The San Francisco call., 1896-04-22
To Establish a Department in
This City for Commercial
Interests.
IT Is ENDORSED LOCALLY
The Manufacturers and Producers
Association Is Heartily in
Favor.

Grafton yesterday subject of great i'm
portance to every one interested in com
merce and manufacture. 1t was the estab
lishment by the Federal Government of {
department devoted especially to the com
mereial and manufacturing interests of the
! United States.
The subject came before the directors by
letter from T. G. Search, pres sldent of the
National Association of manufacturers o.
which the local association is mem ber
Mr.. Search requested that the association
by resolutions and letters indorse the bill
of Senator Frye, which provides for the
creation of a Department of Commerce
and Manufactures. On several occasions
| during the past ten years efforts have been
made to secure the enactment of laws pro.
viding for the establishment of such de-
partment, but they failed because of the
| lack OF appreciation of the necessity and
the absence of organized support. With
the extraordinary rapid growth of the
manufacturing interests of the country
there has come wider recognition of the
| Importance of the movement Several
years ago such bill was introduced into
Congress, but it died because there was no
great efforts made to push it through.
The National Association of Manufac-
turers took up the matter at its conven-
ton held in Chicago on January q of this
year. and the National Board of Trade at
It's annual convention held in Washington
on January % appointed committee to
urge the matter upon Congress. On March
8 Senator Frye introduced in the Senate
bill to establish a Departm ent of Com
merce and Manufactures.
This bill provides that there shall be
an executive department to be known as
q nnrn0 ~ 81
factures, the Secretary to be appointed by
the President by and with the advice and
consent of the Senate and to receive a
salary OF $4,000 per annum; also for an As
sistant Secretary of Commerce and Manu-
factures to be sim ilarly appointed and to
receive salary of $4,000 per year. One
chief clerk and such other clerical assist
ants as may be authorized by Congress are
also provided
The DEPARTMENT. of Commerce and Man
ufactures shall have general jurisdiction
over the foreign and internal commerce of
the United States except in so far as re-
lates to the collection of revenue and the
administration of customs and internal
revenue laws. 1t shall also have jurisdIc-
ton over all matters relating to manufac-
turing interests of the United States, the
extension OF foreign markets, the increase
Of trade and trade facilities with foreign
countries and to perform all the functions
relating to trade and commerce in the
United States that are now performed by
the Treasury Department.
1t further provides for the transfer from
the Treasury Department to the Depart
ment OF Commerce and Manufactures of
the Life-saving Service, the Lighthouse
Board, the Marine Hospital Service, the
Bureau OF Steamboat INSPECTION, the
Bureau of Navigation, the United States
Coast and Geodetic Survey, and the Bureau
of Statistics. The Bureau OF Statistics of
the Department of State is also transferred
to the new department and consolidated
with the Stats stical Bureau of the Treasury
Department. Provision is made for the
appointment by the President of chief
of the Bureau of Statistics Of Commerce
and Manufactures, who will perform all
the duties now imposed upon the chiefs
OF the two separate bureaus.
Under the proposed law the Consular
Bureau of the Department of State and
the several consular officers of the Federal
Government and all other officers of the
Government who are resident in foreign
countries and are charged with the 0uty
OF facilitating and promoting the COM
merce of the United States shall be trans
ferred from the jurisdiction of the Depart
ment of State to the Department of Com
merce and Manufactures. Whenever con-
su!ar officers shall be required to act in
purely diplomatic capacity they will con-
tlLue 10 report 10 Lue department OF state
as at present.
The Secretary of Commerce and Manu-
factures shall report annually to Congress
concerning the expenditure of the appro-
prlations for his department and the work
that has been done in promoting and
facilitating the development of American
commerce and manufactures. The Secre-
tary is also to make special investiga tions
and report on particular subjects whenever
required to do so by the President or by
either house OF Congress, or whenever in
his Judgment such special work shall be
required.
One of the strongest arguments in favor
of Senator Frye's bill is the overcrowded
condition of the Treasury Department ana
the urgent need for its relief. One by one,
in the course of many years, there have
been added to the Treasury Department
various bureaus of character entirely un-
related to the natural functions of that
department. For example, there seems to
be no natural relation between the finan-
cial branch of the Federal administra-
tion and the life-savlng service or
the steamboat inspectors or the light.
house board, except that these at
tached bureaus have more or less connec-
tion with the maritime commerce which
brings the merchandise upon which are
levied the customs dues from which the
principal portion OF the public revenues is
uSIlNSus i uo treasury OeDarCment'S s
natural connection with internal and for
eign commerce of the Nation is limited to
the enforcement of the revenue laws and
the collection of the customs and internal
revenue taxes. With commerce itself the
Treasury Department has no logical con-
nection.
The directors of the local association dis.
cussed the matter at length. and the most
important reasons advanced for such iegis-
ation, briefly summarized, were that the
United States is distinctively CONNER.
cial and industrial Nation. A branch of
the Federal Government whose special
function would be to promote the interests
of trade seems to be not only appropriate,
but necessary.
Agriculture very fittingly has its Cabinet
officer and its own department in the
Nations Government. Manufactures,
upon which more than anything else the
prosperity of the country depends, have
no representation in the administration of
the Nations affairs. The overcrowding of
the Treasury Department by the accumu-
lation of a large numb ber of unrelated
bureaus calls for immediate steps for the
relief of this important branch of the ex-
ecutive Government, the natural duties of