The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-11-10
4 NEW C4BINEr OFFICER.


The movement which has been in
progress for a number of years in a more
or less half-hearted way, for the or
ganzation of department. of the fed
eral government to he devoted to the
commerce and industries of the country
recently received a decided impetus
through the action taken by the New
York Chamber of Commerce That body
has had the question under consideration
for a considerable time, and the COM
mittee having the subject in charge has
finally presented the following resolution
which it recommended for adoption, and
which will certainly receive the sanction
of the chamber:
Resolved, That the Chamber of Com
merce of the state of New York strongly
1aVors the creation at the seat of gov
ernment of AN executive department, to
be known as The Department of Com
merce and Industries and a secretary
the head thereof. Resolved, That tn s
department, If created, should have iur-
1sdlcuon over commerce, including all
functions exercised by the government
with reference to transportation and nav
igation manufactures and mining and
s all statistics relating thereto.
The expanding business of this people
and of their government alike demands
the organization of such department.
Many of the existing departments are the
product of the countrys growth. The
present department of justice presided
over by the attorney general was not or
gained as an executive department of
the government until 1870, nor the post
office department until 1872 The post
master general was not invited to seat
in the cabinet until 1929, and the interior
department was not organized until 1S4e
while the department. of agriculture came
into existence as late as 1859. the secre-
tary Of agriculture not becoming a cab
met officer until 1889.
He is but poor student of national af-
fairs who does not know that the treas
ury department is loaded down with
duties and obligations which on no true
conception of it's functions ought to be-
long to it. So, in a lesser degree, with the
interior department. Among these are
those pertaining to commerce and naviga-
ton. The manufacturing and mining in
dustries OF the country come under the
control Of no department, bureau or diyis-
ion whatever of the general government,
unless the jurisdiction which the state de-
partment exercises over our national
manufacturing and shipping interest
through consular reports may be said to
bring those important departments of ma
tional endeavor under the control of that
department of the government.
The requirement established by the
foregoing resolutions, that the proposed
new department. should assume jurisdic-
ton over transportation and navigation.
manufacturing and mining, seems to be
entirely adequate to the case.
The agricultural department and it's
secretary were at first the occasion OF
some humorous reflections But the work
of that department within the past few
years has proven of the highest value to
the great interest which it represents.
The business men of the entire country
will soon follow the example of the New
York Chamber of Commerce, and the
close Of the next session of congress will
probably witness the creation of the new
department.