The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-02-25
BY r. NJ. Larner.

Washington, Feb. 24.-For the third
time since the foundation of this
government a new executive depart
ment. its head having seat in the
Presidents cabinet, is being inaugu-
rated. Congress has always been ex-
ceedingly conservative about the es-
tablishment of new departments and
the graveyard of legislation at the
Capital contains many bills to that
end, which have been consigned to
oblivion.
But in the midst of what has been
a most marvellous period of indus
trial activity and industrial advance
the Senate and House have agreed
upon the new Department of Com
lnerce and Labor, President Roosevelt
has signed the bill, thereby giving it
the full effect of law of the land, and
Immediately thereafter named Hon.
George r. Cortelyou, of New York, as
the secretary thereof. A few days
later James r. Garfield, like Mr..
Cortelyou a young man, was named as
commissioner Of the Bureau of Cor
porations next to the secretaryship
probably the most important of all the
offices in the new department. He is
a son of the late President James A.
Garfield and, in common with Mr..
Cortelyou although undoubtedly to
less degree, enjoys the high esteem
of Mr.. Roosevelt.
The new Secretary of Commerce first
met with the cabinet last Friday, his
place, as the head of the last depart
ment organized, being at the foot of
the list and next to the Secretary of
Agriculture, whose department was
created as such Feb. 8, 1889, and second
from the Secretary of the Interior,
whose department was created March
3, 1S49. There are tremendous posi-
bilities ahead of Mr.. Cortelyou in or
ganizing this new department. but he
Is proceeding slowly and cautiously
in his work so that he may avoid any
false starts and it viii be weeks, prob
ably months before much in the way
of executing plans and policies for
the Immediate benefit of domestic and
foreign commerce can be underta ken.
As a matter of fact none of the
several bureaus to be transferred from
other depa rtments to the new depart
lnent will come under Mr.. Cortelyou
jurisdiction till July l, when the
Governments new fiscal year begins.
No other officers have yet been APP
pointed but Mr.. Cortelyou is daily ap-
preaching the tasks before him. In
the Presidents executive offices, just
east of the Navy Department. he has
been assigned rooms, where he has had
the superintendent of vast amount
of congratulatory correspondence, fol-
lowed Immediately by applications for
Office. Senators and members, especial
ly those who were instrumental in
forcing the bill to its passage, have
been passing through the glass portals
and along the little corridor to the left
of the vestibule to where Mr.. Cortelyou
sits, asking places for their constitu
ents. But some time has been found,
aside from attention to the matters
mentioned, to consult with Mr.. Gar
field, the commissioner of the bureau
of corporations, with Mr.. Sergent, Mr..
Austin, chief of the bureau of statis-
tics, both commissioner of the bureau
of immigration, now under the Treasury
Department, and with numerous other
chiefs of bureaus, now or prospectively
under the new department, as to plans.
The comprehensive duties of the Sec
rotary of commerce are indicated some
and divisions of activity which will
come under his direction. From the
Treasury Department, besides the great
bureau of immigration just mentioned,
and the bureau of statistics, which in
the last four years especially has as
sumed no small importance because of
the volume of statistics of trade and
commerce which it has prepared in pop
ular form for publication in news
papers, the following additional bureaus
will come under the new department:
the Light House Board, which has
charge of millions upon millions of
dollars worth of property along both
the Atlantic and Pacific coast. the light
house establishment, the steamboat
inspection service, the Bureau of Navi-
cation, the United States Shipping
Commissioners, who are stationed in
every important port, the National Bu-
reau of Standards, for which the
government is soon to erect a fine new
building here at a cost of several hun
dreds of thousands of dollars, and the
Coast and Geodetic Survey, which is
accorded the finest bureau of scientists
on those subjects in the world. Nearly
all these bureaus, not only have a vast
amount of routine work pertaining to
their fields, but also from time to time
initiate and put into execution impor-
tant innovations calculated to serve the
public interests.
Then from the Interior Department
Will be transferred the Census Bureau
which has only been organized about
nine months as a permanent bureau.
Hitherto forces for the taking of the
decennial census. required by the con-
stitution, have been organized a year
or two in advance, but much of the
work of such a temporary force has
proved Valueless, and the government
for the first time in history has en-
tered seriously upon census taking
that will subserve commercial and
business interests by affording quick
and accurate returns. There alone is