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HE Economic Development Administration conducts a variety of programs to help create and retain jobs in areas of high unemployment.

The agency was established under the Public Works and Economic Development Act of 1965 and provided with tools to help local communities plan and carry out projects to encourage private enterprise to expand.

These basic programs consist of grants and loans to help build public facilities essential to long-term industrial and commercial growth, loans to encourage private enterprise to expand and establish job-generating operations in areas of high unemployment, and planning grants and technical assistance to help develop local resources to create jobs.

EDA's planning assistance includes grants to encourage multi-county areas to work together to overcome regional problems blocking growth. A highlight of this phase of the program- economic development districts-is that it places emphasis on encouraging growth in cities capable of providing jobs and services for several countries.

The Public Works and Economic Development Act also authorized EDA to conduct a research program into the causes and effects of lagging economic growth, and to help recommend methods of investing public resources to sustain job-development.

A series of amendments to the Public Works and Economic Development Act has broadened the scope of the EDA program by authorizing:

Public works impact grants to help create immediate jobs through the construction of useful public facilities in areas of high unemployment.

Guarantees for loans to help business acquire fixed assets and/or provide working capital.

Grants to help States and cities expand existing or establish new agencies to plan long-range development.

Grants to help States establish or expand their own programs of assistance for economically lagging areas.

Special Economic Development and Adjustment Assistance for areas harmed by economic changes or experiencing a boom development or anticipating such economic dislocations involving major shifts in their economy.

A job opportunities program to help create jobs in areas of high unemployment. The agency conducted a $500 million job opportunities program in cooperation with other Federal agencies in 1975.

The Trade Act of 1974 authorized EDA to provide special assistance for businesses and communities hurt by foreign imports. Under this program, EDA can provide financial and technical assistance to help businesses carry out adjustment programs to (1) regain their competitive position in the market place or (2) to convert their resources into other viable, jobgenerating enterprises.

The Local Public Works Employment Act of 1977 provided EDA with $4 billion for a counter-cyclical program to help create jobs through the construction of capital facilities in areas of high unemployment. A $2

billion Local Public Works program

was conducted by the agency under the Local Public Works and Capital Investment Act of 1976.

Community drought relief assistance in the form of loans and grants is being provided by EDA under the Community Emergency Drought Relief Act of 1977. The purpose is to offset significant hardships caused by prolonged drought. Emphasis is placed on funding projects which reduce or eliminate immediate threats to public health or safety. The legislation required that projects funded must be completed by April 30, 1978.

Facilities for the 1980 Winter Olympic Games at Lake Placid, New York were funded by EDA under the Olympic Winter Games Authorization Act of 1976. These permanent facilities are expected to serve as the foundation for an expansion of tourist and recreation industries in the Lake Placid region.

The Public Works and Economic Development Act also authorizes the Secretary of Commerce to designate multi-state Regional Action Planning Commissions.

Eight commissions have been established to analyze problems of regional economies and to develop overall strategies for enhancing the growth of the various regions.

Regional commissions also make grants for facilities in support of longrange growth and for demonstration programs consistent with their multistate planning.

With membership consisting of a Federal Co-chairman and the Governors of the participating States, the regional commissions provide a formal mechanism for Federal-State decision making in support of long-range economic growth.

HE United States Travel Service

(USTS) is the national tourist

office whose mission is to encourage foreign travelers to visit the United States and to encourage American travelers to vacation in their own country.

International tourism is the largest single factor in world trade. Although many tourists from other nations visit the United States, their spending here does not balance what Americans spend in their travels abroad. The resulting tourism dollar gap is a significant part of the overall balance of payments deficit.

Headquartered in Washington, USTS maintains field offices in Toronto, London, Paris, Frankfurt, Tokyo and Mexico City. The six offices are "travel trade contact centers" staffed by specialists who develop VISIT USA sales opportunities for travel agents and others who promote USA-bound trips. Tourism to the USA is promoted through smaller promotion programs in additional countries which rank high in tourism generating importance.

Chief sales approaches used by USTS abroad include tour development, agency sales development, convention sales and incentive travel.

USTS' tour development program is designed to motivate international tour producers to create more package tours to the United States. Sales development is the approach used by the field offices in motivating foreign travel agents to sell the general public abroad on travel to the United States.

Each year, the United States welcomes thousands of visitors who travel here to attend international congresses, conventions and business meetings. USTS conducts a major program designed to persuade international associations to choose the United States as a site for an inter

national meeting. USTS programs are aimed at promoting the concept of incentive travel among business and industrial firms abroad and at encouraging selection of U.S. destinations for vacations presented to incentive program winners.

Other promotional programs conducted by USTS internationally include consumer and trade advertising campaigns, feature articles placed with the news media, brochures and other fulfillment literature. A familiarization tour program acquaints foreign travel agents, tour operators and journalists with U.S. destinations. USTS also assists States, cities and nonprofit organizations in their efforts to promote international travel to the USA.

Under the domestic program, implemented during 1976, the agency is charged to "encourage, promote and develop travel within the United States... through activities which are in the public interest and which do not compete with activities of any State, city or private agency."

The domestic programs consist of domestic travel research to fill the critical need for more precise and consistent data with respect to the economic impact of tourism and to develop a system for standardizing both the definition of tourism and the methods used in measuring tourism impact; a public service advertising campaign highlighting tourism opportunities within the United States; a news media program featuring both destination feature material and information on how to travel in terms of limited financial resources, fuel efficiency and conservation of natural resources; a tourism information service to travel agents providing noncommercial source reference material on all regions of the USA; and policy support.

Through the following divisions

USTS provides assistance to U.S. travel-sellers and State and local tourism officials who compete for foreign VISIT USA business and the development of a domestic tourism program which encourages Americans to see their own country first:

The chief function of the Research and Analysis Division include collecting and analyzing data to guide the formulation of USTS programs, both internationally and domestically, to evaluate their effectiveness in the market and to provide the travel industry with timely market intelligence.

Statistical, marketing and economic data are obtained from a variety of sources, including international organizations, government tourist offices, State tourism offices, private organizations and marketing researrch and evaluation studies.

The Office of Marketing and Field Operations is the principal marketing arm of USTS' international operation. The Office has responsibility for designing marketing programs to cultivate specific markets and market segments with the greatest potential for travel; analyzing U.S. tourism attractions and facilities to pinpoint the most saleable features and benefits in specific areas, matching these attractions and facilities to the travel needs and desires of each foreign market; stimulating development of specific tour packages by the travel trade; monitoring marketing activities of competitive destinations; and developing merchandising programs.

Educating the travel trade abroad on U.S. travel destinations and how to sell them effectively is another important field office activity.

Familiarization tours are designed to acquaint international travel experts with U.S. tourism opportunities. These familiarization tours have become valuable tools for travel spe

cialists, which include travel agents, travel wholesalers and journalists.

The Advertising and Promotion Division reinforces the international and domestic tourism marketing efforts. Internationally this office develops advertising campaigns in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Japan, Canada and Mexico. These advertising programs are designed to increase demands for U.S. destinations and attractions.

An assortment of sales promotion literature supports the advertising campaigns and other USTS marketing programs in each country. The literature is available in English, French, German, Japanese and Spanish.

Domestically, public service advertising campaigns are used to persuade Americans to travel within the United States. Elements of the domestic campaign include public service announcements for radio and television, newspaper and magazine advertising, distribution of a 12-minute travel film, posters, and a television talk show kit which includes a 30 minute script, records, and props for use by talk show hosts.

The Media Services Division utilizes communication techniques and news media outlets as primary marketing tools in "selling" the United States as a destination to people in other nations as well as to the American people. The Division creates and distributes destination feature material specifically tailored to utilize the news media in the six primary, foreign market areas as well as the United States.

The Media Services' domestic program includes a weekly radio show "Pathways USA" which is distributed to 1,000 radio stations across the USA. The Conventions and Expositions Division along with USTS' International Congress Offices in Paris is

charged with encouraging international associations to choose the USA as a site for their world congresses and to promote international attendance at these meetings.

This office also coordinates international expositions-world's fairsheld in the USA and evaluates plans by U.S. cities to host such expositions.

The Office of State/City Affairs maintains liaison with regional, state and city tourism officials. The purpose of this relationship is to encourage State and local tourism officials to provide the necessary receptive services for international and domestic visitors, and to assist them in promoting their destinations and attractions in both the international and domestic markets.

The Office of State/City Affairs also acts as a resource clearing house for information about many travel opportunities and destinations in the United States. In addition to identifying and publishing a catalog of travel information services, this office answers inquiries from the public, as well as from other government agencies involved in tourism.

Another important aspect of the State/city liaison function is USTS' matching grants program for international tourism promotion. States, cities and non-profit organizations are eligible to participate in the program. Grants may be used for projects promoting international travel to the United States or for improving receptive services for international visi

tors.

The Office of Policy Analysis makes recommendations concerning the national tourism interest in the policymaking process within the U.S. Government and represents U.S. tourism views as a member of various international intergovernmental associations.

ROM the era of the Yankee Clip

FROM

per to today's ocean-spanning jet planes, the increasing complexity of the national and world economy has required new services and new tools to meet the needs of each succeeding development.

Predictably, then, the history of the United States Department of Commerce is marked by change, a reflection of our expanding knowledge of technology and economics as they affect the world market place.

Established as the Department of Commerce and Labor by the Congress in 1903, the Department's constituent agencies reflected the business interests and perspectives of the day: the Lighthouse Service, the Lighthouse Board, the Steamboat Inspection Service, the Coast and Geodetic Survey, and eight bureaus: Corporations, Labor, Census, Statistics, Fisheries, Navigation, Immigration and Standards. The Bureau of Manufacturers was added in 1904. Only three of these—Standards, Census and the Coast and Geodetic Survey (renamed the National Ocean Survey) — are important agencies of the Department today. In 1913 the newly created Department of Labor assumed responsibilities in the labor field, and the newly named Department of Commerce concentrated on the field of business.

Even before that, in 1912, the Bureau of Manufactures and the Bureau of Statistics were merged with the State Department's Bureau of Foreign Commerce to become the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce. This is now the Bureau of International Commerce, which conducts one of the Department's vital economic programs: export expansion.

The Patent Office, vital to the

spread of new technology, was transferred to Commerce from Interior in 1925.

Commerce was given jurisdiction over the Weather Bureau in 1940, recognition of the fact that the science of weather is a crucial factor in many industries as well as in farming.

In 1949, the Bureau of Public Roads was transferred to the Department from the old Federal Works Agency. A year later the former independent Maritime Commission was abolished, and the Federal Maritime Board and the Maritime Administration were established in the Department as successor agencies. Under subsequent changes, the Federal Maritime Commission was set up as an independent agency and the Maritime Administration continued in Com

merce.

Following the outbreak of fighting in Korea in 1950, the National Production Authority was established in the Department to assure an adequate flow of critical materials in support of the war effort. Later this agency became the nucleus for the Business and Defense Services Administration, established in 1953.

In 1958, the President designated the Secretary of Commerce to direct and supervise the Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation in all matters except construction. As a further aid to the economic development of this "fourth coastline" of the United States, two years later the Department created the Great Lakes Pilotage Administration to set up an effective system of regulated pilotage. on the Great Lakes.

That year, 1960, and again in 1962, the Department was charged with supervising the Federal Government's participation in several world fairs, both of which attracted many foreign

visitors to our shores. The first was the Century 21 Exposition at Seattle, and the second was the New York World's Fair.

Two new agencies were added to the Department in 1961. One was the Area Redevelopment Administration, which helped revitalize depressed areas and generate employment opportunities for idled workers. The Agency was established in the Department of Commerce because of its close relationship with the commercial and industrial communities. In 1965, it was succeeded by the Economics Development Administration, whose companion agencies were the Office of Regional Economic Development and the Office of Appalachian Assistance—all of which sought to assist local efforts in creating new industry and employment in areas with lagging economies.

The second of the agencies added to the Department in 1961 was the United States Travel Service, given responsibility for selling people overseas on the idea "Visit USA." The dollars they spend here help create new jobs in the travel industry and benefit the Nation's balance-of-payments accounts.

Upon passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Community Relations Service was established by Congress in the Department of Commerce to encourage voluntary compliance with the provisions of the new legislation. Under a reorganization in the Federal Government, the agency was transferred to the Department of Justice in 1966.

The Environmental Science Services Administration was created by a reorganization in 1965, bringing under one administrative roof the Commerce scientific resources and services involving understanding of man's environment. The National Oceanic and

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), succeeded the Environmental Science Services Administration on October 3, 1970. NOAA's formation brought together the functions of the Environmental Science Services Administration (and its major elements: the Weather Bureau, Coast and Geodetic Survey, Environmental Data Service, National Environmental Satellite Center, and Research Laboratories); the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries, Marine Game Fish Research Program, and Marine Minerals Technology Center (formerly of the U.S. Department of Interior); the National Oceanographic Data Center and National Oceanographic Instrumentation Center (formerly administered by the U.S. Navy); the National Data Buoy Development Project (formerly of the Coast Guard, U.S. Department of Transportation); National Sea Grant Program (formerly of the National Science Foundation); and elements of the U.S. Lake Survey (formerly of the Army Corps of Engineers).

The Office of State Technical Services was created in 1965 by Congress to administer cooperative StateFederal programs for spreading the fruits of science and technology. It was intended to do for the American businessman what the Agricultural Extension Service has done for the American farmer. Because funds were not appropriated for its continuation, it was phased out of existence in June 1970.

When the Department of Transportation was created in 1966, Congress transferred to it the following Commerce components: The Office of the Under Secretary for Transportation, the Bureau of Public Roads, the Great Lakes Pilotage Administration, and the St. Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation.

In 1967, the Office of Standards Review was established to deal with development, adoption or publication of voluntary or mandatory product standards. Renamed the Office of Standards Policy in 1968, this office was reorganized in July 1969 under the new name of Office of Product Standards. It provides staff support to the Assistant Secretary for Science and Technology in standards and standardization. Activities are divided between policy guidance for units which implement certain statutory responsibilities of Commerce in standardization.

In 1968, as part of a comprehensive program to reduce the Nation's balance-of-payments deficit, the Office of Foreign Direct Investments was established in the Department and given the task of reducing the outflow of dollars used for direct investment in other countries. This office was phased out in June 1974.

The Office of Minority Business Enterprise was established in the Department in 1969 to help member of minority groups, including Blacks, Mexican-Americans, Puerto Ricans, and American Indians, become owners and managers of their own businesses.

In September 1970, the National Technical Information Service (NTIS) was established to simplify and increase public access to Federal publications and data files of interest to the business, scientific, and technical communities.

In 1970 the Office of Telecommunications was established. The Office provides analysis, engineering and technical services to support telecommunications policy. It also conducts research and analysis in the general field of telecommunications.

Office of Textiles, established in February 1971 is responsible for mat

ters involving the fiber, textile, and apparel sector of the industrial economy. It also provides staff support for the Interagency Textile Administrative Committee.

In February 1971, the Office of Import Programs was designated as the principal point of contact within the Department for special problems involving industries affected by import competition. It also analyzes the effect of imports on domestic markets.

The Offices of Textiles and the Office of Import Programs are now under the Domestic and International Business Administration.

In November 1972, the Department realigned and broadened its domestic business and export expansion support operations to enhance the world trade position of U.S. industry; to facilitate commercial contact between this country and the State trading economies of Eastern Europe and China, and to develop a new program directed toward solving the Nation's growing energy problem. The former Domestic and International Business (DIB) area of the Department was officially designated as the Domestic and International Business Administration (DIBA) and established as a primary operating unit of Commerce.

The Department's newest agency— the National Fire Prevention and Control Administration-was established in October 1974.