Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1905-12-07
Secretary Metcalf
Says 1t Is a
Necessity.
LDREGULA7E INSURANCE
President Receives Report of
the Department of Com
merce and Labor.

Washington, D. c., Dec. ", f
Metcalf, secretary of the Department
OF Commerce and Labor, in his annua
report, recommends to the Presiden
mat laws be passed at the presen
session OF Congress giving his depart
ment supervision over the great cor
porations engaged in Interstate busi
ness.
He asks that the insurance compa
MES be put under the jurisdiction o
the department, but says that this can
not be done until laws are passed
legalizing 1t, as the insurance compa
nies are now under state jurisdiction
The Report in Part.
Mr.. Metcalf's report in part follows
The estimates submitted for the
fiscal year ending June 80, 1907, fol
the general salary account and con
tingent and miscellaneous expenses
are $222,3S013 less than the tota
amounts appropriated for similar pur
poses for the fiscal year ending June
30, 1906, and the allotment for print
Ing and binding is estimated at $500,
600, reduction in that expense OF
$4,000. This is total reduction OF
$362,3S0.13 from the amount appropri
ated for these purposes in the present
fiscal year.
These decreases have been made
possible by the consolidation and or
ganization of work done by the office
of the secretary and some of the
bureaus, and by reducing the esti
mates for the work OF the bureau OF
the census and immigration service.
The estimate for the office of the
secretary is increased $4,000 for I'D.
ditional special agents to examine
trade relations abroad and to inquire
into the methods of work and the eff.
cheney of the departments employees
scattered throughout the United
States and contiguous foreign coun-
tries, but as a reduction of $3,540 is
made in the estimate for the Office of
the secretary relating to annual sala-
ries, the net increase for that Office is
$66,460.
The department necessarily main
tains large number of offices
throughout the United States, Porto
Rico, Hawaii. and in several foreign
countries adjacent to the United
States.
Employ Special Agents.
1t is my desire to be able to employ
a number of special agents with ex-
pert knowledge OF the administration
of government business, the laws and
system relating to making contracts
on behalf of the government, and the
submission ofgvouchers and accounts
for obligations incurred by the de-
partment, in order that they may in
spect the Offices and records and in
quire into the efficiency of the en-
ployes of the department outside of
Washington, with a view to recon-
mending better administration where
necessary, and determining whether
the work Of the government can be
more economically performed.
The Bureau of Manufactures, al
though authorized under the act Gre
ating the department Of commerce and
labor, was not organized until Febru-
ary, 1905, and has made satisfactory
progress. In April circular letters
we're sent to commercial and trade or
ganizations requesting suggestions re-
garding the best means of promoting
the foreign trade Of the United States.
The answers received show that very
general interest was felt in the ac-
complishment of the objects for which
the bureau was created, and all of
the writer's expressed readiness to
cooperate with the bureau in this
work.
The work of the Bureau OF Corpora
tions has developed along the lines In
dicated in the first annual report OF
the commissioner. Its most important
work OF legal nature has been the
further study of the plan proposed In
the first report for the supervision and
regulation, by Federal license" OF
corporations engaged in interstate and
foreign commerce. The inadequacy OF
state legislation to regulate or con-
troll in any proper measure the cor
porations engaged in interstate COM
merCe has been most clearly demon
strated. The great railway systems
and the greater industrial corporations
extending their operations through
many states, some throughout the
entire United States, are but nominal
ly supervised or controlled by the
states from which their charters were
obtained. Some of these corporations
have shown not only disregard for
state laws, but have become potent