Foreword

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3031 .45531 1977

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VERYONE seems to have a favorite simile to describe the Department of Commerce. In briefing President Carter and members of the Cabinet on new directions for the Department, I compared it to Noah's ark; the difference, however, is the fact that the Commerce Department has only one of each thing.

It is true that Commerce has a great number of seemingly unrelated programs. We have the Maritime Administration, the Domestic and International Business Administration, the National Bureau of Standards, the Census Bureau, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Economic Development Administration, the National Fire Prevention and Control Administration, the Office of Minority Business Enterprise, the United States Travel Service and the Patent and Trademark Office. Such a range of activities raises legitimate questions. What does oceans policy have to do with telecommunications research, or fire prevention with trade and travel promotion?

The seeming illogic of Commerce's organizational maze begins to make sense, however, if we view the Department's role in the context of its relationship to its overall mission: to facilitate commerce.

One of our major goals is to use more effectively the enormous statistical and informational resources within the Commerce Department to assess the state of the economy, its impact on people and firms and the trends that signal new problems and opportunities.

We must also improve our measurements of social well-being and the quality of life so that we can determine our gains and losses not only in terms of gross national product but also in terms of environmental qual

ity, work conditions, and quantity and use of leisure time.

To improve the conditions of the marketplace, we must redouble efforts to create an environment conducive to new investment, to increased productivity, and to employment. In many instances, this will require reform of government programs and regulations that needlessly impede business development; in others it requires direct assistance on our part to enable business to operate to its fullest potential.

The increasingly serious fiscal, economic and social condition of our cities have made public intervention essential if we are to make any significant inroads into city problems. But just as crucial to successful urban economic development programs are the contributions of the business sector. No amount of fiscal transfusions from Federal, State and local governments will suffice without effectively leveraging public monies with private sector investment.

The Commerce Department can serve as a bridge between investing institutions and government institutions. It can utilize those human, capital, and community resources that are now idle because of economic decline in certain regions, states and cities. It can promote more balanced economic growth throughout the Nation. And it can help to find ways to deal with business decline, seasonal and structural unemployment, and regional dislocations.

Commerce should serve as a catalyst, encouraging business to assess its views and evaluate the adequacy of its performance in meeting its social responsibilities with respect to consumers, employment, and the general formulation of public policies.

Throughout history, there has been an artificial barrier between people and departments of government interested in economic goals and those interested in human goals. I am convinced that we must build a private enterprise system that develops our greatest human potential, even as it develops programs tailored to deal with specific needs. In today's world that system requires a balance between technical and economic concerns and social and human concerns.

The business community is asserting leadership in developing this new consciousness, and the Commerce Department will facilitate and provide further leadership in these directions. In so doing, it is my hope that the Department itself will help to achieve a balance between technological advancement and human aspirations.

Juanita M. Kreps Secretary of Commerce

THE

HE U.S. Department of Commerce provides a wide range of services to the general public and to business at home and abroad in discharging its mission of encouraging stable and progressive growth for the benefit of all.

The Department was established by the Congress in 1903 to "foster, promote, and develop the foreign and domestic commerce, (and) . . . manufacturing and shipping . . . industries ... of the United States."

In carrying out this mandate, its services bring into focus those economic opportunities that challenge the initiative of business and industry. Its programs promote the increased use of science and technology in the development of our industrial capacity and the production of civilian goods. The Department provides business with basic economic research data that permit sound decisions on industrial growth and development. Its statistical data and business analyses provide the standard analytic framework for use in economic policy planning.

The initiatives it has taken in the international field are most dramatically illustrated by the historic 1972 commercial accords reached by the United States and the Soviet Union to open a new trading era between the world's two largest powers, ending a 25-year break in normal commercial relationships.

The Department has realigned and broadened its domestic business and export expansion support operations to provide greater assistance to American companies competing in world markets, and to stimulate commercial contact between this country and and Eastern European nations. The Domestic and International Business Administration is charged with promoting exports, identifying reasons for any lag in the U.S. competitive position vis-à-vis other countries, and analyzing and encouraging East-West trade.

The Chief Economist works closely with the President's Council of Economic Advisers, the U. S. Treasury, the Federal Reserve Board, and other

cconomic policy officials, and serves on various interagency committees and task forces dealing with economic questions. The Chief Economist serves as an advisor to all the bureaus within the Department regarding specific problems in their own areas that require data, analysis and forecasts of future developments in the U. S. economy.

The Chief Economist also exercises policy direction and general supervision over the Bureau of the Census and the Bureau of Economic Analysis. The Census Bureau, in addition to taking the national census of population and housing every 10 years, provides many economic statistics on a weekly, monthly or annual basis and also take censuses of business and agriculture every five years. Beginning in 1985, the Census Bureau will also conduct regular "mid-decade" censuses of population five years after each decennial census.

The Bureau of Economic Analysis develops and publishes such wellknown economic series as the Gross

National Product, Personal Income, and Corporate Profits. The two agencies provide a major portion of Federal economic and social statistics.

The Assistant Secretary for Policy is responsible for the review and initiation of all major policies within the Department of Commerce, including energy, regulation, economic and business development, oceans and maritime policy and general economic policy.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), created in October 1970 from several Federal agencies, seeks to improve our understanding and uses of the earth's physical environment and its oceanic life. NOAA seeks to ensure wise use of the ocean and its resources to enable development as well as conservation of these resources. The agency's responsibilities were broadened by passage in October 1972 of three major acts of Congress-providing for management of the Nation's coastal zone, protecting marine mammals and regulating ocean dumping.

The National Bureau of Standards provides science and industry with accurate and uniform physical measurements for such quantities as length, mass, time, volume, temperature, light, and radioactivity-measurements so necessary to mass production technology. NBS also makes vital contributions in such diverse fields as law enforcement, where work is carried on in more than 50 standards areas; drugs, where techniques such as gas chromatography are used to measure trace levels of drugs and impurities; the environment, where new techniques in detecting and measuring pollutants are being developed, and in health and safety.

The Patent and Trademark Office, which plays such a key role in invention and innovation, has been processing new record highs in patents while reducing the average pendency time of patent applications from 20 to 24 months. It has also given special priority to the processing of applications for patents which may aid in conserving energy or curbing environmental abuses.

The Maritime Administration is responsible for developing and maintaining a U.S.-flag merchant marine capable of meeting the country's waterborne foreign and domestic shipping requirements. The Merchant Marine Act of 1970 made possible the first major overhaul of the Nation's merchant marine policy in more than three decades, including a 10-year shipbuilding program to add 300 hightechnology ships to the fleet to replace aging tonnage while decreasing the level of Federal subsidies. The Maritime Administration's financial assistance programs for industry include such direct aids as construction-differential subsidy and operating differential subsidy, as well as indirect forms such as ship mortgage insurance and tax-deferred capital construction funds. They also include the writing of war-risk insurance and the overseeing of the Federal Government's cargo preference program.

The Office of Minority Business Enterprise, created within the Department to develop and coordinate a national program to assist in the establishment of new minority businesses and the expansion of existing ones, is a growing concern. OMBE has established six fully staffed regional offices in major cities and smaller field offices in 16 other cities.

Dissemination of technology has gained added emphasis and quality through the Department's Office of Telecommunications and through its National Technical Information Service, which has inaugurated an advanced information retrieval service to provide immediate access to more than 300,000 Government technical reports.

The U.S. Travel Service, through exhibits, grants and other devices, promotes VISIT USA. Overseas visitors have grown to a rate close to 2.5 million a year, bringing in hundreds of millions of dollars to the travel and transportation industries of the U.S. and assisting in alleviating the deficit in our balance of payments.

In 1971, the Commerce Department added the Office of the Ombudsman for Business. Now a part of the Domestic and International Business Administration, the Ombudsman has been successful in responding to inquiries from outside of Government, helping those who need direction to travel with a minimum of inconvenience and delay through the Federal establishment.

Many of the Department's services are provided through its 43 district offices. In all its operations, the Department of Commerce seeks to create a climate of confidence necessary for orderly growth and equal opportunity for all.