Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1899 American Edition.djvu/37

 CONSTITUTION AND GOVERNMENT XV

Division of Vegetable Physiology and Pathology. — B. T. Galloway, Chief.

Division of Soils. — Milton Whitney, Chief.

Division of Seeds. — Robert J. Whittleton, Chief.

Office of Fuhlie-Iioad Inquiries. — Roy Stone, Director.

Division of Accounts. — Frank W. Evans, Chief.

Division of Publications. — George William Hill, Chief.

The duties of the divisions above enumerated are sufficiently indicated by the titles.

Bureaus and Offices not attached to the Executive Departments

There are various offices having executive and administrative duties the heads of which report either directly to the President or to Congress, but ^Yhich are not in any way attached to any of the great Executive Depart- ments enumerated above, nor are they responsible to the heads thereof. The Assistant Secretaries of the great Departments and the heads of bureaus are appointed by the President, on confirmation by the Senate ; so the commissioners in what may be termed the unattached offices are, as a rule, appointed in like manner. These offices, with their respective heads, are as follows :

Department of Labor. — Carroll D. Wright, Commissioner. Is directed to acquire and diffuse useful information on subjects connected with labor, especially upon its relations to capital, the hours of labor, the earnings of laboring men and women, and the means of promoting their material, social, intellectual, and moral prosperity ; publishes an annual report, and may publish special reports whenever deemed expedient, and under autliority of law publishes a bimonthly bulletin giving information as to the condition of labor in this and other countries, condensations of State and foreign labor reports, and such other facts as may be deemed of value to the industrial interests of the United States. He is also charged with certain duties under the arbitration act of June 1, 1898, as stated under " Interstate Commerce Commission."

Chief Clerk. — Oren W. Weaver. Has general supervision of clerks and employees and of business of Department.

Disbursing Clerk. — Charles E. Morse. Pays salaries of clerks and employees and settles accounts against Department.

Interstate Commerce Commission. — Martin A. Knapp, oi New York, Chairman ; Judson C. Clements, of Georgia ; James D. Yeomans, of Iowa ; Charles A. Prouty, of Vermont ; and AVilliam J. Calhoun, of Illinois. Commission was appointed under "An act to regulate com- merce," approved Feb. 4, 1887, and has authority to inquire into the management of the business of all common carriers who are subject to the provisions of that act. It has jurisdiction to inquire into and report upon the reasonableness of rates on interstate traffic, to decide questions of unjust discrimination and of undue preference, to prescribe the pub- licity to be given to joint tariffs, and to institute and carry on proceedings for the enforcement of the provisions of the law. It publishes statistics of railroads, accidents, etc. The Chairman of the commission, in associa- tion with the Commissioner of Labor, is directed by the act of June 1, 1808, concerning carriers engaged in interstate commerce and their em- ployees, known as the "Arbitration Act," to use his best. efforts, by mediation and conciliation, to settle controversies between railway com- panies and their employees, and in case of disagreement in arbitration, to select a third arbitrator.