1. Mission CHAPTER 37 THE DEPARTMENT IN GENERAL* In general, the mission of the Department of Commerce is to foster, promote, and develop the foreign and domestic commerce, the mining, manufacturing, shipping, and fishing industries, and transportation facilities of the United States.1 2. History The early history of evidences of a governmental purpose to foster American commerce is clearly presented in a publication of the Department of Commerce: "The record of events from the close of the Revolution to the Constitutional Convention at Philadelphia in 1787 shows that the desire to foster the commerce and trade of the states was the paramount and controlling argument which made the Union possible. "The Constitutional Convention of the thirteen states was the direct outcome of the Annapolis Convention of five states, and this convention, in turn, was born of the Mt. Vernon Convention of delegates from the states of Virginia and Maryland, assembled to adjust and promote commerce and trade between those two states. The commissioners from Virginia and Maryland met at Alexandria, in the former state in the spring of 1785, but Gen. Washington extended to them the hospitality of his home, which they accepted, and the delegatesall prominent men of their day, and friends of Washington-conducted their deliberations at Mt. Vernon, aided, no doubt, by the counsel of their host, whose interest in and knowledge of the subject under discussion had long been manifest, and who, two years later, presided at the Constitutional Convention at Philadelphia. The sole subject of this meeting at the home of Washington was the commerce and trade between the two states; but in reality these men were enacting the prologue to what was to be in fact an indissoluble union. "The Mt. Vernon Convention recommended that representatives be appointed annually to confer on the commercial and trade relations of the states. In considering this report, Maryland passed a resolution inviting Pennsylvania and Delaware to join in these annual conventions; while, in the Virginia assembly, Madison penned a resolution appointing commissioners to meet such as should be delegated by the other states 'to take into consideration the trade of the United *The President, acting under authority of Act Feb. 14, 1903 (32 Stat. 826), by executive order dated June 4, 1925, transferred to the Department of Commerce, from the Department of the Interior, the Bureau of Mines, except its oil and mineral leasing activities, and the Division of Mineral Resources of the Geological Survey. These added activities form the Bureau of Mines under the Department of Commerce, effective July 1, 1925. But these nominal transfers have no practical significance, so far as doing business with the affected Bureau and Division is concerned, for they all remain in their present quarters indefinitely and function as described in this volume, except that they are under the control of the Secretary of Commerce as indicated. 1 Act Feb. 14, 1903 (32 Stat. 826). States,' and 'to consider how far a uniform system in their commercial regulations may be necessary to their common interest and permanent harmony.' "The immediate result of the conference on trade and commerce held at Mt. Vernon was that in the following year, 1786, commissioners from five of the thirteen states assembled by appointment at Annapolis 'to take into consideration the trade and commerce of the United States.' In this convention, Hamilton drew up an address, which Madison and Randolph signed with him, recommending a general meeting of the states in a future convention, and an extension of the powers of their delegates to other objects than those of commerce, as in the course of their reflections on the subject they had been 'induced to think that the power to regulate trade is of such comprehensive extent and will enter so far into the general system of the federal government, that to give it efficacy, and to obviate questions and doubts concerning its precise nature and limits, may require a correspondent adjustment of other parts of the federal system.' 3 "In the Constitutional Convention, August 20, 1787, Mr. Gouverneur Morris, seconded by Mr. Pinckney, submitted a proposal that there should be a council of state to 'assist the President in conducting the public affairs,' the third member of this council to be a 'Secretary of Commerce and Finance,' whose duties were, in part, to 'recommend such things as may in his judgment promote the commercial interests of the United States.' This plan also provided for a Secretary of Domestic Affairs, to have supervision of agriculture, manufactures, roads, and navigation.3 "Until the Department of Commerce (and Labor) was organized in 1903, the Treasury Department was the principal agency of government through which a limited supervision of the commercial and industrial life of the nation was administered, and the designation sought to be given its chief officer in the Constitutional Convention was that of 'Secretary of Commerce and Finance.'s "During the period between the close of the federal convention and the ratification of the Constitution, Alexander Hamilton, writing on the subject of commerce, said: ""The importance of the Union, in a commercial light is one of those points about which there is least room to entertain a difference of opinion, and which has, in fact, commanded the most general assent of men who have any acquaintance with the subject. This applies as well to our intercourse with foreign countries as with each other.' 4 "In 1788, the same year in which the above was written by Hamilton, Commodore John Paul Jones, in a letter to the Marquise de Lafayette concerning the Constitution, stated: "Had I the power I would create at least seven ministries in the primary organization of government under the Constitution. In addition to the four already agreed upon, I would ordain a Ministry of Marine, a Ministry of Home 2 "The Department of Commerce," 1915, a pamphlet issued by the Department of Commerce, quoting Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography. 3 Id., citing Documentary History of the Constitution. 4 Id., quoting "The Federalist." Affairs, and a General Post Office; and, as commerce must be our great reliance, it would not be amiss to create also as the eighth a Ministry of Commerce.' 5 "The remarkable foresight of the great commodore enabled him to name the Cabinet very much as it is to-day, practically in the order in which it grew, agriculture being included by him in the Interior (Home) Department, where it actually was for a time. The labor interests, however, are now also provided for in a separate department. "When the Constitution had been ratified by eleven states, and the Congress, under its authority to 'regulate commerce with foreign nations and among the several states,' proceeded solemnly to treat the commerce and manufactures of the two remaining states in the same manner as those of any foreign country, it was from a sense of their commercial interests that they hastened to enroll themselves with their sister commonwealths, although one of these two states had not even participated in the convention. "Thus not only were the commercial and industrial interests of the states an important and controlling influence in bringing them into the federal convention, but a realization of the commercial advantages of the Union induced the states to ratify the Constitution. "In his first annual address to Congress, President Washington said: "The advancement of agriculture, commerce, and manufactures by all proper means will not, I trust, need recommendation.' "The first Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton, gave special consideration to the commerce and industries of the country, and his special reports on these subjects, in which he recommended that a board be established for promoting arts, agriculture, manufactures, and commerce, demonstrate that he considered this function of the Treasury Department one of primary importance." "3 Although Congress was repeatedly memorialized, especially in 1865 and thereafter, by commercial and manufacturing interests, to create an executive Department of Commerce, it was not until 1901 that such efforts began to bear fruit when Senator Knute Nelson introduced a bill in the Senate to establish the Department of Commerce. It passed the Senate with a number of amendments, including one changing the name to "Department of Commerce and Labor." The House, however, substituted a new bill, embracing most of the features of the Senate bill. The culmination of this phase of legislative history was the Act of February 14, 1903,6 creating the Department of Commerce and Labor. The previously established Department of Labor (see post, Part XI) was transferred to the Department of Commerce and Labor as a bureau on July 1, 1903. In 1913 the Department of Commerce and Labor became the Department of Commerce, and the Department of Labor was created as the tenth executive department, which absorbed from the Department of Commerce and Labor the 8 Id., citing Documentary History of the Constitution. 5 Original Manuscript, Congressional Library Archives. 632 Stat. 826. |