Abstract, which presents in a condensed form the history of the commerce of the United States for a number of preceding years.

The Superintendent of the Coast and Geodetic Survey.—­This officer superintends the survey of the coasts and rivers of the United States.  He has charge of the publication of charts and sailing directions which are of inestimable value to mariners.

The Light-House Board.—­The Light-house Board has charge of the light-houses, of which 1199 had been established previous to the year 1899, besides the light vessels and beacons used for the protection of navigation.

THE DEPARTMENT OF LABOR.

On March 4, 1913, the bill was signed by the President which created the Department of Labor.  It is evidence of the spirit manifested by the Americans to make their government serve the cause of human conservation.  Besides the Bureau of Information, which was created for the department, there were transferred from other departments the Bureau of Immigration[55] and the Children’s Bureau.  The Division of Naturalization was made a bureau, and the Bureau of Labor was constituted the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

[Footnote 55:  In 1912 there were 838,172 immigrants to the United States, and 2853 were refused admission.  Of these there were 767 paupers, 31 contract laborers, 749 diseased persons.]

SUPPLEMENTARY QUESTIONS AND REFERENCES.

1.  Does the President select the members of his Cabinet from among former members of Congress?  Would this be desirable?

2.  Have the members of the Cabinet ever been allowed to appear before Congress in the interests of their own departments?  Would this be desirable?  Walker, The Making of the Nation, 92; Bryce, American Commonwealth, I, Chapter 9; Atl.  Mo., 65:771-772.

3.  Who are now the heads of the executive departments?  Were they prominent in National affairs before they were selected for these positions?

4.  In 1901 a bill was introduced in the House of Representatives which provided for an increase of the annual salary of the Vice-President to $25,000, and that of each member of the Cabinet to $15,000.  What reasons can you give for or against such a change?

5.  What was the history of the State Department prior to 1789?  Harrison, This Country of Ours, 182-187.

6.  Give a list of the Presidents who have been Secretaries of State.  How do you account for this policy in the first years of our government, and not at a later time?  Name some of the other prominent Secretaries of State.

7.  Who are our ambassadors?  Can you give the name of any foreign ambassadors in Washington?  See Congressional Directory.

8.  The methods by which our ministers are selected, take possession of their offices, and are presented at foreign courts, are described in Curtis, The United States and Foreign Powers, 15-21.