The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1903-01-19
The Commerce Department Bill.

: The senate bill for the organization Of a
department of commerce, as amended by
the house and passed on Saturday, elm
mates the section providing for bureau
of insurance and adds provision for a
bureau of corporations. The substitute
eliminates the life saving service, marine
hospital service, bureau Of navigation and
shipping commission, leaving them under
the control OF the treasury department.
and gives the commerce department
charge of standards, coast and geodetic
survey, bureau Of statistics, census bu-
reau, immigration, foreign commerce,
etc
5The measure does not remove the feature
Of duplication of work which obtains now
to some extent and there should be very
close scrutiny as to this matter. The
proposed bureau Of corporations, with a
81, 0O0-a-year chief, is assigned the duty
of collecting statistics touching corpora
lions doing an interstate business. This
duty apparently falls to the proposed pub
licity law which the house will make a
separate measure: AS the commerce
department bill authorizes the president
to include the interstate commerce COM
mission in the new department in his
discretion, the collection of, corporation
statistics could be appropriately referred
to that body. The bureau of insurance
clause was defeated, but it's duties being
the collection Of statistics which are now
very fully collected under state super
vision, such a bureau would seem to be
superfiuous, the strongest argument of the
house committee reporting the bill being
that an insurance bureau might influence,
by publishing statistics, the adoption of
uniformity of building laws and ordi-
nances throughout the country, which
would tend to reduce the enormous fire.
waste of $3.50, 900 year or more. Pos
sibly this is So but, if the government is
toatake charge of the insurance business,
congress would have to enact law pro-
viding for national insurance bureau,
giving the government the power to in
vestigate the condition of insurance COM
panies, as it investigates at intervals the
business Of national banks.
The process Of creating executive de-
partments since the foundation Of the
government has generally followed the ex-
pansion Of business and the growth of
( governmental responsibility. Naturally
there has been a strong temptation to pro-
mote the creat ton of new salaried bureaus
and departments. The treasury depart
ment has been overloaded with bureaus,
some which have no real relation to the
functions of that branch Of the govern
ment. The interior department has been
likewise charged with too wide g. range
of subjects, and it was to relieve these de-
partments as well as to increase efficiency
that some Of these bureaus have been as
signed to the new department. It's func-
lions were declared to be jurisdiction over
transportation, navigation, manufactures
and mining and the collection of all re-
lated statistics and the promotion of our
commercial and industrial interests, just
as Great Britain does with her board OF
trade and France with her minister OF
commerce, Industries and telegraphs.
The public expects the new department
to accomplish all that its most ardent we'll.
wishers expect and not to degenerate into
an objective point for office seekers. II
ought to promote the efficiency of the
public executive work under it's charge
and eliminate all bureaus which simpl,
duplicate work done by other bureaus
,Ff1e latter effect has BEEN, in fact, lareel,
urged as a reason for the creation Of the
new department. And that would be true
economy.