the buffalo fish, one of the most important food fishes of the Mis­
sissippi Yallev, and not hitherto propagated artificially, was suc­
cessfully undertaken, and investigations were instituted at the Homer
Station with a view to propagating the shovel-nose sturgeon, the
spoonbill, the catfishes, and other heretofore uncultivated species of
that region.
The possibilities of fish-cultural work are practically unlimited, being
gauged only by the funds and experienced men available for opening
up new fields. This is particularly true with reference to the Pacific
coast salmons, the trouts of the Rocky Mountains, the commercial
fishes of the Great Lakes, and most of the anadromous and marine
species of the Atlantic coast.
The year's output of fish and fish eggs totaled more than three and
one-half billion. Of these, 558,000,000 were eggs, over 3,000,000,000
were fry, and nearly 15,000,000 were fish of fingerling, yearling, or
adult size. The output was nearly 13 per cent greater than in 1910,
this showing being largely accounted for by the adoption of new
methods and the utilization of improved appliances, resulting in
increased efficiency and diminished expense. The species whose larger
numbers constitute the total increase for this year are the chinook
salmon, Atlantic salmon, steelhead trout, brook trout, rainbow trout,
grayling, pike perch, yellow perch, white perch, small-mouth black
bass, buffalo fish, pollock, haddock, and lobster. The output of Atlan­
tic salmon was double that of any previous year.
The stocking of depleted public waters and private ponds, lakes,
and streams is a feature of the Bureau’s work which grows yearly in
interest to the public, the number of applications for fish for such
purposes numbering 10,393 this year. Over half of these applica­
tions were for black basses, crappies, sunfishes. and catfishes for
stocking artificial ponds on farms, there being widespread realiza­
tion that private fish ponds can be made a valuable adjunct to farm­
ing—as a food supply for home consumption and as a source of
income.
85

86

KEPOBT OF TH E .SECRETARY OF COMMERCE AXD LABOR.
BIOLOGICAL IN V EST IG A TIO N S.

The oyster was again the subject of major activities. The survey
of the natural oyster beds of Delaware, in progress at the beginning
of the fiscal year, was concluded and its results reported, to show the
dangers threatening an important industry and to serve as a basis
for reforms which it is hoped will be instituted by the State. Imme­
diately upon the conclusion of this work in Delaware similar surveys
were undertaken in Alabama and Mississippi, at the request of those
States, and reports thereon are in course of preparation.
During the latter part of the year special study was given to sev­
eral destructive enemies of the oyster, in the effort to develop meas­
ures which will guard planted oyster beds against such inroads.
The systematic investigation of streams in the Mississippi Valley
with reference to their pearl-mussel resources was continued, and the
trained personnel of the station at Fairport, Iowa, is engaged in the
collection of data to aid in the formulation of fishing laws which will
adequately protect the mussels. This station has also been engaged in
propagating and distributing mussels in the waters in its vicinity.
Investigations of a tumorous disease in cultivated fishes which ex­
tensively affects Salmonidse, especially trout raised under domestica­
tion, have been conducted almost continuously throughout the year.
Though results are inconclusive as yet, it seems probable that this
work will result in a very considerable saving to the Bureau by mak­
ing possible a reduction of the present mortality among artificially
hatched trouts and salmons. In respect to the possible relationship
of the disease to analagous affections of human beings, the investiga­
tions have progressed satisfactorily, but permit of no conclusive
statement at this time.
The effects of industrial wastes upon fishes, a subject important
from the viewpoint of many industries other than the fisheries, has
received considerable attention in the investigation of several fish epi­
demics and numerous experiments with various kinds of pollutions.
Investigations of lakes and rivers in several States have been con­
tinued with profitable results, notably in the work done in cooperation
with the Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey. These
investigations include lakes in Wisconsin, Minnesota, New York,
Maine, New Hampshire, and Idaho, and a somewhat similar pro­
cedure has been undertaken in examination of the Illinois River with
respect to its pollution and biological changes which have resulted
from the diversion of the flow of Chicago River.
The biological laboratories at Woods Hole, Mass., and Beaufort,
N. C., have been open as usual, and profitable researches have been
conducted both by the special investigators in the service of the
Bureau and the independent workers from various institutions of
learning.

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87

Interesting data have been gathered concerning the salmon of the
Pacific coast which will be utilized in the study of development and
age of these fish as recorded in scale structure. The results thus far
obtained demonstrate conclusively that this study will be the means
of determining the long unsolved question of the salmon’s age at
maturity.
A comprehensive survey of the Canal Zone, undertaken by the
Smithsonian Institution in cooperation with other scientific bureaus,
was participated in by the Bureau of Fisheries, and resulted in ex­
tensive collections of fresh-water fishes, reptiles, and batrachians.
The work may be extended to salt water during the ensuing year.
COM M ERCIAL F IS H E R IE S .

The work of collecting statistics of the oyster fisheries of the At­
lantic coast and of the shad fisheries of the South Atlantic States
and some other sections, which was begun in the spring of 1910, was
continued during the fiscal year 1911 and is still in progress.
Statistics of the vessel fisheries of Boston and Gloucester were col­
lected by the local agents, as usual, and the returns have been pub­
lished as monthly and annual bulletins and distributed to the trade
in various parts of the country. There were landed in 1910 a total
of 6,559 trips, comprising 181,734,272 pounds of fish, with a value to
the fishermen of $4,833,341. Compared with the previous year, there
was an increase of 253 trips and of 8,632,048 pounds in the quantity
and $216,897 in the value of the fish landed.
Of the fishery products landed at Boston and Gloucester by Amer­
ican fishing vessels during the year 64.53 per cent of the quantity
and 59.84 per cent of the value were from fishing grounds lying off
the coast of the United States. About 22 per cent of the quantity
and 26 per cent of the value were from fishing banks olf the coast of
the Canadian Provinces, and 13.33 per cent of the quantity and 13.81
per cent of the value were from grounds off the coast of Newfound­
land. The Newfoundland herring fishery furnished 10.61 per cent
of the quantity and 8.44 per cent of the value of the products of the
vessel fisheries of these ports.
An investigation of the fishing grounds of Alaska was begun in
May, 1911, and will occupy several months. The steamer Albatrozs
was detailed for the work and provided with fishermen and such
equipment as would be necessary in successfully conducting experi­
ments for the purpose of determining the resources of the grounds
located and surveyed by the ship. The inquiry has for its main
object the discovery of new halibut fishing grounds. The Pacific
halibut fishery was reported to have been more extensive and success­
ful in 1910 than in any previous year of its history, the catch of the

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REPORT OF TH E SECRETARY OF COMMERCE AND LABOR.

entire coast being over 53 million pounds, of which about 30| million
pounds were handled at ports on Puget Sound. There is urgent
demand for new sources of supply.
A L A S K A S A L M O N SE R V IC E .

The annual inspection of the salmon fisheries of Alaska in 1910
showed a very general observance of the law, the result of vigilant
enforcement by the agents for several years past. A growing senti­
ment was noted also against waste and needless destruction, especially
with reference to the manufacture of fertilizer from fish which would
otherwise be used as food.
The statistical canvass showed a total quantity of fishery products
for the calendar year 1910 of 214,536,433 pounds, valued at $13,259,859, an increase of 12,553,195 pounds and $2,078,471 over 1909.
The total investment, exclusive of cash capital ($8,604,437), was
$12,106,985, or $2,225,303 more than in 1909, and nearly all forms
of apparatus likewise show increases over the previous year. The
number of persons engaged was 15,620, or 3,032 more than in 1909,
and it is gratifying to note that this increase when analyzed proves
to be chiefly of whites and Indians, most of them permanent residents
of Alaska.
The run of salmon was good in all sections except western Alaska.
The total catch was 33,679,254 salmon of all species, amounting to
172,716,014 pounds. Of this quantity 19,202,776 fish, or 96,013,880
pounds, were the sockeye or red salmon. The total salmon catch for
1910 compared with 1909 shows, however, a decrease of 1,013,354
fish, or 2,312,520 pounds. The number of salmon canneries operated
was 52. The business of mild-curing salmon underwent a marked
development during the year, as did also the shipping of fresh salmon
to Puget Sound ports.
The minor fisheries, of which the halibut is most important, all
showed slight development. The number of people engaged in the
halibut fishery was 829, and the catch amounted to 21,579,289 pounds,
valued at $808,910, as compared with 5,189,924 pounds, valued at
$195,529, in 1909. The herring fishery yielded $115,765, and the cod
fishery $63,443.
F U R -S E A L S E R V IC E .

The beginning of the fiscal year 1911 found the sealing season on
the Pribilof Islands in progress under immediate direction of the
fur-seal agents of the Bureau of Fisheries. The lease of the North
American Commercial Co. having expired May 1, 1910, and the
leasing system having been discontinued, the Government had pur­
chased from the former lessee the native dwellings, the storehouses,

REPORT OF TH E SECRETARY OF COMMERCE AND LABOR.

89

and all other equipment needed for operation at a price of $60,568.17,
this sum having been agreed upon in conference of the company and
the chief fur-seal agent. The instructions to the agents limited the
killing of seals, as usual, to males of 2 and 3 years and to skins
with weights not less than 5 pounds nor more than 8;} pounds, after
marking and setting aside a breeding reserve of 1,000 3-year-old
bachelors. No number was specified for the catch, the purpose being
to take all killable males except those included in the reserve.
Under these regulations the catch amounted to 13,586 skins, of
which 12,920 were shipped and sold by the Government. The North
American Commercial Co. having failed to secure its quota of 15,000
the previous season, 664 skins were allotted from the 1910 catch to
make up the deficiency. Two skins were accidentally omitted in
shipment and are retained in the salt house on the islands.
The Government’s 12,920 skins were shipped to London, as usual,
and sold by Messrs. C. M. Lampson & Co. The net proceeds of the
sale, transportation expenses, marine insurance, and sales commission
deducted, were £83,227 2s. 3d., or $403,946.94. The steamer used
for transportation of agents and supplies to and from the islands
was leased for $14,250. Various miscellaneous expenses connected
with the handling of the skins amounted to $1,507.50. With these
further deductions, a total of $15,757.50 from the net proceeds of
the sale, the Government is credited with the sum of $388,189.44.
Under the leasing system the Government’s receipts from the sea­
son’s operations would have been only $132,107. The new manage­
ment is therefore able to record an advantage of $256,082.44 over the
old system.
Under a resolution adopted May 12,1911, the House of Representa­
tives ordered an investigation of the administration of the fur-seal
islands of Alaska. The terms of the resolution were as follows:
R e s o lv e d , That the Secretary of Commerce and Labor be, and he is hereby,
directed to furnish for the use and the information o f the House of Representa­
tives copies of all letters received, reports, and documents from his agents in
charge of the seal islands of Alaska, together with copies of all instructions
given to those officials aforesaid since January first, nineteen hundred and
four, up to date, which relate to the condition and management of the furseal herd, the conduct of the officers of the Government in charge of it, and the
conduct of the work of the lessees on the seal islands aforesaid, since January
first, nineteen hundred and four, up to date.

The conduct of this inquiry was assigned to the House Committee
on Expenditures in the Department of Commerce and Labor. The
Department promptly furnished the documents called for; the first
hearing was held May 31, and the investigation was in progress
at the close of the fiscal year.

90

REPORT OP TH E SECRETARY OF COMMERCE AND LABOR.
M IN O R FO R -B E A R IN G A N IM A L S OF ALASKA.

The act approved April 21, 1910, gave the Department of Com­
merce and Labor, and thus the Bureau of Fisheries, jurisdiction over
all other fur-bearing animals of Alaska in addition to the fur seal.
Up to that time this jurisdiction had resided in the Treasury Depart­
ment.
In order to develop a rational policy in the performance of its
new functions, the Bureau’s first step was a careful study of the
protective laws and regulations in the Canadian Provinces and in
the various States. Subsequently (June 2, 1910) Department Cir­
cular No. 206 was issited providing open seasons for land otter,
mink, muskrat, marten, fisher, ermine, black bear, fox, wuldcat, and
lynx. This circular was reissued March 8, 1911, with certain modi­
fications. The purpose of the regulations, to permit the largest
annual take of pelts consistent with adequate protection and con­
servation of the species, will be greatly aided by the appropriation
for the fiscal year 1912 providing for the appointment of one warden
and four deputy wardens for Alaska, whose duties, in addition to
enforcement of the law, will include study of the habits, abundance,
and distribution of the various fur-bearing animals.
The importance of Alaska as a producer of furs has usually been
recognized only with respect to the fur seal. As a matter of fact,
the pelts from other animals possess a much greater value in the
aggregate than those of the fur seal.
The available statistics for 1910 show that the furs shipped from
Alaska during that year, exclusive of the fur seal, had a value, of
$415,376. As this does not include the furs shipped by mail or those
taken out as baggage, it is believed that the total output greatly
exceeded half a million dollars; and it is confidently believed that
with proper conservation and regulation the total annual take can
be increased to more than a million dollars without in any way
endangering the species.
Effort will be made to secure complete statistics henceforth, there
having been previously no records of shipments by mail but only of
shipments by freight or express and passing through the custom­
houses. Through the courtesy of the Post Office Department, blank
forms are now supplied to the various postmasters and shippers, who
are requested to fill them out, certify, and forward them to the
Bureau. The number of such returns already at hand indicates a
very large shipment of furs from Alaska by mail. Similar blank
forms have been provided for shipments other than by mail.
The sundry civil bill approved March 4, 1911, provided for the
establishment of the Alaska Fisheries Service, to include the furseal service, the salmon and other fisheries service of Alaska, and
the minor fur industries of Alaska, all of which had been previously
administered by the division of inquiry respecting food fishes.

REPORT OF TH E SECRETARY OF COMMERCE AND LABOR.

91

IN T E R N A T IO N A L F IS H E R Y MATTERS.

It is a cause for congratulation that the long-standing dispute over
the fisheries on the so-called treaty coasts of Canada and Newfound­
land was submitted to settlement by arbitration, and that a decision
has been rendered which will prevent future difficulty. By the terms
of an agreement signed at Washington on January 27, 1909, by
representatives of the British and American Governments, it was
agreed to submit to the permanent court of arbitration at The Hague
the principal questions that have arisen in connection with the inter­
pretation of the treaty of 1818. The award, which was practically
unanimous, was announced on September 7, 1910. A conference was
subsequently held in Washington under the auspices of the Depart­
ment of State for the purpose of giving effect to certain features of
the award.
At the request of the Department of State, this Department again
detailed a representative of the Bureau of Fisheries to visit New­
foundland for the purpose of observing the operations of American
vessels engaged in the herring fishery on the west coast of the colony.
In May, 1911, there met in Washington an international confer­
ence for the purpose of concluding a treaty for the prevention of
pelagic sealing in the North Pacific Ocean. The conference was held
under the auspices of the Department of State and was participated
in by all of the nations having sealing interests—that is, the United
States, Great Britain, Russia, and Japan. The Secretary of Com­
merce and Labor was one of the two delegates of the United States.
The treaty was signed July 7, 1911, and ratified by the Senate July
24. By the terms of the treaty, w'hich became effective on Decem­
ber 15, 1911, all pelagic sealing by citizens or subjects of the signa­
tory powers will be prohibited for a period of 15 years, and a special
article accords similar protection to the sea otter in the extraterrito­
rial waters of the North Pacific Ocean, leaving to the respective
nations the right to regulate land killing of fur seals and the hunting
of sea otters in territorial limits.
The Fifth International Fishery Congress convened at Rome,
Italy, in May, 1911, on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the
unification of Italy. The Department was officially represented at
the congress by an assistant of the Bureau of Fisheries.
In previous reports reference has been made to the treaty between
the United States and Great Britain, signed April 11, 1908, which
provided for the appointment of two international fisheries commis­
sioners, with power to draw up a set of uniform and common regu­
lations for the protection and preservation of the food fishes in the
boundary waters between the United States and Canada.
After very comprehensive and thorough field investigations by the
commissioners, assisted by the Bureau of Fisheries, and covering

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REPORT OF T H E SECRETARY OF COMMERCE AXD LABOR.

every fishery and practically every fishing ground from Passamaquoddv Bay to Vancouver Island, the commissioners made their
report, which, on February 2, 1910, was transmitted to Congress by
the President in order that legislative action necessary for the en­
forcement of the regulations might be taken, but the matter has not
been finally disposed of.
The Department has been officially invited to become a member of'
the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea, as the
representative of the United States Government. This council, organ­
ized in 1902, is composed of representatives of most of the nations of
western Europe, and has for its special object the prosecution of
scientific investigations in the direct interests of the fishing industry.
The important fishery problems that are demanding attention in
Europe are similar to or indentical with those which have already
arisen or are destined to arise on the western shores of the Atlantic;
and it will be of great advantage to the United States to be able
to participate in and profit directly by the studies conducted by the
leading fishery authorities and experts of western Europe. A small,
fixed annual appropriation is required to meet the administrative
and other expenses of the council, which has its permanent head­
quarters in Copenhagen, and an estimate covering this amount has
been submitted to Congress by the Department of State.
R E C O M M E N D A T IO N S .

The Commissioner of Fisheries strongly urges the establishment
by Congress of a biological and fishery station on the Pacific coast of
the United States, and a station for the study of fish diseases and
for general experimental work in fish breeding at some suitable point
not remote from Washington. Closely associated with the latter item
is a recommendation for the creation of the position of fish pathol­
ogist. The necessity for this position is urgent and is becoming
more so each year. Efficient administration and proper regard for
the interests of both cultivated and wild fishes demand that there
be available a qualified assistant who can devote his entire time to the
study of fish diseases, hatchery epidemics, and water pollutions.
Among other recommendations of the Commissioner are appro­
priations for repairing and more adequately equipping the important
fisheries laboratory and hatching station at Woods Hole, Mass.; for
the construction of two new steel fish-distribution cars to comply
with modern traffic requirements; and for a seagoing vessel for use
in connection with the marine hatchery in Maine.
It is recommended also that all subordinate positions in the Bureau
be removed from the class of presidential appointments and here­
after be filled bv the Secretary.

BUREAU OF LIGHTHOUSES.
REORGANIZATION OF L IG H T H O U S E SERVICE.

During the fiscal year 1911 much progress was made in the reor­
ganization of the Lighthouse Service under the provisions of the act
of Congress approved June 17, 1910, providing for a more direct ad­
ministration of that Service by the establishment of a simple bureau
form of organization.
The four officers provided for in the act have been appointed by
the President. The Commissioner and Deputy Commissioner took
office on July 1, 1910, and the Chief Constructing Engineer and Su­
perintendent of Naval Construction were appointed later in the year.
The civilian lighthouse inspectors authorized by the reorganization
act were not appointed during the fiscal year, for the reason that no
appropriation was made for their salaries. Five civilian inspectors
have, however, since been appointed, four of these being assigned to
duty in the First, Second, Seventh, and Seventeenth districts, respec­
tively, and the fifth to general inspection duty.
Officers of the Navy have been continued on duty as lighthouse
inspectors in the remaining coast and lake districts, and officers of
the Engineer Corps of the Army have been made inspectors of the
three river districts.
Changes in the inspectorships have been made very gradually, as
was contemplated in the reorganization act. In general, appoint­
ments of civilian inspectors have been made by promotion within the
Lighthouse Service.
Officers of the Engineer Corps continue their relation with the
Lighthouse Service in the other coast districts, available for consulta­
tion as provided by law.
The consolidation of the work in each district under a single light­
house inspector, instead of under two officers, as heretofore, has re­
sulted in having but a single office and office force in each district and
a single system for the use of the lighthouse tenders and all the equip­
ments and supplies of the districts. There has in consequence been
a saving in personnel, rents of offices and docks, and particularly in
the use of lighthouse tenders. Five of these vessels have been sold
or otherwise disposed of during the fiscal year. A large machine
shop heretofore maintained in the Second district has been discon­
tinued and this work transferred to the general lighthouse depot. In
connection with the consolidation of the district organizations there
93

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REPORT OF TH E SECRETARY OF COMMERCE AND LABOR.

have been adopted schedules of the personnel and rates of pay, both
in the district offices and in the field construction force. There has
also been a revision of the complements of the lighthouse tenders.
The force in the office of the Bureau at Washington has been re­
arranged to accord with the schedule authorized in the legislative
appropriation act for 1912, the principal changes being the placing
in statutory positions of members of the engineering force heretofore
paid from general appropriations and the discontinuance of five
minor positions which were all practically vacant at the end of the
fiscal year.
Aids and cadet officers have been appointed, with a view to bringing
technically educated young men into the Service and training them
for the special work in lighthouse engineering and the duties on light­
house tenders.
In connection with all the foregoing changes in personnel an
effort has been made to avoid hardship to persons who have long
been connected with the Lighthouse Service. Where it has been
necessary to discontinue positions persons have, so far as their services
could be utilized, been offered opportunities for employment else­
where in the Lighthouse Service, or in other branches of the Govern­
ment. Where reductions in compensation have become necessary,
promotion where merited has been made as opportunity offered.
The number of lighthouse districts has been increased from 16 to
19, the new districts being Alaska, Porto Rico, and the Hawaiian
Islands. As to the latter two, this was merely a change in organiza­
tion, as these had heretofore constituted subdistricts under assistant
inspectors. In the case of Alaska, however, the constitution of a sep­
arate district makes an important change in the management of aids
to navigation in that Territory, and it is believed will greatly increase
the efficiency of the work there. A temporary headquarters has been
established in the Territory, and two lighthouse tenders are employed
there during the season available for active work.
COOPERATION

W IT H

THE

CAN ADIA N G OVERNM ENT AND T H E
CORPS.

E N G IN E E R

Arrangement has been made with the Canadian Government as to
the division of responsibility for the maintenance of aids to naviga­
tion in the lower Detroit River, and that Government has assumed
charge of maintaining the aids in those portions of the channel
which lie entirely in Canadian waters. These aids have heretofore
been maintained by the United States under a contract system. This
was not satisfactory, and. besides the economy to this Government, it
is believed that the new arrangement will give an improved service on
this important river.

REPORT OF TH E SECRETARY OF COMMERCE AND LABOR.

95

Arrangements have been made for cooperation between the Engi­
neer Corps engaged in river and harbor improvements and the Light­
house Service along several lines, particularly in the matter of
furnishing assistance and information, which will be mutually use­
ful, and in the matter of maintaining aids to navigation along the
rivers where Engineer officers have been made lighthouse inspectors.
In one of these districts the lighthouse tender has been laid up.
B U S IN E S S M E T H O D S .

A plan has been arranged for a systematic inspection by an in­
spector from the central office of the Lighthouse Service of the tech­
nical work of the lighthouse districts, and for an inspection by an
examiner of the business methods, property accounts, and clerical
organization in the various districts. The inauguration of these
systems of general inspection will, it is believed, materially increase
the efficiency and uniformity of the conduct of the work of the
Service.
Nearly all of the business methods of the Service have been ex­
amined and rearranged during the fiscal year. All printed forms of
reports and records have been gone over, and those not considered
essential have been eliminated, and additional reports have been
called for where required to give necessary information.
A cost-keeping system has been inaugurated throughout the Light­
house Service, with a view to furnishing classified information as to
the purpose for which all funds expended are applied. This system
should in the future give correct information as to the cost of main­
taining every unit of the Service, with the general subdivisions of
those costs—as, for instance, the cost of maintaining each vessel and
what part of this cost goes to salaries, supplies, and improvements;
and similar information as to important light stations and lighthouse
depots. The importance of this in checking and comparing the ex­
penditures in various districts may be realized when it is stated that
the Lighthouse Service maintains about 12,000 aids to navigation,
has in operation about 110 vessels, maintains about 775 light stations
having resident keepers, and employs about 5,500 persons.
A simpler form has been adopted for the employment of members
of the field construction and depot forces, so as to permit district
officers to employ such persons directly according to the needs of the
Service, but under proper civil-service restrictions.
A complete revision has been made of the regulations affecting the
Lighthouse Service, and these regulations have been put into opera­
tion since the close of the fiscal year. They comprise a compilation,
in addition to the regulations proper, of all important laws, decisions,
and orders particularly affecting the Lighthouse Service, and they
will be a great convenience in the operation of the Service.

96

REPOST OF TH E SECRETARY OF COMMERCE AND LABOR.

A new form of estimates for general-maintenance items of appro­
priations was submitted to Congress and was embodied in the ap­
propriation act. This combines all estimates of appropriation involv­
ing the purchase of supplies for the Lighthouse Service into a single
item. This combination results in simplifying the office and depot
work', while permitting a more correct and straightforward system of
accounting than has been possible heretofore.
The publication of light lists and buoy lists intended for the benefit
of mariners has been simplified in form and material, and there has
been a consequent reduction in the cost of printing and the time re­
quired in preparation. An effort has been made to bring these pub­
lications up to date, and hereafter to have them reprinted promptly
each year.
IM P R O V E M E N T O F A P P A R A T U S .

Continuous effort has been made to improve the various kinds of
apparatus used. The incandescent oil-vapor lamp has been further
perfected, increasing the intensity of the light. The use of this light
has been greatly extended. The use of acetylene gas for lighted
beacons has also been extended, particularly in Alaska, resulting in
considerable economy, as these lights do not require the continuous
services of a keeper. Acetylene-gas lights and arc lights inclosed in
lenses have been introduced on light vessels. Steps have been taken
fcr the improvement of fog signals, particularly with a view to hav­
ing them sounded promptly on the approach of fog. Progress has
been made in this line by a more extended use of the oil engines and
compressed air, in place of steam plants, by the introduction of elec­
tric ignition for engines, and by the storage of compressed air.
Mantles have been introduced for use in connection with Pintsch gas
buoys, giving a greater intensity in the lights.
IN CREA SE IN AIDS TO N A V IG A TIO N .

During the fiscal year ended June 30, 1911, there was approxi­
mately the following net increase in the number of aids to naviga­
tion maintained by the Lighthouse Service: Lights above the order
of post-lantern lights, 49; fog signals, 8; daymarks, 175; buoys, 110;
post-lantern lights, 106.
The illuminant of 29 lights has been changed to incandescent oil
vapor, and the illuminant of 16 lights has been changed to acetylene.
There have also been constructed 16 oil houses and 3 light keepers’
dwellings.
During the fiscal year light vessels No. 64 and No. 65, occupying
stations at Limekiln Crossing South, Mich., and Limekiln Cross­
ing North, Mich., respectively, and Bush Bluff light vessel, Va.,
were discontinued. The stations formerly occupied by light vessels

REPORT OF TH E SECRETARY OF COMMERCE AND LABOR.

97

No. 64 and No. 66 are now under the jurisdiction of the Canadian
lighthouse service. The Bush Bluff light vessel was discontinued,
owing to the establishment of more efficient aids in the vicinity.
Light vessels No. 28, No. 63 (relief), No. 64, and No. 66 were sold,
they being of no further use in connection with the work of the
United States Lighthouse Service.
Light vessel No. 56, formerly assigned to the White Shoal station,
Mich., was removed elsewhere during the year, owing to the establish­
ment of the White Shoal light station, Mich.
The following are some of the more important aids which have
been established:
Cape Hincliinbrook light and fog-signal station, Alaska.
W hite Shoal light and fog-signal station, Lake Michigan.
Rock of Ages light and fog-signal station, Lake Superior.
Split Rock light and fog-signal station, Lake Superior.
Woods Hole, Mass., Nobska Point fog signal.
Boston Harbor, Mass., 7 gas buoys in Broad Sound Channel.
Stratford Point, Conn., compressed-air siren fog signal (in place of b ell).
Potomac River, Md., buoys rearranged and range lights established.
Beaufort Harbor Entrance, N. C., 2 sets of range lights.
Fernaudina Entrance, Fla., 2 sets of range lights.
Florida, east coast, inside passage, 100 dayinarks.
D etroit River, Bar Point Channels, 10 gas buoys and 10 spar buoys.
Punta Gorda, Cal., fog signal.
Pauwela Point, Haw aii, light.

On account of constant demands for additional aids to navigation
in Alaska and the great extent of dangerous waters in that Territory,
the Bureau has given special attention to increasing the efficiency of
its service there. Thirty-seven lights (including 14 acetylene lights,
1 third-order light, and 22 minor lights) and 22 buoys have been
established in Alaska during the fiscal year. Two of the acetylene
lights were initially established as oil lights.
L IG H T H O U S E VESSELS.

Plans are in preparation for the new lighthouses and vessels for
which appropriations have been made, the most important of these
being the establishment of aids to navigation along the new Living­
stone Channel, in the Detroit River.
Active steps have been taken to have overhauled the floating
equipment of the Lighthouse Service, and to arrange the stations of
tenders and light vessels so that they may be used to the best advan­
tage. Changes in the limits of districts have permitted of some trans­
fers in the stations of tenders. The act of Congress which repealed
the restriction on the Lighthouse Service as to the stations of light
ships has permitted the Service to place the more seaworthy vessels
in the more exposed positions, and this has been done in several cases.
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REPORT OF T H E SECRETARY OF COMMERCE AND LABOR.

One new light vessel and one new tender heretofore appropriated
for have been constructed and have been placed in service since the
close of the fiscal year.
ECONOM Y I N A PPR O PR IA TIO N S.

As a result, in part, of the reorganization, the estimates for the
maintenance of the Lighthouse Service for the fiscal year 1912 were
$428,000 less than the appropriations for the preceding year, and the
appropriations were made nearly according to the estimates. In
addition, for important new lighthouse works about the average
annual appropriations were made.
Appropriations heretofore made of $200,000 for a tender for the
First district, $30,000 for a tender for the Sixth district, and $60,000
for a tender for the Thirteenth (formerly the Fifteenth) district have
not so far been used, as under the reorganization the vessels were not
considered immediately necessary. On account of the size of the fleet
of the Service, however, it will soon be essential to construct new
vessels to take the places of those worn out in service, and additional
tenders should be built in the early future under these appropriations,
with some modifications as to their use, recommendations for which
will be submitted to Congress.

GOAST AND GEODETIC SURVEY.

The satisfactory progress made in near and remote regions by the
Coast and Geodetic Survey are given in detail in the Superintendent’s
report.
It is the aim of the Bureau to select localities where, according to
the information at hand, the commercial needs or other demands are
most pressing. Thus, at the request of the Chamber of Commerce
of Seattle, one of the six vessels engaged in the survejr of Alaskan
waters was ordered to make a reconnoissance of the mouth of the
Kuskokwim with a view to its buoyage. An interesting development
of the general survey of Cooks Inlet was the delineation of the ap­
proaches of and anchorages in Knik Arm, which forms the nearest
access for shipping to the Matanuska coal field, one of the two
principal coal fields in Alaska. The results of this survey were pre­
pared and photographic copies were furnished to the shipping con­
cerned in advance of the issuance of the regular chart.
* In response to a special demand, a surveying ship was dispatched
to the Hawaiian Islands for the development of the hydrography
close to the shores of Oahu.
In view of the early opening of the Panama Canal, I have
directed the dispatch of a surveying ship and wire-drag party to
Panama, for the purpose of making such a survey of the approaches
as the exigencies of modern and prospective commerce demand.
In the Philippines the rapid progress achieved has been made pos­
sible by the cooperation of the Philippine government, whose inter­
est, aside from that attaching to the safety of the United States and
Philippine government ships, is made clearly apparent by the fact
that, according to the report of 1910, not less than 102 steamers and
440 sailing vessels were engaged in the coastwise trade, while there
were 872 clearances and a corresponding number of entries of foreign
ships in the islands.
My approval has been given to various acts of cooperation with
different bureaus of this and other departments for the purpose of
obtaining data of value to the Survey, facilitating the work and ren­
dering services in return.
At the request of the governor of Delaware, two experts, one from
the Survey and one from the Bureau of Fisheries, aided that State
in its oyster surveys, and the value of their services was acknowledged
by a vote of thanks of the legislature, an unusual but gratifying
recognition, to which it gives me pleasure to refer.
99

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REPORT OF T H E SECRETARY OF COMMERCE AND LABOR.

The delimitation of the Alaska frontier and the re-marking of the
boundary between Canada and the United States is progressing
under the direction of the Superintendent, acting for the Department
of State. The triangulation along the one hundred and forty-first
meridian has suggested the desirability of connecting it with the
coastwise work at the mouth of the Yukon, by extending a network
of triangulation down that river, which is one of the great rivers of
the world. Such a triangulation would establish the necessary cor­
relation between the topographic and other surveys already author­
ized by Congress in Alaska, and I therefore renew my recommenda­
tion of last year for an appropriation to initiate this work.
The overwhelming demands made on the Survey for its charts
have necessitated a simplification of its chart work in all its branches,
already referred to in my report of last year, and to this difficult
task the office is devoting its energies. At the outset and for a con­
siderable time, the changes which are being made will add much to
the work of the office, but the changes are making themselves felt in
increased output and resulting economy.

BUREAU OF NAVIGATION.

On June 30. 1911, the total documented merchant shipping of the
United States comprised 25,991 vessels of 7,038,790 gross tons, an
increase of 130,708 gross tons during the year. Improvement in con­
ditions caused by the depression of 1909 has continued along the sea­
board, but not on the Great Lakes. The slow growth of our ship­
ping during the past three years is to be attributed to the same causes
which checked the rapid increase of shipbuilding during the first
years of the century. As nearly 40 per cent of our tonnage is still
wooden construction, our rate of growth under normal conditions
would be slower than that of the principal merchant navies of
Europe.
The output of our shipyards during the past fiscal year was 1,422
vessels of only 291,162 gross tons, and on the Lakes shipbuilding, as
anticipated, fell much below the annual average construction. At
the beginning of last July work under way and shipbuilding con­
tracts indicated for our shipyards another fiscal year of limited pro­
duction.
P A N A M A C A N A L TOLLS.

I assume that there is no disposition to delay beyond the present
session the necessary settlement of the more important questions con­
cerning the actual operation of the Panama Canal, including the
question of canal tolls. In last year’s report I stated:
The question of Panama Canal tolls is now under consideration, and in view
o f the fact that the entire cost of the canal is assumed by the people of the
United States every consideration consistent with our treaty obligations should
be shown to American ships.

Congress definitely fixed the general policy of the United States in
respect of tolls for the use of its improved rivers, harbors, and canals
by section 4 of the river and harbor act of July 5,1884. That section
provides:
No tolls or operating charges whatever shall be levied upon or collected from
any vessel, dredge, or other w ater craft for passing through any lock, canal,
canalized river, or other work for the use and benefit of navigation, now belong­
ing to the United States or that may be hereafter acquired or constructed.

At no time has the wisdom of the liberal navigation policy thus
declared been seriously challenged in Congress or by the country. No
one criticised it as a subsidy or a bounty to the vessels which have
made use of our improved waterways. The policy was adopted and
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REPORT OF TH E SECRETARY OF COMMERCE AND LABOR.

has been pursued without dissent, because the country realizes that
free navigation promotes commerce and that our commerce is as es­
sential to the country’s welfare as the great productive industries of
agriculture,manufacture, and mining. Pursuant to that policy, since
1884 Congress has appropriated $527,005,707.94 for river and harbor
improvements, compared with an estimated cost of the Panama Canal
to the day of opening of $375,000,000.
Great and expensive as the undertaking has been, the Panama
Canal would not call for any change in our policy of untaxed navi­
gation under the act of 1884 if it did not in two respects differ from
all our other improvements in navigation. Other improvements have
been for the benefit of American commerce originating at American
terminals. Even where millions have been expended at ports where
foreign navigation serves our commerce—as, for illustration, at Gal­
veston—the benefit to foreign ships from the improvements has
been shared by American producers who furnish their cargoes.
Again, in all other improvements we have consulted solely our own
interest, because our outlay has been made within our exclusive juris­
diction.
It is expected that the Panama Canal will solve some of our great
problems of domestic transportation. It will, of course, bring our
States on the Atlantic and Pacific much closer together and will
offer new opportunities to the States of the Gulf, but it will also
give the grain and lumber of British Columbia and the Canadian
Northwest an all-water route shorter to European markets by 5,000
miles than they now possess. To the west coast of South America it
will mean closer business relations with the Old World. In many of
the foreign commercial results to be wrought by the canal the United
States will have no immediate share. Indeed, it is possible that some
of them may be in a measure to our commercial disadvantage, in that
other nations will reap profits from our great investment at the
Isthmus. Nevertheless, we may look with satisfaction upon our con­
tribution to such development, because in some form advantage must
come to us.
The Panama Canal will, of course, greatly increase the efficiency
of our Navy and no doubt will prove to be the greatest single im­
provement in American commerce and navigation ever provided by
Congress. If these were the only considerations, it should remain
under the act of 1884, but that act was properly amended on March 3,
1909, so as to exclude the Panama Canal, because we can not be ex­
pected to maintain an untaxed waterway for the navies and mer­
chantmen of other countries.
Before entering upon the undertaking we assumed certain obli­
gations to other nations, recited in the first section of Article I I I of

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103

the IIay-Pauncefote Treaty of 1901 and reiterated in Article X V III
of our convention of 1903 with Panama, as follows:
1. Xlie canal shall be free and open to the vessels of commerce and of war of
all nations observing these Rules, on terms of entire equality, so that there
shall be no discrimination against any such nation, or its citizens or subjects,
in respect of the conditions or charges of traffic, or otherwise. Such condi­
tions and charges of traffic shall be just and equitable.

The treaties provide that every nation shall contribute with “ no
discrimination ” to the support of the canal in proportion to the use
it makes of the canal. That principle will of course be observed.
At the same time the purpose of section 4 of the river and harbor act
of July 5, 1884, may be preserved in the most important engineering
work that we have ever undertaken. This may be accomplished by
the enactment of a law which shall provide that all tolls and transit
charges which may be imposed on public vessels of the United States
and on merchant vessels of the United States for passing through
the Panama Canal shall be paid from any money in the Treasury
not otherwise appropriated, and that there shall be appropriated
annually, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appro­
priated, such sums as may be necessary for the purpose, and that such
appropriations shall be deemed permanent annual appropriations.
About 25 per cent of the Suez Canal tolls on foreign merchant
vessels are now paid in some form from the treasuries of the nations
whose flags those vessels fly, and we may assume that like provision,
in at least some instances, will be made for the payment of the tolls
that we shall assess on foreign merchant vessels. Foreign prece­
dents, however, are merely illustrative. Every State in the Union
with navigable waters crossing its boundaries furnishes precedents
of congressional appropriations for the establishment and mainte­
nance of improvements at the continuing expense of the Federal
Treasury and without a dollar’s help from the vessels which enjoy
the advantages of such improvements. Where the future of Ameri­
can shipping is at stake, and the domestic commerce of both seaboards
and the Gulf is involved, there is no apparent reason to depart from
a principle which has been so constantly invoked.
The subject of Panama Canal tolls has been considered at some
length because it is vital to the future of American merchant slop­
ping. Our opportunity immediately after the war with Spain to
adopt reasonable measures to secure creditable maritime rank was
neglected. The Panama Canal is being built in the belief that it will
benefit all sections of the country and nearly every form of American
industry. Our merchant ships and shipyards are as essential to the
Nation as our battleships. They have at least a claim to equal con­
sideration in canal legislation and appropriations with other Ameri­
can industries. Every argument to tax the American merchant ship

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REPORT OF T H E SECRETARY OF COMMERCE

a ND

LABOR.

which uses the canal would apply with equal force to a tax directly
on American cotton, lumber, fruit, coal, grain, and other cargo carried
by the ship through the canal. It is feasible to use the canal for the
promotion of American navigation in a manner consistent with
treaty obligations, with precedent at home and abroad, and with our
fixed policy of untaxed navigation on improved waterways.
FR E E S H IP S .

The importance of a merchant marine owned bjr citizens of the
United States and sailing in foreign trade under our flag can not, in
my judgment, be overstated. It appears to me to be an essential
factor in the development of foreign trade. It would be accepted
by all countries as the final proof of the determination to enlarge
and to maintain our trade abroad, and it would place our country
in a position to be consulted in the fixing of competitive rates by
maritime carriers.
While it would, of course, be desirable to have the benefit of such
a merchant marine and at the same time to have the ships for foreign
trade built in our yards, experience seems to teach that, for the pres­
ent at least, the accomplishment of both objects is out of the ques­
tion. Ocean steamships for the foreign trade are not built in our
yards, and have not been built for some years, except under the pro­
visions of the ocean mail act of 1891 or in anticipation of the prob­
able passage of legislation to extend the principle of that act after
the war with Spain.
That legislation failed. While I have recommended the readjust­
ment of the ocean mail act of 1891 to the present requirements of
our commerce, and desire here to renew that recommendation, I
see no reason to hope that at the present time it will be adopted.
The registry law alone gives no protection to the industry of ship­
building for the foreign trade, and from the nature of modern navi­
gation it can not do so. The policy of discriminating duties, wdiich
was always a declaration of commercial warfare, has been abandoned
for generations by all maritime countries as worse than impotent.
In the meantime we are postponing the creation of the merchant
marine which we need. I have no hesitation, therefore, in recom­
mending the passage of a bill for the admission of foreign-built ocean
steamships to American registry to engage solely in the foreign trade.
The enactment of such a measure would deprive us of nothing,
and it may help to provide us with a great commercial aid. It
would surely increase the shipping under our flag in trade with
Central America, the West Indies, and some parts of South America,
for the American owners of a number of foreign steamships have
already asked Congress to grant them American registers for those

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105

trades. Even if the law suggested should fall short of the moderate
expectations I entertain of its results, it would, in any event, serve
to point out what else it is necessary to do in order that we may
secure under our own control an adequate merchant marine.
Although the facilities for passenger transportation between
Hawaii and the mainland should be improved, it must be borne in
mind that under the protection of law fleets of excellent ocean
steamers for trade with Hawaii and Porto Rico have already been
built in the United States and are entitled to consideration in any
legislation that may be had.
S H IP B U IL D IN G M A TERIALS.

By the act of June 6, 1872, lumber, timber, hemp, manila, iron and
steel rods, spikes, nails, bolts, and copper for shipbuilding were
admitted free of duty. In the McKinley tariff of 1890 the list of free
articles was extended to include wire rope, plates, angles, and beams.
The Wilson tariff of 1894 included “ all materials of foreign produc­
tion which may be necessary for the construction of vessels,” and that
provision was repeated in the Dingley tariff of 1897. All these tariff
acts restricted the privilege of duty-free materials to vessels which
engage in the coastwise trade not more than two months in the year.
The Payne tariff of 1909 extended the privilege to vessels which
engage in the coastwise trade not more than six months in the year.
The repeal of the limitation of six months is recommended, to remove
the last restriction upon free materials for shipbuilding.
W IR E L E S S S H I P A C T .

Preparations for the enforcement of the wireless ship act of Juno
24, 1910, were so far completed that when the act took effect on .July
1, 1911, only one ocean passenger steamship subject to its provisions
had failed to comply with the law. In these preparations the De­
partment had the benefit of the willing assistance and advice of the
Navy Department. The chain of naval wireless shore stations, which
now girds our coasts from Maine to the Canal Zone and thence to
Unalaska, has been at this Department’s disposal to receive test
messages from merchant ships; these naval stations in fact made
the law possible, for they prevent the creation of monopoly, and
apart from their strategic value are a commercial asset of the Gov­
ernment. Officers stationed at the navy yards and naval stations
have also conducted examinations to test the skill of wireless ship
operators, to 507 of whom thus far certificates of competency have been
issued. Through the courtesy of the Navy Department these arrange­
ments will continue during the current fiscal year, and the War De­
partment has also consented to hold examinations of wireless oper­

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REPORT OF TH E SECRETARY OF COMMERCE AND LABOR.

ators at its Signal Corps station at Fort Omaha. The wireless ship
act has met with general approbation, and in its enforcement the De­
partment has had, with rare exceptions, the cordial cooperation of the
steamship companies concerned and of the wireless telegraph com­
panies. Austria has passed a similar law, effective January 1, 1912,
and doubtless other nations will follow our example if our admin­
istration of the act shall prove successful. At present 488 ocean
passenger steamships are regularly subject to the provisions of the
law, and others on occasional voyages come within its requii’ements.
In addition 142 vessels, including 15 yachts, not subject to the law,
have been voluntarily equipped in the United States.
During July, the first month of the operation of the act, there were
1,163 departures of steamships subject to the act, and the number
during the year will exceed 10,000. Congress appropriated oidy
$7,000 for the enforcement of the law, and with this amount it was
possible to select only three competent inspectors—one for New York
and New England, one for the rest of the Atlantic and Gulf coasts,
and one for the Pacific coast. Several months’ work has shown that
constant inspections are needed to give full effect to this useful law,
and I renew the recommendation for an appropriation of $10,000,
which will allow an inspector exclusively for Gulf ports and Porto
Rico. Trade of these ports is increasing even in advance of the
opening of the Panama Canal. The mutual usefulness of wireless
apparatus to two or more steamships or to a shore station affords a
special reason for Government inspection. Supervision of the
equipment of ocean passenger steamships with wireless apparatus
has already taken its place and at relatively small cost among the
several services which Congress has created for the safety of life
and property at sea.
While the Congress of the United States was the first legisla­
tive body to recognize by statute the protection to life and property
at sea afforded by radiocommunication, we are backward in the nec­
essary. regulation of the use of wireless apparatus. A bill for this
purpose, prepared by this Department in conjunction with the Treas­
ury Department, the War Department, and the Navy Department,
passed the Senate unanimously on June 16, 1910, and a similar bill
was unanimously reported to the House on April 1, 1910, but was
not reached. The passage of this measure is again recommended.
It avoids difficulties which have thus far delayed ratification of the
Berlin Radiotélégraphie Convention of 1906, adopted by practically
all other maritime nations. The international radiotélégraphie con­
ference will meet again in June, 1912, and it is hoped that Congress
will provide for the participation of the United States in its delib­
erations.

REPORT OF TH E SECRETARY OF COMMERCE AND LABOR.

107

MOTOR-BOAT ACT.

The motor-boat act went into effect on July 9, 1910, and the im­
provement during the year in navigation conditions on rivers, har­
bors, and lakes under Federal jurisdiction is everywhere recognized
by the masters of large vessels as well as by those who operate motor
boats. Its first purpose was to substitute reasonable requirements
as to lights and sounds for the impossible requirements of the acts
of 1895 and 1897, passed when motor boats were almost unknown.
Its second purpose was to provide simple and effective means of
extinguishing fire and preventing drowning. Compared with former
years, the summer season of 1910 showed relatively few accidents and
the past summer was almost wholly free from those fatali­
ties which the law was designed to prevent. Of course these results
are in a great measure due to the better construction and equipment
provided by builders and to the increasing skill of operators, but
the law has been a stimulus to both and has exerted a wholesome
check on the reckless. Motor-boat clubs and the daily newspapers
and sporting press throughout the country have been prompt to
recognize the usefulness of the law, and their cooperation has helped
much in its administration.
The law, however, could have been only feebly enforced had not
Congress provided an appropriation of $15,000 to enable collectors
of customs to enforce this and other navigation laws upon the water,
where in fact violations occur. The same sum was placed at the De­
partment’s disposal for the current year and is recommended for the
coming year. The Department has endeavored to be both just and
considerate in the imposition of penalties, as the law was new, but
the receipts from fines under this and other laws have been about
double the appropriation. The expenditure will thus prove advan­
tageous even from the fiscal point of view.
The Department has been urged to recommend an extension of the
law so as to require Government inspection of the hulls and ma­
chinery of motor boats and Government examinations of their opera­
tors. At a conservative estimate there are 150,000 motor boats always
under Federal jurisdiction. To carry out the recommendation a
great extension of the Federal service, with a large appropriation,
would be necessary. I am satisfied that some additional supervision
should be provided for, but I do not believe that it is necessary to
extend the rigid rules of general navigation and inspection to this
smaller craft.
N A V IGATION REVENUES.

Tonnage duties during the fiscal year amounted to $1,083,255.34,
an increase of $1,728.64 over the previous year and the largest amount
collected from this source since 1884. The full effect of the reduction

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REPORT OF T H E SECRETARY OF COMMERCE AND LABOR.

in rates from near-by foreign ports under the tariff act of August 5,
1909, is shown in receipts of $124,772.65 from vessels entered from
such ports, compared with $163,731.81 from the same source during
the fiscal year 1909 under the former rate. Tonnage rates are reason­
able compared with those imposed by foreign nations generally, and
are much less than those of the ports of continental Europe. They
will provide an annual revenue of about $1,000,000 for some years
to come, as increase in ocean traffic will be taken up by regular lines
rather than by tramp steamers.
Our law fixing the tonnage of vessels, which is the basis of tonnage
duties and other public and private charges, was brought into sub­
stantial accord with the laws of the principal maritime nations by
the act of March 2, 1895. International uniformity on this subject
is essential to the expeditious dispatch of modern steamers, and
actual remeasurement of foreign vessels is to be avoided when pos­
sible. Marine construction, especially in shelter decks, has improved
since 1895, and we should recognize, not penalize, these improvements.
Amendments to the measurement laws are the more desirable at this
time, as a system for the purpose of Panama tolls must soon be es­
tablished.
M ISC ELLA N EO U S RECOM M EN D A TIO N S.

From the beginning of the Government, collectors of customs have
been charged with the duty of enforcing the comprehensive scheme of
navigation laws, which was enacted simultaneously with the first
laws to collect revenue at seaports. As Congress has extended the
scope of the navigation laws with increasing regard for the safety
of life at sea, the duties of collectors of customs have been increased
correspondingly, until at the present time many collectors of customs
collect little or no revenue from the tariff, but are wholly occupied
with the enforcement of laws relating to shipping. For this reason
the ratio between the cost of operating a customhouse and the amount
of revenue from the tariff it collects was never a correct measure of
the usefulness of a collector of customs or of the amount of work
he performed. It is an even more inaccurate measure now than it
was 20 years ago. In any reorganization of customs districts which
Congress may contemplate, the dual duties of collectors of customs
should be fully considered, lest unintentionally an important part
of the administrative machinery of the Department of Commerce
and Labor be disarranged.
Congress has provided for the representation of the United States
at three sessions of the International Diplomatic Conference on Mari­
time Law, and the proposed salvage convention, which is generally
commended by the maritime world, has been transmitted to the Sen­
ate. I recommend that the United States be represented hereafter

REPORT OF TH E SECRETARY OF COMMERCE AND LABOR.

109

at these sessions, for in the preliminary work of unifying the mari­
time law of nations our country should do its share.
The repeal of the law permitting imprisonment of seamen for
desertion from American ships in remote foreign ports is again
recommended. Men who want to desert American ships leave un­
molested. In such ports not 1 man out of 200 deserts, and there are
not half a dozen arrests a year. The situation is the reverse of that
in our ports, where seamen desert from foreign ships to enjoy the
larger opportunities of American life. Imprisonment for desertion
from American ships in domestic ports and in near-by foreign ports
was abolished in 1898, and the fragment of the law remaining is
worse than valueless.

STEAMBOAT-INSPECTION SERVICE.
STATISTICAL SU M M A RY OF W ORK.

During the fiscal year ended June 30, 1911, there werè transported
on vessels which by law are required to report the number of pas­
sengers carried, 314,708,885 passengers. The total number of acci­
dents resulting in the loss of life during this period was 48, a decrease
from the previous year of 7, and the. number of lives lost 392, includ­
ing passengers and crew, an increase of 13 over the previous, year. *
Of the total number of lives lost, 113 were from accidents incident to
the perils of navigation, and 48 were from suicide and other unrelated
causes, leaving 231 which can fairly be charged to accidents, colli­
sions, or foundering. The total number of 392 lives lost, when
compared with the number of passengers that were carried, makes
a ratio of 1 life lost, including passengers and crew, for every
802,981 passengers carried.
The number of vessels inspected and certificated in the fiscal year
1911 was 8,335, with a tonnage of 8,494,986, a decrease of 94 in num­
ber, with an increased tonnage of 20,280, as compared with the pre­
vious fiscal year. Of the vessels certificated 6,999 were domestic
steamers with a tonnage of 4,703,518, a decrease of 115 steamers and
of 175,718 tons; and 468 were foreign passenger steamers with a
tonnage of 3,330,267, an increase of 4 in number and of 200,395 tons.
Sail vessels and barges to the number of 36 were inspected, with a
tonnage of 18,561, a decrease of 2 in number and of 2,579 tons, and
also 475 seagoing barges of 424,829 tons, a decrease of 5 in number
and of 3,103 tons from the previous year. Three hundred and fiftyseven motor vessels with a tonnage of 17,811 were inspected and
certificated, an increase of 24 in number and 1,285 tons over the
previous year.
Licenses were issued during the year to 14,006 officers of all gradés,
an increase of 850 over the preceding year. There were 1,317 appli­
cants examined for color blindness, of whom 30 were rejected and
1,287 were passed. As compared with the previous year, these figures
show an increase of 299 in the number examined and 287 in the
number passed.
At the various mills 3,916 steel plates for the construction of
marine boilers were inspected, a decrease from the previous year of
610, and of this number 311 were rejected. In addition to these
plates, there were inspected at the mills a large number of steel bars
for braces and stay bolts for marine boilers, and also several hundred
110

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I ll

plates for stock and repair purposes. Many requests were received
from other branches and departments of the Government for the
testing of boiler material at the mills. These received the attention
of the Service, and prompt reports were rendered to the proper
officials.
During the year there were examined and tested at various manu­
factories 210,259 life preservers, of which 730 were rejected.
The total number of persons in the Service at the end of the fiscal
year ended June 30, 1911, was 2G1, consisting of 185 officers, 74
clerks, 1 janitor, and 1 messenger. Two vacancies existed in the
Service on that date.
SCOPE OF T H E SERVICE.

It may be interesting to note the scope of the work of the Steam­
boat-Inspection Service. The Service exists primarily for the pur­
pose of inspecting the hulls and machinery of vessels of the American
merchant marine that are subject to inspection, licensing officers
for steam vessels subject to inspection, and conducting investiga­
tions and trials of violators of the steamboat-inspection laws and of
the rules and regulations passed by the Board of Supervising In ­
spectors. The work of inspecting the hulls of vessels brings the
Service into close contact with the shipbuilding interests of the
country, as well as the manufacturers of equipment necessary for
vessels; while the inspection of boilers of steamers brings the Service
into equally close contact with the mills that roll the material of
which marine boilers are constructed, as well as the manufacturers
of marine boilers. The work of licensing officers places upon in­
spectors the responsibility that requires them to assure themselves
that men applying for marine licenses have proper physical qualifi­
cations, as well as mental capacity.
While the Steamboat-Inspection Service was organized, as its
name implies, for the purpose of inspecting steamboats, modem de­
velopment of the means of propelling vessels has brought to the
front the gasoline engine, and with it the motor boat, and while for
certain purposes the Service is required to inspect gasoline motor
boats of a certain class, the Service comes into contact with the motorboat situation mainly through the licensing of operators of motor
boats carrying passengers for hire. Furthermore, the SteamboatInspection Service is charged by the Department with the responsi­
bility of passing upon the buoyant cushions used in motor boats op­
erated for pleasure purposes, and this has entailed no little work
upon the central office as a residt of the tests that have to be con­
ducted of cushions submitted, and of the numerous questions that
have to be answered in regard to the life-saving equipment of certain
classes of motor boats.

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REPORT OF TH E SECRETARY OF COMMERCE AND LABOR.

As the manufacture of dangerous articles has developed, the num­
ber of questions asked with regard to the application of section 4472,
Revised Statutes, relating to the transportation of dangerous articles
on vessels carrying passengers, continues to increase, and there are
no more important rulings than those relating to the transportation
of dangerous articles under this section. As the gasoline engine has
brought into prominence the motor boat, so it has also brought to the
attention of the Service the transportation of automobiles, a matter
also covered by section 4472, and it becomes more apparent every day
that the masters and owners of vessels must strictly enforce the law
with reference to the transportation of automobiles.
The work being done by the Steamboat-Inspection Service for other
departments of the Government, and for other bureaus of the De­
partment of Commerce and Labor, is constantly increasing. This
work consists of investigations made by the Service of disasters
a fleeting vessels owned by other bureaus of this Department; the
inspection of material for boilers used in the vessels of other de­
partments of the Government, and the inspection of boilers in vessels
owned by other bureaus of this Department, as well as boilers in
public buildings.
MOTOR VESSELS.

Reference has been made to the licensing by the SteamboatInspection Service of persons who desire to become operators of
motor vessels carrying passengers for hire under the provisions of
the act of Congress approved June 9, 1910, which act also provides
that any such license as operator of motor boats shall be revoked or
suspended by the local board of inspectors for misconduct, gross
negligence, recklessness in navigation, intemperance, or violation of
law on the part of the holder. While, therefore, the vast majority
of motor boats are not subject to inspection, the Service does have a
certain jurisdiction over persons holding licenses as operators of
them.
At present no examination is required as a condition to obtain­
ing license, and it must be apparent that many persons have received
license to operate motor boats who are in fact not competent to hold
such license, and who jeopardize not only their own lives and the
lives of persons traveling with them, but also the lives of persons
traveling on inspected steamers commanded by duly licensed men.
It does seem that ns a matter of public policy, for the purpose of
protecting life and property, the operators of motor boats should
be required to submit to some suitable examination before receiving
license, although it does not appear necessary to subject them to the
rigid rules of navigation and inspection.

REPORT OF TH E SECRETARY OF COMMERCE AND LABOR.
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FEATURES OF H U L L

113

IN S P E C T IO N .

In the annual report of the Supervising Inspector General of the
Steamboat-Inspection Service for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1910,
the Supervising Inspector General recommended a more rigid and
thorough hull inspection, and at the meeting of the Board of Super­
vising Inspectors of Steam Vessels in January, 1911, a rule was
passed requiring vessels of a certain tonnage to submit blue prints
showing their construction and other information of value to the
inspectors. It is believed that it will become more and more ap­
parent that this rule is a good one, for prior to the passage of the
rule the inspectors of the Service were in complete ignorance of
many essential things they should know regarding the construction
of hulls of vessels inspected by them.
REA RR A N G EM EN T OK SU P E R V IS IN G -IN S P E C T IO N

DISTRICTS.

At the last meeting of the Board of Supervising Inspectors, in
January, 1911, the supervising-inspection districts of the Service were
rearranged. The Second district, which was by far the largest in
the matter of the amount of work done, was divided, and the Fourth
district was enlarged. The result of the rearrangement has been
that the work of the Service has been more evenly distributed, there
is better inspection, and there is greater satisfaction, not only to the
Service but to vessel owners and licensed officers.
TRANSPORTATION OF EXPLOSIVES BY W ATER.

The explosion of dynamite which occurred February 1, 1911, while
the explosive was being unloaded from a freight car and taken on
board a steamer lying at a dock at Communipaw, N. J., and which
resulted in great loss of life and destruction of property, has drawn
attention to apparent deficiencies in the laws regulating the trans­
portation of explosives by water, as distinguished from transportation
by land, and has given rise to an earnest demand for further
Federal legislation on the subject. The statutes, and the regulations
made thereunder, governing the transportation of explosives by
land (and by water, also, so far as passenger vessels are concerned)
seems to be ample for the purpose in view. (See act to codify the
penal laws of the United States, approved Mar. 4, 1909; secs. 14724476, Rev. Stats.; and act of Congress approved Aug. 2, 1882. sec. 8.)
The only positive prohibitions or requirements, however, concern­
ing the transportation of explosives by freight vessels are, first, that
liquid nitroglycerin, dry fulminate in bulk, or other like explosive,
shall not be carried on freight vessels operated by a common carrier
while transporting other articles of commerce (act of Mar. 4, 1909,
21357°—12-----8

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liKPOKT OF TH E SECRETARY OF COMMERCE AND LABOR.

sec. 234); second, that gunpowder, nitroglycerin, and like articles,
when offered for shipment, shall be securely packed and put up
separately from each other and from other articles (secs. 4475 and
4476, Rev. Stats.); and third, that packages containing explosives
shall have the contents properly marked on the outside when pre­
sented for shipment and the carrier informed of the character of
the article (act of Mar. 4, 1009, sec. 235).
The use of explosives is indispensable to many necessary opera­
tions of modern life. Adequate means for the transportation of
explosives by land and water must, therefore, always be available.
Recognizing this, there are still grave dangers to be avoided. Such
dangers are probably most to be feared in connection with the navi­
gation of vessels carrying large quantities of explosives and with the
loading, unloading, and anchorage of the same in harbors or inland
waters, where the prospect of collision is greater, and where, if an
explosion occurs, the disastrous consequences are almost certain to
extend to other vessels often crowded with passengers, and even to
structures and persons on shore.
With these facts in mind, I have felt that the attention of Con­
gress should be called to the matter, and accordingly offer for consid­
eration certain definite suggestions regarding the character of legis­
lation needed, some of which it may be thought wise to adopt. The
dangers to lie guarded against would, it is thought, at least be mini­
mized if the law should require, among other things, that vessels
carrying more than a certain quantity of explosives shall carry neither
passengers nor other freight ; that such vessels and vessels used for
the storage of explosives shall be inspected by the Steamboat-Inspec­
tion Service and certificated as of a structure suitable for the special
uses in view; that vessels intended for such uses shall be constructed
wholly of iron or steel and so built that explosives shall neither be
stored nor handled within 25 feet of the motive power, and shall have
the openings into the holds or storage compartments provided with
hinged iron or steel hatches having rubber or felt joints, such hatches
to be kept securely fastened, except when loading or unloading or
when no explosives are on board; that such vessels shall be propelled
only by motive power of their own, the generation of which shall be
of a character permitting the escape of no sparks; that vessels of this
kind shall be painted a distinctive color and shall display a large
(lag designating their character, and shall not be navigated in har­
bors or inland waters at night or in fog or thick weather; that such
vessels shall be loaded and unloaded altogether by hand, without the
use of hooks, slings, or other artificial means, except that skids may
be used if constructed wholly of wood, without metal fastenings,
properly protected with side guards and covered on the working
surfaces with canvas or other material to reduce friction; that in

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115

stowing vessels with explosives the same shall be stored under deck
and below the water line; and that cargoes of explosives shall not be
transferred from one vessel to another in any harbor, but only in
uncongested waters designated by proper authority.
CONCLUSION.

For more detailed information I refer to the reports of the chiefs
of bureaus.
Respectfully,
C h a r l e s N a g f .l ,
Secretary.

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