Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1903-04-06
WASHINGTON TOPICS
Work of Department Of Com
merce Now Underway.
Bureau of Manufacture Will Not
be Organized Soon.
OrioinaI Work Misunderstanding the
Sunken Warship.

Washington, April 5.-The new de-
partment of commerce and labor with
Secretary Cortelyou has commenced
business in a small way, but with en-
couraging signs of prosperity and use
| fulness Mr.. Cortelyou has rented
] temporary quarters in the building or
the Builders Exchange and has signed
a lease for a new building now being
erected on the site of old Newspaper
Row on Fourteenth street, near Penn
sylvania avenue, which will be ready
| for him in May. 1t is small building
| compared with the other great edifices
occupied by the government depart
ments, but will furnish sufficient quar-
| tiers for the different bureaus of the
| department of commerce and labor I'M
| til Congress provides them a perma-
nent home The principal branches of
| the new department, the census office,
| the labor bureau, the fish commission,
1 the bureau of statistics and the light
house board, are already well placed
and can remain where they are as long
as necessary. The new building will be
occupied by the secretary, his assis-
| tants, chief clerk, disbursing officer
| and other clerks, and the bureau or
| corporations and the immigration bu-
reau and steamboat inspection service
can be removed into it from the treas
ury building.
The new department is made up
chiefly of bureaus now forming a part
of the old departments, and in these
there will be no change of administra-
ton or policy, except in the several
bureaus of statistics, which will be
consolidated to prevent duplication.
There has been great deal of dupli-
cation in this respect, and in other
branches also, which will be avoided so
far as possible hereafter A commit
tee has recently been appointed by the
President, consisting of Director Wal
oft of the geological survey, Mr..
| Pinchot of the bureau of forestry, Cen
eral Crozier of the bureau of ordnance,
| md Mr.. Garfield of the bureau of cor
| porations,, whose duty it is to inves-
| igate the scientific and statistical
work of the government, and, after
ascertaining what is being done, to
| make recommendations as to cOnsolida-
lions and amalgamations to promote
economy and prevent duplication. A
| good deal of scientific work done by
| different branches of the government
overlap. New ideas will be in
troduced into several depart
nents at the same time, and
each will pursue it's inquiries indepen-
| dent of the other. For example, the
| subject of wireless telegraphy is inter-
esting the navy, the signal service of
| the army, the weather bureau of the
| agricultural department and the pa
tent office. Forestry is receiving at
tention from the land office, the geolog-
ical survey and the agricultural de-
| ,artment, and all three of those depart
| nents and the Indian office are look
ng into irrigation. These are all i'm
| oortant subjects of investigation; each
| branch of government is devoting time
| and money to the work, and each is
| producing it's independent and impor-
| ant results. The commission has been
| organized by the president for the pur-
| pose of unifying and harmoniZing them,
| md without interfering with their use
fitness, to arrange so that the best re-
| suits can be achieved without unneceS-
AIRY labor and expense.
| An even greater amount of duplica-
| lion is going on in statistical work.
The bureau of statistics of the treas
| ury, the bureau of foreign commerce
| m the state department and the bureau
IF foreign commerce in the agricultu-
| al department are all searching for
interesting facts and figures relating to
| our trade with foreign countries. The
census bureau and the labor bureau
| ire both working among the indus
tries of the country and investigating
social conditions. Each arrives at its
own conclusions, which are interest
ing and important, but great deal of
| work might be avoided and to correct
that will be one of the first duties I'M
lertaken by the new department.
| The bureau of manufactures provided
| for by the new law has not been organ
| lied. and will not be for some time@not
| until Secretary Cortelyou Is thoroughly
familiar with the work of the census and
s,6 hin t both of wh n oHefa
| lures is expected to occupy. 1t will be
| impossible to define its scope and func-
tons until he has had an opportunity t 70
| should be done. Nor has anyone been Sc
| lected as chief of this bureau. No APP
| pontments will be made until fall, but
whoever is selected will be satisfactory
| to the manufacturing interests of the
| country.
The steamboat inspection service is now
being overhauled. A new chief has beer
| appointed, and. like new broom, he is
sweeping clean. New methods of in
lspection will undoubtedly be introduced
and modern ideas as we'll
| The bids for raising the Maine and the
Alfonso, XII: at Mariel, and the, othe,,
Spanish warships sunk at Manzanillo and
Santiago must provide that part of the
profit is to go to Cuba and must state
the method Of removal Explosives are
| not permitted. The Maine bids will he
opened at the office of the Secretary of
Finance on June l. Successful bidders
are required to deposit $500 for the
| Maine. ST. 900 for the Alfonso, and for
the others 5000. The work must be begun
three months after letting the contract.
When President Roosevelt comes back
from the West he will find a forest of
Dutch green bay and box trees growing
in tubs on the masonry terraces which
stretch away from the White House to-