Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1910-10-13
Things You Want to Know
The Government at
Work-Department
Commerce ~ Labor.

duce them to go to sections OF the country
whore they can be readily assimiIated and
used in the economic development Of the
nation
The bureau Of the census Is now a per-
manenty organized institution which gath
e-s statistical data on every sort OF sub
ject. In an ordinary year IL prints nearly
1000 pages Of statistical Information Its
Inquiries relate TO such subjects as mar
rtage and divorce, religious bodies. manu-
facturars, vital statistics, etc. In the CEN
sus years IL gathers the statistics OF pop
ulauon. agriculture. mines, quarres and
manufactures. This requires 800 supervi-
surs and $500 enumerators. In the work
Of tabulatng the returns, 100000 popula-
ton cards are used and 100000 family
cards. There are punching machines which
punch from one TO $50 holes in each card.
one hole tells the age OF the person for
which the card stands another the color,
another the marital condition. etc After
the cards are punched, they are fed into
tabulating machines where an electrical
connection is formed at each hole which
tells just what information each card con-
tains. The machine then records and tabu-
lates this Information. The statistics OF
agriculture are prepared on adding ma
chimes The statistical abstract issued by
this bureau, is the finest compendium of
governmental statistical information in the
world
The bureau Of manufactures is the agency
for the collection and dissemination OF in
formation with reference to foreign trade
opportunities. Operating I'm conjunction
with the consular service 1t gathers every
sort Of information that will enable the
American manufactures to extend his for
eign trade, The bureau OF navigation has
charge Of the enforcement of the laws
reference 70 the operation OF the 1900 yes
sells in the American merchant marine, with
the exception OF those laws which relate
to steamboat inspection. This inspection
! is made to ascertain the -worthiness
Of vessels, the safety Of their boilers, their
proper equipment with life preservers and
other protective appliances. Nearly 100000
900 passengers are carried annually on
boats reporting to this bureau.
! The lighthouse board looks after the
lighthouses and lghtships OF the coast
of the United States. The bureau OF fish
cries has thirty-five hatcherles, and eighty
four subhatcheries, auXlliaries and egg col
lectng stations. 1t propagates three spe-
! cies Of marine fishes, five species of river
| fishes, seven Of great lake fishes, and flf-
! teen OF inland fishes. over 100000, 900 fish
and eggs were distributed last year. The
bureau has done much for the preservation
of oyster industry. One-half OF the worlds
total production Of oysters is gathered In
the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries.
The oyster feeds on diatoms, microscopic
animals of the sea, and the government
has been. growing these diatoms for the
| benefit of the oyster.
The coast and seodetic survey surveys
the harbors and coast lines of the United
| States, establishes its Mexican and Cana
dian boundaries, issues charts, pilot charts,
tide tables and notices to mariners. All
the information we have about the depth
of water in the various harbors of the
country and along the coast Is gathered
| by this survey.
The bureau of standards has an inn
I portant function to perform. All mechan-
ical progress depends upon accurate meas
urements. There must be instruments for
| recording the imperceptible jar of a dis
tant earthquake, the millionth part of a
degree of heat, etc. This bureau keeps all
American standards Of measurement. The
parent measurement of length in this coun-
try is an exact copy of the worlds ma
tional standard meter at st. Clouds, France
IL is kept in a room perfectly ventilated,
carefully lighted and of an even temper
ature. The steel tapes used by the coast
and geodetc survey are made of invar and
have only one-twenty- eighth as much ex-
pansion through heat steel. The stand
ard by which they are tested is kept
packed in ice in an underground laboratory.
The standards of measurement OF the bu-
reau are accurate for all other kinds of
measurement as those for length. In addi-
ton to its work in maintaining the standards
by which all American measures are reg
ulated, the bureau of standards tests every
thing that the government uses, from the
electric lights with which its offices are
lighted to the ink and the paper upon
which its records are kept. 1t also does
| testing work for private concerns upon the
payment of established fees.
by PREDBRIC ]. HAsKIN.
Tomorrow-Ths Government at Work
XII. The Smithsonian Institution.