america at work more than two million workers and more different kinds of jobs than there are in any other business and i've been the biggest business any united states that of your federal government workers in five hundred different occupations in eighty agencies the smallest the commission of fine arts with three employees the largest the department of defense with over a million like the american citizen the largest employer in the world the popular concept is that government workers are concentrated in washington but for every civil servant in the nation's capital ten work elsewhere in regional laboratories they test projects that will remake the geography of the country and experiment stations scattered the length and breadth of the land they devise a standard that will protect the purity of our food studies in towns and rural areas on lonely outpost they gather information for making predictions on our favorite subject the  weather testing bureaus in case spots an infinite variety of logics must pass rigid examinations for the protection of the public government workers are everywhere that there is a need for information and service to the american citizen many of them have never even been to washington employees of your civil service work for you next door and all over the world and soon will be an outer space from the treasury building go for the forms that make us most conscious of government federal income tax return as in all government agencies and extensive information services maintained to aid the  of the internal revenue service at the daily it's most in tact and diplomacy to make palatable one of the most unpleasant fact of life taxes although there is a thankless business they take great pains to see that pay no more than your share they work however in the knowledge that for your taxes you are getting value received public works just as progress education and freedom the biggest bargain in history american citizenship collecting taxes is just one of a thousand tasks performed by government workers the same department the treasury that must raise the money to provide us with public services beyond the ability of private individuals to supply also prin transaction involving currency is an example of the way in which the work of civil service employees touches our lives many times every day each dollar bill has a brief but busy life expectancy approximately thirteen months which is why new bills are constantly being put into circulation treasury workers are also charged with the responsibility of protecting us against  meant distributed over the united states are calling makers handle more hard cash in a day than most of us do in our lifetime only the most the people at play honest could stand the strain of creating fortunes without becoming a penny richer their fellow workers other famous tea men and coastguardsman of peacetime who helped guide our boarders as well as our treasury study carefully a bill or a stamp of any denomination to see the results of one of the smallest but most valuable professions in the country said or agressor or stealing writing this knowledge could be dangerous if applied outside the these are the bits of paper that will take a letter or a parcel anywhere for a few cents the same care goes into the end grading of the picture on a postage stamp as goes into the design of paper currency rather than the facts may make certain stamps more valuable to the philatelist but the bureau of engraving doesn't want them to circulate through the post office the inspector detects imperfections with the naked eye as the large sheets  the weather man has always been a space man even though it's in or rather than outer space the success of his job depends on how fast he can collect information on the atmosphere and translate it into weather forecasts for the rest of  no one knows how he got to be called the weather man when it takes the combined knowledge and experience of thousands of scientists and technical workers to produce a single weather report there may all look alike to the uninitiat specialized instruments is needed to record at miscarry conditions in a science called meteorology there is even a special weather that occurs in a lay around the earth just a few inches off the ground this concerned all of the insects until recently now it has been found of great importance to farmers in understanding the behavior of growing crops inside the weather station radar tracks the course of the balloon which is equipped with a radio transmit to send back its collected data almost nothing is more out of date than yesterday's weather report the weather man every fact that was ever gathered is useful and for telling the future so they carefully file each tidbit for its value in interpreting the next movement of  the path of the next tornado the extent of tomorrow sunshine or storm the duration of whatever is to come out of the sky this is truly a wedding of art and in a nation of inventors and originators there must be special protection for its creative people the patent office is set up to provide this protection through patents copyrights and registration of trademarks the founding fathers laid the basis for their service in the constitution to promote the arts and sciences and they have not been let down the american as a restless thinker idly ever satisfied with the way things have been done before his time a patent does not guarantee success for the inventor nor even bestow the right to new factor an article it does protect him from competition and it does give him the exclusive rights to the product of his imagination yet hundreds or these brain children find their way no further than the patent office dozens of them become the contributions that carry civilization for a little known but extremely important duty of government workers is the regulation of weights and measures everyday living would be in a state of chaos if we did not have reliable units of weight and measurement a standard kilogram which can be translated into pounds and ounces is kept in a vault at the bureau of standards it is this that makes it possible for the scales in your neighborhood stars to bear the legend honest w replicas are calibrated with that original under the most carefully controlled conditions so sensitive is that true weight that it must be handled with tongs and kept at a constant temperature to prevent fluctuations and resulting in accuracy achievement in standardization to john quincy adams six president of the united states who felt that his effort in this field when i greater accomplishment than being president he said weights and measures may be ranked among the necessities of life they enter into the daily concerns of every family they are necessary to every occupation of human industry to the security of property to every transaction of trade and commerce to the labors  husbandman and the artificer to the studies of the philosopher to the mariner and the soldier to all the exchanges of peace and all the operations of war we would probably not know our own strength are numbered everywhere not for the work of the census bureau the department of commerce that set up a dramatic scorecard of how our population stand up to this minute the calculations of scores statisticians are behind the lights that flash to indicate that someone is born dies enters or leaves the country to stay it is designed to make possible the selection of programs from a hundred different sources and to handle twenty six separate transmissions at one time there are direct lines to the white house the state department the capitol the national press club national airport and constitution hall in washington it is connected with united nations headquarters in new york city and broadcasting centers in munich germany paris france and united states commercial radio and television networks highly specialized workers speak for all of us to the people of other nations throughout this one arm of the united states information agency we send a message in over forty languages using natives of the country to which they broadcast most of these are now american citizen many of the programs are live and some are recorded on tape or discs these are shipped as package programs for placement in local stations or networks in foreign countries the pentagon the symbol of big government made necessary in a complex world half of all civil service employees work in national defense work here and in thousands of field offices is typical of government office job but in the routine of typing in filing may start the ripples that eddie out to began world shaking events the big names the statesman and politicians must be backed up by numberless type esplanade refers clarkson messengers who document on falling history in a minute as detail from moment to moment paperwork reflects the demands of our set of and for service from their government actions on accounts on file here that would stretch miles into the past a past that at any moment is likely to turn into the future in these files may be the proof that light and a fire a missing person that will establish a fact of american history that may be underdressed to the street walked in spirit by every american a straight symbolizing the public service of two million workers members of the american federation of government