Chapter 552. To establish the Department of Commerce and Labor
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CHAP. 552.— An Act To establish the Department of Commerce and Labor. February 14, 1903.[[Public, No. 87](/us/pl/57/87).] *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled*, That there shall be at Department of Commerce and Labor established.Secretary.Appointment, etc.*Post*, p. 1080.the seat of government an executive department to be known as the Department of Commerce, and Labor, and a Secretary of Commerce and Labor, who shall be the head thereof, who shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, who 826shall receive a salary of eight thousand dollars per annum, and whose term and tenure of office shall be like that of the heads of the other [R.
S. sec. 158, p, 26, amended](/us/rs/s158/p26).Executive Departments; and section one hundred and fifty-eight of the Revised Statutes is hereby amended to include such Department, General provisions Applicable.[R, S., Title IV, p. 26](/us/rs/tIV/p26).Seal.and the provisions of title four of the Revised Statutes, including all amendments thereto, are hereby made applicable to said Department. The said Secretary shall cause a seal of office to be made for the said Department of such device as the President shall approve, and judicial notice shall be taken of the said seal.
Sec. 2. Assistant Secretary, clerks, etc. That there shall be in said Department an Assistant Secretarv of Commerce and Labor, to be appointed by the President, who shall receive a salary of five thousand dollars a year. He shall perform such duties as shall be prescribed by the Secretary or required by law. There shall also be one chief clerk and a disbursing clerk and such other clerical assistants as may from time to time be. authorized by Auditor for Slate, etc. Departments to audit accounts.Congress; and the Auditor for the State and other Departments shall receive and examine all accounts of salaries and incidental expenses of the office of the Secretary of Commerce and Labor, and of all bureaus and offices under his direction, all accounts relating to the LightHouse Board, Steamboat-Inspection Service.
Immigration, Navigation, Alaskan fur-seal fisheries, toe National Bureau of Standards. Coast and Geodetic Survey, Census, Department of Labor, Fish Commission and to all other business within the jurisdiction of the Department of Commerce and Labor, and certify the balances arising thereon to the Division of Bookkeeping and Warrants and send forthwith a copy of each certificate to the Secretary of Commerce and Labor. Sec. 3. Juridiction of Departaient. That it shall be the province and duty of said Department to foster, promote, and develop the foreign and domestic commerce, the mining, manufacturing, shipping, and fishery industries, the labor interests, and the transportation facilities of the United States: and to this end it shall be vested with jurisdiction and control of the departments, bureaus, offices, and branches of the public service hereinafter specified, and with such other powers and duties as may be Use of appropriations for offices, etc., transferred.prescribed by law.
All unexpended appropriations, which shall be available at the time when this Act takes effect, in relation to the various offices, bureaus, divisions, and other branches of the public service, which shall, by this Act, be transferred to or included in the Department of Commerce and Labor, or which may hereafter, in accordance, with the provisions of this Act, be so transferred, shall become available, from the time of such transfer, for expenditure in and by the Department of Commerce and Labor and shall be treated the same as though said branches of the public service bad been directly named in the laws making said appropriations as parts of the Department of Commerce and Labor, under the direction of the Secretary of said Department.
Sec. 4. Offices, etc., transferred. That the following-named offices, bureaus, divisions, and branches of the public service, now and heretofore under the. jurisdiction From Treasury Depart meut.of the Department of the Treasury, and all that pertains to the same, known as the Light-House Board, the Light-House Establishment, the Steamboat-Inspection Service, the Bureau of Navigation, the United States Shipping Commissioners, the National Bureau of Standards, the Coast and Geodetic Survey, the Commissioner-Gen-eral of Immigration, the commissioners of immigration, the Bureau of Immigration, the immigration service at large, and the Bureau of Statistics, be, and the same hereby are, transferred from the Department of the Treasury to the Department of Commerce and Labor, and the same shall hereafter remain under the jurisdiction and supervision Census Office.of the last-named Department: and that the Census Office, and all that Birtains to the same, be, and the same hereby is, transferred from the department of the Interior to the Department of Commerce and 827Labor, to remain henceforth under the jurisdiction of the latter; that the Department of Labor, the Fish Commission, and the Office of Department of Labor, and Fish Commission.Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries, and all that pertains to the same, be, and the same hereby are, placed under the jurisdiction and made a part of the Department of Commerce and Labor; that the Bureau Bureau of Foreign Commerce.of Foreign Commerce, now in the department of State, be, and the same hereby is, transferred to the Department of Commerce and Labor and consolidated with and made a part of the Bureau of Statistics, hereinbefore transferred from the Department of the Treasury to the Department of Commerce and Labor, and the two shall constitute one bureau, to be called the Bureau of Statistics, with a chief of the bureau; and that the Secretary of Commerce; and Labor shall have Collection, etc., of statistics.control of the work of gathering and distributing statistical information naturally relating to the subjects confided to his Department; and the Secretary of Commerce and Labor is hereby given the power and authority to rearrange the statistical work of the bureaus and offices confided to said Department, and to consolidate any of the statistical bureaus and offices transferred to said Department; and said Secretary shall also have authority to call upon other Departments of the Government for statistical data, and results obtained by them; and said Secretary of Commerce and Labor may collate, arrange, and publish such statistical information so obtained in such manner as to him may seem wise.
That the official records and papers now on file in and pertaining Transfer of records, etc.exclusively to the business of any bureau, oilice, department, or branch of the public service in this Act transferred to the Department of Commerce and Labor, together with the furniture now in use in such bureau, office, department, or branch of the public service, shall be. and hereby are, transferred to the Department of Commerce and Labor. Sec. 5. That there shall be in the Department of Commerce and Bureau of Manufactures.Office force.Labor a bureau to be called the Bureau of Manufactures, and a chief of said bureau, who shall be appointed by the President, and who shall receive a salary of four thousand dollars per annum.
There shall also be in said bureau such clerical assistants as may from time to time be authorized by Congress. It shall be the province and duty of said Duty of bureau.bureau, under the direction of the Secretary, to foster, promote, and develop the various manufacturing industries of the United States, and markets for the same at home and abroad, domestic and foreign, by gathering, compiling, publishing, and supplying all available and useful information concerning such industries and such markets, and by such other methods and means as may he prescribed by the Secretary or provided by law.
And all consular officers of the United Reports from consular officers,States, including consuls-general, consuls, and commercial agents, are hereby required, and it is made a part of their duty, under the direction of the Secretary of State, to gather and compile, from time to time, useful and material information and statistics in respect to the subjects enumerated in section three of this Act in the countries and places to which such consular officers are accredited, and to send, under the direction of the Secretary of State, reports as often as required by the Secretary of Commerce and Labor of the information and statistics thus gathered and compiled, such reports to be transmitted through the State Department to the Secretary of the Department of Commerce and Labor.
Sec. 6. That there shall be in the Department of Commerce and Bureau of Corporations.Commission er, clerks, etc.Labor a bureau to be called the Bureau of Corporations, and a Com-missioner of Corporations who shall be the head of said bureau, to be appointed by the President, who shall receive a salary of five thousand dollars per annum. There shall also be in said bureau a deputy com-missioner who shall receive a salary of three thousand five hundred 828dollars per annum, and who shall in the absence of the Commissioner aet as. and perform the duties of, the Commissioner of Corporations, and who shall also perform such other duties as mav be assigned to him by the Secretary of Commerce and Labor or by the said Commissioner.
There shall also be in the said bureau a chief clerk and such special agents, clerks, and other employees as may be authorized by law. Investigation, etc., of corporations in interstate and foreign commerce.The said Commissioner shall have power and authority to make, under the direction and control of the Secretary of Commerce and Labor, diligent investigation into the organization, conduct, and management of the business of any corporation, joint stock company or corporate combination engaged in commerce among the several States Common carriers excepted.Vol. 24, p. 379.and with foreign nations excepting common carriers subject to “An Act to regulate commerce,” approved February fourth, eighteen hundred and eighty-seven, and to gather such information and data as will enable the President of the United States to make recommendations to Congress for legislation for the regulation of such commerce, Report to President Of data secured.and to report such data to the President from time to time as he shall require; and the. information so obtained or as much thereof as the President may direct shall be made public.
Authority in respect to corporations.In order to accomplish the purposes declared in the foregoing part of this section, the said Commissioner shall have and exercise the same power and authority in respect to corporations, joint stock companies and combinations subject to the provisions hereof, as is conferred on Vol. 24, p. 383.the Interstate Commerce Commission in said “Act to regulate commerce” and the amendments thereto in respect to common carriers so Power to secure testimony, etc.Vol. 24, p. 383.far as the same may be applicable, including the right, to subpoena and compel the attendance and testimony of witnesses and the production of documentary evidence and to administer oaths.
All the requirements, obligations, liabilities, and immunities imposed or conferred by said “Aet to regulate commerce” and by “An Act in relation to testimony before the Interstate Commerce Commission,” and so forth, approved February eleventh, eighteen hundred and ninety-three, supplemental to Vol. 27, p. 443.said “Act to regulate commerce,” shall also apply to all persons who may lie subpoenaed to testify as witnesses or to produce documentary evidence in pursuance of the authority conferred by this section.
Compilation etc., of information.It shall also be the province and duty of said bureau, under the direction of the Secretary of Commerce and Labor, to gather, compile, publish, and supply useful information concerning corporations doing business within the limits of the United States as shall engage in inter-state commerce or in commerce between the United States and any foreign country, including corporations engaged in insurance, and to attend to such other duties as may be. hereafter provided by law.
Sec. 7. Control of Alaskan fisheries and of Immigration, That the jurisdiction, supervision and control now possessed and exercised by the Department of the Treasury over the fur-seal, salmon and other fisheries of Alaska and over the immigration of aliens into the United States, its waters, territories and any place subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are hereby transferred and' vested *Proviso.*Head-tax collection not affected.in the Department of Commerce and Labor: *Provided*, That nothing contained in this Act shall be construed to alter the method of collecting and accounting for the head-tax prescribed by section one of the Act entitled “An Act to regulate immigration,” approved August Control of Chinese exclusion.third, eighteen hundred and eighty-two.
That the authority, power and jurisdiction now possessed and exercised by the Secretary of the Treasury by virtue of any law in relation to the exclusion from and the residence within the United States, its territories and the District Transfer of duties from Treasury officials.of Columbia, of Chinese and persons of Chinese descent, are hereby transferred to and conferred upon the Secretary of Commerce and Labor, and the authority, power and jurisdiction in relation thereto now vested by law or treaty in the collectors of customs and the col829lectors of internal revenue, arc hereby conferred upon and vested in such officers under the control of the Commissioner-General of Immigration, as the Secretary of Commerce and Labor may designate therefor.
Sec. 8. That the Secretary of Commerce and Labor shall annually, Annual report.at the close of each fiscal year, make a report in writing to Congress, giving an account of all moneys received and disbursed by him and his Department, and describing the work done by the Department in fostering, promoting, and developing the foreign and domestic commerce, the mining, manufacturing, shipping, and fishery industries, and the transportation facilities, of the United States, and making such recommendations as he shall deem necessary for the effective performance of the duties and purposes of the Department.
He shall Special investigations mid reports.also from time to time make such special investigations and reports as he may be required to do by the President, or by either House of Congress, or which he himself may deem necessary and urgent. Sec. 9. That the Secretary of Commerce and Labor shall have Department buildings. etc.Control of property, etc.charge, in the buildings or premises occupied by or appropriated to the Department of Commerce and Labor, of the library, furniture, fixtures, records, and other property pertaining to it or hereafter acquired for use in its business; and he shall be allowed to expend for periodicals and the purposes of the librarv. and for the rental of appropriate quarters for the accommodation of the Department of Commerce and Labor within the District of Columbia, and for all other incidental expenses, such sums as Congress may provide from time to time: *Provided, however*, That where any office, bureau, or branch of the *Provisos.*Use of present quarters by offices transferred.public service transferred to the Department of Commerce and Labor by this Act is occupying rented buildings or premises, it may still continue to do so until other suitable quarters are provided for its use: *And provided further*, That all officers, clerks, and employees now Officers, etc., transferred to retain present grades, etc.employed in or by any of the bureaus, offices, departments, or branches of the public service in this Act transferred to the Department of Commerce and Labor are each and all hereby transferred to said Department at their present grades and salaries, except where other-wise provided in this Act: *And provided further*, That all laws Laws as to duties of bureaus, etc., transferred, continued.prescribing the work and defining the duties of the several bureaus, offices, departments, or branches of the public service by this Act transferred to and made a part of (he Department of Commerce and Labor shall, so far as the same are not in conflict with the provisions of this Act, remain in full force and effect until otherwise provided by law.
Sec. 10. That all duties performed and all power and authority now Executive powers, etc., transferred to the Department.possessed or exercised by the head of any executive department in and over any bureau, office, officer, board, branch, or division of the public service by this Act transferred to the. Department of Commerce and Labor, or any business arising therefrom or pertaining thereto, or in relation to the duties performed by and authority conferred by law upon such bureau, officer, office, board, branch or division of the public service, whether of an appellate or revisory character or other-wise, shall hereafter be vested in and exercised by the head of the said Department of Commerce and Labor.
All duties, power, authority and jurisdiction, whether supervisory, Authority of Secretory of the Treasury over shipping, etc., transferred.appellate or otherwise, now imposed or conferred upon the Secretary of the Treasury by Acts of Congress relating to merchant vessels or yachts, their measurement, numbers, names, registers, enrollments, licenses, commissions, records, mortgages, bills of sale, transfers, entry, clearance, movements and transportation of their cargoes and passengers, owners, officers, seamen, passengers, fees, inspection, equipment for the better security of life, and by Acts of Congress relating to tonnage tax, boilers on steam vessels, the carrying of inflammable, explosive or dangerous cargo on vessels, the use of petroleum or other similar substances to produce motive power and 830relating to the remission or refund of tines, penalties, forfeitures, exactions or charges incurred for violating any provision of law relating to vessels or seamen or to informer’s shares of such fines, and by Acts of Congress relating to the Commissioner and Bureau of Navigation, Shipping Commissioners, their officers and employees, Steam-boat-Inspection Service and any of the officials thereof, shall be. and hereby are transferred to and imposed and conferred upon the Secretary of Commerce and Labor from and after the time of the transfer of the Bureau of Navigation, the Shipping Commissioners and the Steamboat-Inspection Service to the Department of Commerce and Labor, and shall not thereafter be imposed upon or exercised by the Repeal of inconsistent laws.Secretary of the Treasury.
And all Acts or parts of Acts inconsistent with this Act are, so far as inconsistent, hereby repealed. Sec. 11. Consular reports.Duties of person to prepare instructions, etc.*Post*, p. 1082. A person, to be designated by the Secretary of State, shall be appointed to formulate, under his direction, for the instruction of consular officers, the requests of the Secretary of Commerce and Rank, salary, etc.Labor; and to prepare from the dispatches of consular officers, for transmission to the Secretary of Commerce and Labor, such information as pertains to the work of the Department of Commerce and Labor; and such person shall have the rank and salary of a chief of bureau, and be furnished with such clerical assistants as may from time to time be authorized by law.
Sec. 12. Transfer here after of statistical, etc., work from other Departments. That the President be, and he is hereby, authorized, by order in writing, to transfer at any time the whole or any part of any office, bureau, division or other branch of the public service engaged in statistical or scientific work, from the Department of State, the Department of the Treasury, the Department of War. the Department of Justice, the Post-Office Department, the Department of the Navy or the Department of the Interior, to the Department of Commerce and Labor; and in every such case the. duties and authority performed by and conferred by law upon such office, bureau, division or other branch of the public service, or the part thereof so transferred, shall be thereby transferred with such office, bureau, division or other branch of the public service, or the part thereof which is so transferred.
Authority and powers transferred.And all power and authority conferred by law, both supervisory and appellate, upon the department from which such transfer is made, or the Secretary thereof, in relation to the said office, bureau, division or other branch of the public service, or the part thereof so transferred, shall immediately, when such transfer is so ordered by the President, be fully conferred upon and vested in the, Department of Commerce and Labor, or the Secretary thereof, as the case may be, as to the whole or part of such office, bureau, division or other branch of the public service so transferred.
Sec. 13. Effect. That this Act shall take effect and be in force from and *Proviso.*Transfer of exiting offices, etc., July 1, 1903.*Post*, p. 1082.after its passage: *Provided, however*, That the provisions of this Act other than those of section twelve in relation to the transfer of any existing office, bureau, division, officer or other branch of the public service or authority now conferred thereon, to the Department of Commerce and Labor shall take effect and be in force on the first day of July, nineteen hundred and three, and not before.
Approved, February 14, 1903.