the coming year, and the results will be published from time to time in the Bulletin. One involves a series of special studies relating to the employment of women and girls, while another is a study of industrial diseases as related to various employments and industries, and still another will cover in a comprehensive way the subject of collective agreements and conciliation and arbitration in this and other countries.

GOVERNMENT WORKINGMEN'S COMPENSATION ACT.

Under the act of May 30, 1908, providing for compensation for injuries to certain employees of the United States, 2,895 claims for compensation were received during the year ended June 30, 1911, besides 16 cases pending July 1, 1910. Of these (2,911), 136 were claims for compensation on account of deaths of employees, of which 106 were found to be established, 28 were not allowed, and 2 were pending at the close of the year. The cases in which death did not result were 2,775 in number, of which 2,611 were found to be entitled to compensation, while in 152 cases the claim for compensation was not supported, and 12 cases were pending at the end of the year. In connection with the administration of the compensation act, provision is also made for reporting of injuries to all classes of employees of the Government not covered by the compensation act which occur in the course of employment when the injury causes disability for one day or longer or results in immediate death. The total number of accidents thus reported was 5,201.

The above totals do not include cases of injury to employees of the Isthmian Canal Commission where the resultant disability was of less than 15 days' duration; neither do they include injuries or claims arising since March 3, 1911, on account of accidents to employees of the Isthmian Canal Commission, the administration of the law in respect to such employees having been transferred to the Commission on that date.

Various amendments to the law have been proposed in Congress within the past year, of which but one was adopted. This amendment had the effect of transferring the entire administration of the law, in so far as it affects employees of the Isthmian Canal Commission, to that body. Reports of the operations of the law will, however, be made by the Commission, as well as of the number of accidents occurring, regardless of the application of the law thereto. This act also fixed the period for filing claims for compensation on account of death at one year instead of 90 days, as heretofore, and makes the law applicable to all employees under the Isthmian Canal Commission when injured in the course of their employment.

BUREAU OF MANUFACTURES.

The Bureau of Manufactures has carried forward its allotted work for the promotion and development of the manufacturing interests of the United States, and a considerable growth in this service during the fiscal year is to be noted. The fiscal year was marked by the increase of the export trade of the country to a total of over $2,000,000,000 in value, manufactured exports comprising approximately half of this amount. This expansion of our foreign commerce emphasizes the importance of the work of the Bureau of Manufactures through its investigations and reports respecting its various phases. Manufacturers are relying on the Bureau more and more for information in regard to general trade conditions in foreign countries as reported by consular officers and commercial agents, and increasing interest is shown in the bulletins of the Bureau respecting foreign tariffs, special manufacturing industries, and other subjects. The outgoing correspondence of the Bureau has grown from 23,410 letters in 1910 to 40,140 letters during the year 1911-an increase of 70 per centand the distribution of its publications has been correspondingly increased. Letters received in June, 1910, numbered 3,132; in June, 1911, 4,338—an increase of nearly 40 per cent. In 1910, 12,987 letters regarding trade opportunities were sent out, and in 1911, 20,043 were mailed.

With the increase in the edition of the Daily Consular and Trade Reports to a maximum of 20,000 copies, which was authorized by Congress in June, 1910, it has been possible to distribute the valuable trade information in that journal much more generally than heretofore; and the work of consular officers and commercial agents in behalf of export trade has been made more effective. It is now necessary to recommend a further increase in the edition of the Daily, as the present mailing list already contains nearly 18,000 names of manufacturers and exporters.

It is estimated that at least 30,000 firms in the United States are directly interested in export trade, although no definite figures are available to this office for this estimate. The Bureau is now endeavoring to complete its knowledge of such firms, and is developing its list of manufacturers classified by product, with a view to the prompt and efficient distribution of the useful trade facts received or collected by the Bureau.

INCREASED PUBLICITY SECURED.

To secure the widest publicity for such facts is deemed one of the most important of the duties imposed on the Bureau. Much attention has been paid during the year to the establishment of suitable filing methods, mailing lists, and other similar office adjuncts, in order to have available well-correlated and effective working systems. Such methods will make possible the prompt and intelligent dissemination of the bulletins, confidential circulars, reports, and correspondence of the Bureau. With the same purpose in view in sending forth the publications on special topics such as "Packing for Export," "Underpaid Foreign Postage," and "Export Trade Exploitation," letters have been written to many journals and to officers of commercial and manufacturing organizations and transportation lines calling attention to the subjects treated and seeking cooperation in the distribution of such material. That such methods are effective is shown by the fact that of the pamphlets just mentioned more than 10,000 copies have been distributed, several thousand copies having been sold by the Superintendent of Documents as a result of the publicity secured through these special efforts. The success that has been secured, however, has added materially to the volume of work imposed on the Bureau, and recommendation has been made to Congress for additions to the personnel of the Bureau sufficient to meet the increasing demands on the service.

COMMERCIAL AGENTS.

The investigations of the commercial agents of the Bureau have been continued actively, and this service promises to become as important a factor in the effort to promote and foster the manufacturing interests as similar work has become in several foreign manufacturing countries. In accordance with the policy of the Bureau to make the work of commercial agents supplement rather than duplicate the work of consular officers, technical and special experts have been sought, and there have been engaged men with expert knowledge of cotton textiles, machinery and tools, boots and shoes, chemical manufactures, electrical manufactures, and similar interests. Other lines of manufacture and export will be taken up as rapidly as practicable. The interest by manufacturers in the investigations of these commercial agents is growing, and the Bureau is in receipt of many inquiries and suggestions in connection with this work.

No recommendation has been made for any increase over the current appropriation for commercial agents for the coming fiscal year, as it is deemed inadvisable to suggest extending investigations which will impose an additional burden on the editorial division of the Bureau until that branch of the office has been sufficiently

strengthened to permit it to take care of a greater volume of manuscript. Recommendation has been made for suitable salaries in that division to permit the logical growth of the work of the Bureau. The very success of the efforts of the Bureau in interesting manufacturers will tend to hamper and reduce its efficiency unless liberal support is given by providing a well-balanced and competent corps of assistants to carry forward this important work.

EXTENSION OF WORK OF COMMERCIAL AGENTS.

The recent legislation modifying the law in regard to the service of commercial agents, permitting them to extend their investigations to the United States and the insular possessions, is important, and it is certain will materially enhance the usefulness of these agents. This will permit a commercial agent to make effective the results of his researches, not only by written reports, but by direct and personal communication with the commercial associations and manufacturers interested in the subject of his studies, and will also help to provide the Bureau with definite knowledge of domestic conditions related to its work.

PUBLICATIONS.

Twenty-five monographs and pamphlets on miscellaneous trade and tariff subjects were issued during the year; also the usual annual volume of Commercial Relations for 1909, containing 1,035 pages. Four confidential bulletins and 97 confidential circulars were also distributed. The World Trade Directory, for which an appropriation of $6,500 was made, was issued in February, and to July 1, 1911, 2,600 copies at $5 each were sold through the Superintendent of Documents. Over four million copies of the Daily Consular and Trade Reports were distributed during the year. It is deemed that the opportunity is presented to the Bureau to make this daily journal, which is reaching a constantly increasing number of the important manufacturing firms of the country, the medium for the distribution of useful information, not only in regard to foreign trade, but also concerning many matters of strictly domestic interest. Much of the valuable work of the Federal Government for the promotion of commerce and manufacture loses some of its effect through the failure of the interests concerned to receive prompt and specific information in regard to such work, and the Daily Consular and Trade Reports might be developed into an admirable vehicle for publicity along these lines. Its readers are a special class of practical men to whom such information would be of undoubted value. A beginning has already been made by publishing notes of forthcoming publications, special departmental work, and similar matters relating to the various bureaus of the Government, and this service will be

extended as opportunity is presented. It is believed that the special attention which has been paid to the methods of distribution of this and other publications has resulted in a material increase in the practical results of this service.

FOREIGN TARIFFS.

As in the other branches of the office, special efforts have been made during the past year to increase the practical usefulness of the foreign tariff work of the Bureau to the business interests of the United States. Manufacturers and exporters have been invited to register their names and to indicate the articles of merchandise and the countries in which they are most concerned, for the twofold purpose of selecting for immediate treatment in publications the subjects that are shown to be of widest interest and also to facilitate the prompt transmission of notices of recent or impending tariff changes.

The current tariff publications of the Bureau have been kept up to date, and printed supplements are issued whenever the changes become sufficiently numerous to justify that action. In the meantime, multigraphed supplemental circulars containing current information to date are distributed with already published tariff bulletins.

Requests for statements of the duties imposed by foreign countries have been received from manufacturers in much larger numbers than heretofore, and whenever possible the statements requested have been furnished.

Experience has demonstrated that the compilation of reports giving the rates of duty on a group of commodities in various countries is of even greater usefulness than the publication of the complete tariffs of individual countries. The preparation of a report showing the duties on textile manufactures in Latin-American countries is now in progress and a report on metal manufactures in all countries will follow.

An added service was installed during the year by the publication at intervals in pamphlet form of all notices of changes in tariff rates and customs regulations that appear in the Daily Consular and Trade Reports. The necessity for this new bulletin, which has been given the title of "Foreign Tariff Notes," arose through the discontinuance of the publication of the Monthly Consular and Trade Reports, in which formerly items appearing in the Daily and Weekly Consular and Trade Reports were assembled. Three numbers, containing in all 96 pages, giving a brief description of all proposed revisions of foreign tariffs, as well as actual changes in the rates and regulations, were published.

By the act of June 17, 1910, the Bureau was intrusted with the duty of furnishing "information to Congress and the Executive