exclusive of those covered by the special reports on paupers, the insane, and the feeble minded. The great majority are conducted by private persons or corporations both with and without financial assistance, whether from public authorities or private benefaction. Some are charitable in the sense that inmates are cared for free of all charge; others are benevolent rather than charitable, in that they provide succor and relief for persons who are not destitute, but whose means or circumstances are inadequate for the full provision of their need. The institutions covered were classified under the following six heads: Institutions for the care of children. Societies for the protection and care of children. Homes for the care of adults, or adults and children. Dispensaries. Institutions for the blind and deaf. The schedules used in the 1910 inquiry included questions relating to the name and location of the institution and the supervising agency by which it was controlled; the class of inmates; the movement of institutional population; and the number of employees; as well as certain questions pertaining to equipment, financial transactions, and property valuations. The statistics of Benevolent Institutions, 1910, were presented in a single volume of 411 pages. This volume not only included the usual summary tables by geographical districts, but also presented tables for each separate institution. Thus the report contained what was in reality a directory of the institutions of the class described. THE BLIND AND THE DEAF MUTES. For the 1910 census, special questionnaires were sent to all persons shown by the population schedules to be either blind or deaf and dumb, to be filled out and returned to the Bureau of the Census. The results of the inquiry were presented in preliminary bulletins and later in two volumes entitled, respectively, The Blind in the United States, 1910, and Deaf Mutes in the United States, 1910. For the Fourteenth Census (1920) the names and addresses of the blind and the deaf and dumb were obtained on supplemental population schedules. Questionnaires have been sent to all such persons, to obtain the necessary information for similar publications. STATISTICAL DIRECTORY OF STATE INSTITUTIONS. In cooperation with the Eugenics Record Office, located at Cold Spring Harbor, New York, the Bureau of the Census has issued a statistical directory of State institutions for the dependent, defective, and delinquent classes. The information furnished relates to the activities of the institutions during the calendar year 1915. SUMMARY OF LAWS RELATING TO DEPENDENT CLASSES. In 1914 the Bureau of the Census issued in pamphlet form a summary of State laws dealing with the dependent classes. Official Register of the United States. The Act of June 7, 1906, amending section 7 of the Permanent Census Act, required the Bureau of the Census to issue the Official Register of the United States every two years. The Urgent Deficiency Act of 1913 discontinued Volume II of the Official Register, relating to the Postal Service. As now issued the Official Register comprises a list of the civilian employees of the Government, except those in the Postal Service. The directory shows the name of each employee, the bureau or office in which he is employed, his official title, compensation, birth place (State or country), and the State, county, and congressional district from which he was appointed. This information is collected by means of card schedules filled out by the several departments and independent establishments of the Government. The latest issue of the Official Register of the United States is that for July 1, 1921, issued in April, 1922. BUREAU OF FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC COMMERCE. The Act of July 28, 1866, established a Bureau of Statistics in the Treasury Department. This Bureau was transferred to the Department of Commerce [and Labor] on July 1, 1903, by the Act creating that Department. The same Act transferred from the State Department to the Department of Commerce [and Labor] the Bureau of Foreign Commerce, and made it a part of the Bureau of Statistics. It also authorized a Bureau of Manufactures in the new Department. The latter Bureau was established in 1904. By the Act of August 23, 1912, the bureaus of Statistics and Manufactures were consolidated into the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce. The activities of the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce relate chiefly to foreign trade promotion, including educational and investigational work in connection with foreign trade, and to the compilation and publication of trade statistics. As the purpose of this report is to treat of statistical activities only, the discussion will be restricted to the work of the divisions of Statistics and Research. The report, however, will of necessity treat of the statistical activities of the collectors of customs, and of the Bureau of Customs Statistics, located at the port of New York, which, although under the jurisdiction of the Treasury Department, play an important part in the process of collecting and compiling statistical data on the foreign trade of the United States in connection with the work of the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce. The statistical material disseminated by the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce falls into three classes, as follows: I. Original statistical data relating to the foreign commerce of the United States Imports and exports of merchandise. Imports and exports of gold and silver. Foreign and domestic tonnage engaged in foreign trade. Imported goods held in bonded customs warehouses. In-transit and transshipment trade. Commerce of non-contiguous territories. II. Secondary statistical matter relating to foreign trade of other countries— Agricultural and mineral production. Industries. Wages. Commodity prices. Transportation agencies. Financial resources. Ports. Markets. III. Secondary statistical data relating to conditions in the United StatesArea, natural resources, and population. Education. Agriculture, forestry, and fisheries. Manufactures and mining. Occupations, labor, and wages. Internal communication and transportation. Consumption estimates. Prices. Money, banking, and insurance. Public finance and national wealth. Army, Navy, civil service, pensions, etc. Material of the first class is gathered originally by collectors of customs. Generally speaking it is tabulated by the Bureau of Customs Statistics at New York, and assembled in the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce by the Division of Statistics. The information is disseminated through publications entitled: Monthly Summary of the Foreign Commerce of the United States; Quarterly Statement of Imported Merchandise Entered for Consumption; Annual Report on the Foreign Commerce and Navigation of the United States; and Trade of the United States with the World. The material outlined under Class II is collected either by American consular officers, and commercial attachés and trade commissioners of the Department of Commerce, stationed or traveling abroad, or by the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce in Washington. The data are taken in the first instance from official statistical publications of foreign governments and from foreign trade papers. The reports prepared therefrom are published in Commerce Reports, and in supplements thereto; in a Special Agents' Series of monographs on special industries and phases of commerce; and in a Miscellaneous Series of reports prepared by the Bureau at Washington. Material of the third class is assembled by the Division of Research from governmental and private sources and published in the Statistical Abstract of the United States and in the annual Bulletin on Wholesale Prices.1 DIVISION OF STATISTICS. The work of compiling and disseminating the statistics of our foreign trade is performed by the Division of Statistics. Legislative Authority. The legislative authority for compiling and disseminating statistics relating to the foreign trade of the United States is chiefly found in sections 334 to 341 of the Revised Statutes, as amended by the acts of February 14, 1903, August 23, 1912, and January 25, 1919. Among other things it is provided that— The Chief of the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce shall, under the direction of the Secretary of Commerce, annually prepare a report on the statistics of commerce and navigation of the United States with foreign countries, to the close of the calendar year. Such accounts shall comprehend all goods, wares, and merchandise exported from the United States to other countries; all goods, wares, and merchandise imported into the United States from other countries, and all navigation employed in the foreign trade of the United States; Organization. For convenience in the handling of statistical records and compilations the Division of Statistics is divided into the Compilation and the Examination and Revision sections. COMPILATION SECTION. As has already been pointed out original statistical material relating to the foreign commerce of the United States is collected and tabulated under the direction of the Customs Service of the Treasury Department. The Compilation Section receives the returns. made by the Customs Service, through the Examination and Revision Section, mentioned below; and it is its function to make a proper record of these returns and to prepare the printer's copy for the Monthly Summary of Foreign Commerce of the United States, the Quarterly Statement of Imported Merchandise Entered for Con 1 The publication of this statement has been temporarily suspended. sumption, the Annual Report on Commerce and Navigation of the United States, and the Annual Report of the Trade of the United States with the World. The Compilation Section also prepares all the special statements and reports on foreign trade which are issued by the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce. EXAMINATION AND REVISION SECTION. The Examination and Revision Section handles all administrative questions arising between the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce and collectors of customs on import and export statistics and similar matters. All reports from the Bureau of Customs Statistics and from collectors of customs are critically reviewed in this Section, before transmission to the Compilation Section. Statements prepared in the Compilation Section are also reviewed here. Collection and Tabulation of Data. In a complete survey of the statistical work of the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce relating to foreign trade, it is necessary first to consider the collection and compilation of the data outside the Department of Commerce. This involves the statistical activities of the Customs Service and of the Bureau of Customs Statistics, and the transmission of material to the Division of Statistics of the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce. COLLECTORS OF CUSTOMS. Under the provision of section 337 of the Revised Statutes, as amended, the various collectors of customs throughout the country are required to furnish to the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce statistical reports relating to the commerce with foreign countries and to navigation between this country and foreign countries for the purpose of enabling the Bureau to compile the monthly, quarterly, and annual reports of foreign trade. Until a few years ago the required reports were compiled by the collector for each customs district on blanks provided for that purpose and transmitted directly to the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce at Washington. In view of the increasing expense to the Treasury Department of compiling statistics at each custom house experiments were started in 1915 with mechanical tabulating machinery and a central Bureau of Customs Statistics was organized in the New York custom house, under the direct supervision of the Treasury Department. On June 11, 1915, Treasury Decision 35518 was issued jointly by the Secretary of the Treasury and the Secretary of Commerce directing collectors of customs to transmit copies of all import entries and export declarations to the Bureau of Customs Statistics at New York. The |