Evening star., 1932-09-06
BY NELSON M. SHEPHERD.

Does the United States Department
of Commerce pay its own way? Ask
that question Of Acting Secretary Nor
gan, who has statistics at his hnger-
TIPS. and he will reply with a loud
Yes, with millions in dividends to the
taxpayer"
The Bureau of Standards alone. he
will tell YOU, s saving industry $780,
600 900 annually against total current
appropriation for the entire Commerce
Department of about $39,000,000. And
the Bureau of Standards, Mr.. Morgan
will remind. is cnly one Of the service
rendering bureaus which make up the
much misunderstood department OF the
Government.
This $3.50, ,0o0,o 900 represents the esti-
mates Of industries which. under the
auspices of the Bureau of Standards
and at its initiative, have undertak IN
130 projects for the reduction of sizes
and varieties of products to a currently
rational minimum.
Ten per cent Of the firms making
use of the foreign trade facilities of
the Bureau Of Foreign and Domestic
Commerce, Mr.. Morgan SAYS, have indi-
catedpin writing t'oat their dollars and
cents gains as a rcs@,t of the services
bureau in finding outlets for their goods
are valued at S57,000,000 The current
appropriation for This bureau is So
$4,000.
During the fiscal year just closed the
Bureau Of Navigation of the department
turned into the United States Treasury
more than six times as much money as
Congress appropriated for its work. as q
result of fees collected Still another
bureau, the Patent Ofiice, is expected
even in this year of business depression
to show a net profit.
These are Just a few explanatory
facts cited by Acting Secretary Morgan
in answer to critics Of governmental
bureaucracy" and by way Of approach
ing, also. the no less frequently heard
charge Of millions wasted in the un-
pardonable extravaganza Of useless
governmental publications.
The Department Of Commerce is the
largest producer Of publications in the
whole Government service and is proud
of it. To the charge of flooding the
mails with thousands and thousands of
pamphlets and bulletins on every con-
ceivable subject, 1t solemnly pleads
guilty"
Despite all the ballyhoo regarding
the uselessness of Government publica-
tions," Mr.. Morgan said, the latest
available annual report Of the public
printer shows that the superintendent
Of documents returned to the United
States Treasury as surplus over ex-
penditures for printing sales editions of
Government publications the sum of
$215,745.57.
1.-THE records show that out Of every
So taken in by the superintendent of
documents in complying with the public
demand for Federal reports prepared by
all the departments of the Government
81 is for the publications Of the Com
merce Department.
"The sale of publications and other
printed matter from this department
through the Government Printing
Once and through our own facilities
totaled $742,249.88 for the period under
discussion"
There are some publishing houses
business In a single year-and show no
red" on the balance sheet.
Some of the approximately 1000 dif-
ferent publications of the Commerce
Department are among the best
sellers" in and out of the Government
service. These have gone into two,
three and even five editions.
Mr.. Morgan will tell you that these
publications are not given gratis to
business men. They are sold at def
mite price over and above the cost Of
paper and printing. So all sales rep
resent a net profit to the Government
But there Is another feature of the
departments publishing business that
is not generally known.
'The Department of Commerce fol-
lows a policy believed to be unique in
the annals Of Government supervision