The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1911-09-05

he still owns. 1t was from the money
that he made from the Dispatch that
he came to New York and bought the
World"
Work.
The conversation here turned to the
DEVELOPMENT of Uncle Sam, patriarch,
and Secretary Nagel referred to some
Of the great creative works now under
way in various departments. Said he:
every one OF the administrative
offices is taking on creative features.
The post office, which was formerly q
mere transmitter of letters, has just
started postal savings banks, and it
is protecting the people from frauds
through the mails. The Department
of War, which is the great national
and international police force of the
government. has taken charge Of the
Philippines and our other island pos
sessions; and it is doing all sorts of
creative work there. It is even build
ing the Panama anal The Treas
ury, which was once only a machine
for the collection of is now
the foundation Of our national banks,
and it is also erecting public build
ings throughout the country. The
Department of Justice is watching
your interests in the restriction Of the
corporations and trusts, and the De-
partment Of the Navy has many crea-
tiev features. AS to the Interior, that
has become a great conservation bu-
reau, which is conserving our coal
lands, retaining our deserts n
draining the swamps. 1t is also
watching over the safety of the men
in the mines. And last, as to the De-
partment Of Agriculture, that has so
largely to do with creative work hat
it is impossible to describe it's rami-
2catiOnS."
The Secretary Talks of His Job.
But how about your own depart
ment, Mr.. Secretary" I asked You,
too, are not idle. Give me an outline
of your work in a nutsheII?"
1T is difficult to put the Depart
ment Of Commerce and Labor in a nut
SHE'LL was the Secretary's reply. "A
year or SO ago we were employing
more men than there are soldiers in
the United States army. That was
When the census vas in full swing.
We had last year over II, 900
ators and also a temporary force Of
clerks numbering three or four thou
sand. In addition to the census we
have a dozen different bureaus here
at washington, each of which has
its own work.
"This department, which was ori-
ginally organized to deal with com
MERGE and labor and especially with
the corporations and the business in
terests Of the United States, has taken
in many of the bureaus Of the other
departments The bureau Of manu-
features, for instance, is an offspring
of the Department OF State. It IS
devoted to the development Of our
domestic and foreign trade, and It
publishes information gathered by h
consuls, who are under the State De-
partment. We have also our
own special agents who travel
over the world looking up
are gathering information as to GER
tain classes Of exports, reporting the
demand for them in each country and
telling how they should be handled
and marketed. We publish daily re-
ports from other countries as to the
opportunities offered for American
have a corps Of such experts going
from trade center to trade center in
the United States and advising the
people how and where to market
their products abroad.
Our Foreign Trade.
I'm the same way we have inherit
ed the bureau OF statistics from the
Department of the Treasury. This has
also to do with our foreign COM
merce and, together with the bureau
of manufactures. it gives a vast
amount of valuable information as to
Uncle Sans business and how it may
be spread to every part of the globe.
With other things we are now making
a directory of the names of business
houses which handle imported mer-
chandise in all foreign countries. The
material for this has already been
gathered. and the book will be pub
I:shed sometime his year
4 to what our foreign trade is the
bureau OF statistics will give you fig
ureS. Last year our exports were Just
about Las million dollars or almost
six million dollars a day for every
working day of the year. Our imports
were about the highest they have ever
been in the history of the country and
they all told to almost
$4,000, Doc for every such working
day. These figures are so great as