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Foreword by the Secretary of Commerce

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On the adjacent page is a statement of the mission and functions of the Department of Commerce as delineated since President Nixon took office. This statement departs from the traditional organization chart for an agency of government because it more accurately defines what the Department of Commerce is-and seeks to be-than would a more rigid and restrictive table of organization.

The Department at home and abroad seeks to be the agency in government that speaks for and defends and builds the free competitive economy on which we depend for our national progress. It should not be merely the voice of business in Washington or the means of communicating from Washington to business. It has the function and responsibility of speaking in a much broader sense for the free enterprise system and doing everything it can possibly do to build and protect and sponsor the growth and strength of the economy under that system.

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Duties of the
Secretary of Commerce

The Secretary is responsible for the administration of all functions and authorities assigned to the Department of Commerce and for advising the President on Federal policy and programs affecting industry, commerce and general development of the economy.

In addition to his direct consultation with the President, the Secretary serves on a number of bodies organized at the White House level to advise on and carry out Administration policies and directives. The Secretary is a member of the Domestic Council and the Cabinet Committee on Economic Policy, as well as several specialized Cabinet efforts. He is chairman of the Interagency Committee on Export Expansion, the Export Expansion Advisory Committee, the Federal Advisory Council on Regional Economic Development, the Pres. ident's Cabinet Textile Advisory Committee, and (alternating with the Secretary of Labor) the President's Advisory Committee on Labor-Management Policy.

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Commerce Serving the Nation

The U.S. Department of Commerce provides a wide range of services to the general public and to business. Its mission: to encourage stabilized growth for the benefit of all.

It was established by the Congress in 1903 to "foster, promote, and develop the foreign and domestic com. merce, [and] *** manufacturing and shipping *** industries*** of the United States."

The Department's services spotlight 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.

It provides business with basic economic research data that permit sound decisions on industrial growth and development. The Department's statistical data and business analyses provide the standard analytic framework for use in economic policy planning.

The Department's Census Bureau, every 10 years, takes the national census of population and housing. The most recent-the 19th in our history-was taken in April 1970. Information from the census provided the Nation with the basis for reapportion. ment of the House of Representatives and State and local law-making bodies. It also gives new, authoritative data for guiding many governmental and commercial programs serving the public.

The Office of Business Economics and the Census Bureau are developing new analytical tools, such as OBE's Input-Output Study, which

shows what each industry buys and sells to every other industry in the economy.

The Bureau of International Commerce has launched the most inten sive export expansion drive in the Nation's history in order to develop new world markets for the products of our factories and our working peo ple. It has opened permanent trade centers around the world to show U.S.-made quality products. It also has extended computer applications steadily into the field of international business, to give American traders a marketing information system un. matched by that available to any of their foreign competitors.

The Bureau of Domestic Commerce stimulates economic growth by pro viding domestic, industrial, and market reporting, and advice and counsel on business opportunities and prob. lems; and by preparing the Nation's industry for industrial mobilization to meet emergency needs.

NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, is a new Commerce agency created in October 1970 from several Federal organiza. tions. Through its major elements— the National Ocean Survey, National Weather Service, National Marine Fisheries Service, National Environmental Satellite Service, Environmental Research Laboratories, and Environ. mental Data Service-NOAA is apply. ing new knowledge and a new tech. nology of satellites, data buoys, environmental sensors, and computers to improving man's understanding and uses of the physical environment and oceanic life.

The Patent Office, which plays such a key role in invention and innova

tion, is developing information techniques to make more readily acces. sible to industry the wealth of applied technology contained in the 311⁄2 million U.S. patents.

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The National Bureau of Standards provides science and industry with accurate and uniform physical measurements for such quantities length, mass, time, volume, temper. ature, light, and radioactivity—meas. urements that are the heart of mass production technology. The agency also does research and provides serv. ices to science and industry in materials science, engineering standards, and technical information and technology transfer. The Bureau carries out a range of consumer-protective activities under the Fair Packaging and Labeling Act, the Flammable Fabrics Act, and the Fire Research and Safety Act.

The Office of Telecommunications is responsible for a wide range of tech. nical research and economic and policy analyses in telecommunications.

The National Technical Information Service makes publicly available publications and data files containing much of the Government's scientific and technical information.

In addition, the Department of Com. merce is heavily engaged in area economic development.

The Economic Development Adminis tration helps industry and business not keeping pace with the Nation's growth rate areas primarily marked by high unemployment and low family incomes. The result is the creation of jobs where vitally needed to foster economic and social stability.

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