Evening star., 1947-01-12

~ lied United States De-
~ partment of Commerce
stands ready to solve some
of the problems and answer most
of the questions of American busi-
ness, both great and small.
Congress voted the department a
special appropriation of $4,750,o0o
for the IL months ending July l.,
1947. This money was to set up II
field offices of the department in
principal cities throughout the
United States.
Today the II offices are doing
business. All but two States have
at least one.
The field Offices are part OF the
reorganization program planned by
former Secretary Henry Wallace
and completed by his successor,
Averell Hartman.
The old Bureau OF Foreign and
Domestic Commerce, that part OF
the department most closely asso-
ciated with American business, has
been broken up into seven basic
divisions. The Office Of Field Serv-
ice is one of these.
The others are: Office of Inter
national Trade, Office of Domestic
Commerce, Office of Small Business
Office of Information, Office OF
Technical Service and Office oi
Business Economics.
These seven Offices place at the
disposal of any interested person
statistical and factual data on for
eign and domestic commerce and
industry. The information outlets
are the II field Offices. to which the
departments Washington head
quarters sends a continual flow of
facts and figures.
Information Passed On
To Field Officers
"What is the Chilean import duty
on American razor blades?" OF
What are the duty and import
regulations in Mexico on electric
popcorn poppers?" are queries which
Commerce field Offices can and dc
answer.
The statistics and data which
Commerce supplies aren't always
compiled by the department itself
For example, the State Depart
ment has access to countless facts
on foreign industry and commerce
which the average American can't
get hold of. But it regularly hands
over to the Department of Com
merce summaries of foreign industry
and commerce activity.
The Commerce Department In
turn makes the information avail
able to it's field offices.
The Offices of Small Business,
Technical Service and Domestic
Commerce are probably used by the
public more than other branches
of Commerce.
These Offices do business primarily
with small business owners and
would-be owners. Surveys Of all
kinds of retail outfits are under
taken by the department and offered
to the public in the form of little
booklets. Many young veterans,
eager to put their wartime savings
in business of their own, get in
valuable statistics and facts.
The booklets, with such titles as
How to Own and Operate Service
Station" or How to Own and
Operate Bakery Shop" are avail
able for a few pennies. Help in COM
piling them comes not only from
case histories in Commerce Depart
ment files but also from private
retail establishments which have
been successfully operated over a
period of time.
The Office of Small Business goes
into intricate detail when advising
prospective small-business owners.
1t points out, for instance. that a
grocery store should not be placed
next to parking lot or garage
that housewives don't like to have
to walk across driveways or en-
frances to garages when doing their
shopping.
Helpful Hints
For. Businessmen
The department Is careful not to
conduct its own surveys when pri-
vate enterprise alone can supply the
facts. Overlapping and duplication
is avoided as much as possible.
A problem typical Of those the de-
partment copes with every day in its
n field offices was this one:
A manufacturer had greatly ex-
panded his output during the war.