The Alaska daily empire., 1914-12-24

NN.tAItrA HAA Hstt aahaAaAA AVA and for the wisdom with which that need is met; money could be saved that win otherwise continue to be lost.
 Foreign Trade.
 Summarizing tho work of the last ! year in promoting foreign trade, Mr. Rodfeld says
 "The United States is one of the three foremost commercial nations. 1t Is essential to its prosperity that 1t should be inferior to no other country in it's governmental system for the fostering and protection of its trade. both domestic and foreign. Such a system is now firmly established. In foreign countries the admirable trade. development work which the consular officers of the Department of State carry on is now to be supplemented through the service of a corps of com mercial attaches. which win fn gap heretofore existing in our organize tion as compared with that of other nations. These. with the group of special traveling inyestigators or com mercial agents who continue the valu- able technical studies of markets abroad, constitute for the first time in the foreign field Q complete and well. balanced system of Federal aid to trade in foreign lands.
 "rhe special fund for promoting commerce in Central and South Ameri. CO., Of which eighty percent Is allotted 10 field investigation and the remain der in Washington. should be con- tinued ard supplemented. as a per. manent occupation Of Latln-Amer!can markets is the only wise policy for our government to support"
 Various phases of the work of in. yestigating commercial conditions in the United States arc reviewed at length
 The important work which Con gress assigned in collecting costs of production of articles subject to inl- port duty has been actively carried on in two branches of industry 4 survey of the earthenware pottery in- dustry in the United States and Eu- rope has just been completed, and most practical and valuable results have been obtained. over ninety per. cent Of the American potteries were investigated, and no more complete study of an Industry, 1t Is believed was ever made A similar study of the great clothing industry is now in progress. The committees of Con gress win find in such reports the es. sential facts in regard to an industry necessary to intelligent legislation on tarin matters Such facts have here. tofore usually been available not from disinterested governmental source, but from those whose Interest might lie either in increasing or lowering tarin rates The value of such de- tached and disinterested Investigations or our industries is no longer in ques- tion and the service is not alone use ful in relation to tarlm Legislation but is undoubtedly of very marked pro- motive value to any industry that may be studied by competent agents.
 Several investigations commenced by the Bureau of Corporations in prior years remained uncompleted at the beginning Of the fiscal year covered by this report, namely lumber, tobacco. agricultural implements, State corpora tion taxation, fertilizer and petroleum. Work on all except the last two was inc itiated before the present administra. ton.
 Substantial progress was made in all of these investigations and ex. cept for State taxation of corpora tions and the last two investigations just mentioned, they were nearly. com. pleted during the fiscal year under consideration. A more definite state. mont of the matters reported on by the Bureau during the fiscal year iR given below
 Apart from a general investigation of certain legal and economic prob lens relating to proposed legislatiou. which included study Of foreign