... the stage is now set for an international effort to achieve some of the most important monetary and trade reforms in history. As we complete these reforms in the years ahead, we can usher in a new age of world prosperity, a prosperity made even greater by the rapid expansion of peaceful trade that is now taking place, not only with our traditional trading partners, but also with nations that have been our adversaries. I cite these simply as examples of the broad, unfinished agenda of peace that now lies before us, the agenda of new starts made, of negotiations begun, of new relationships established, which now we must build on with the same initiative and imagination that achieved the initial breakthroughs. As we move forward on this agenda, we can see vast areas of peaceful cooperation to be explored. President Richard M. Nixon Foreword by the Secretary of Commerce There have been very few times in the past 20 years when our economic prospects are as bright and full of promise as they are today. There is a great opportunity before us. That opportunity-and challenge-is to translate those prospects into reality: the strong economy needed to realize President Nixon's goal of achieving an enduring peace in this generation. One of the basic missions of the Department of Commerce is to foster and promote in many diverse areas the Nation's overall economic development and technical advancement. In this era, such a mission carries with it enlarged responsibilities. For the Nation's economic development and technical advances are increasingly energized by international commerce. A new interdependence is developing a community of interests that can only benefit all nations in peaceful competition and trade. Expanding trade with Eastern European countries and the Peoples Republic of China are symptomatic of this developing community of interests. The Department is playing a principal role in such trade expansion. What characterizess today's Department of Commerce is diversity, with its activities spilling over into consumer affairs, conservation, pure scientific research, and assistance for minority groups. So along with construction contracts from Commerce's Maritime Administration to provide new ships for the country's merchant fleet we also have a new research program being conducted by the Department's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to find ways to protect porpoises from drowning in tuna fishing nets. Along with reports on the gross output of the economy-readings on the economic pulse and health of the Nation-the Department has also helped develop packaging and labeling guidelines to aid consumers. Along with Census Bureau profiles of directions being taken by the American population there is also financial assistance for the minority entrepreneur. As well as the administration of export controls there is the work of the National Bureau of Standards to provide firemen with safe and dependable flame-resistant clothing and children with fire-retardant sleepwear. As a general policy, the Department is the agency of government that speaks for and defends the competitive economy upon which we depend for national progress. In the broadest sense it promotes the national interest through judicious encouragement of the competitive enterprise system. In so doing, it represents a constituency much larger and more diverse than is commonly thought. The Commerce Department's goals are not modest ones. Its policies and programs are aimed at achieving the national economic goals of maximum growth in a free market economy, without inflation, under conditions of full employment and equal opportunity. The services provided by the Department of Commerce to further these goals are described on the following pages. Frederick B. Dent Secretary of Commerce |