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WILLIAM MARION JARDINE

́ILLIAM MARION JARDINE-Secretary of Agriculture from March 5, 1925. Born in Oneida county, Idaho, January 16, 1879. Son of William and Rebecca J. Jardine. Educated in graded schools and University of Illinois. Married, September 6, 1905, Effie Nebeker.

1907-Assistant Cerealist of the Department of Agriculture.

1924-Member Agricultural Conference. Appointed by President Coolidge. 1925-Secretary of Agriculture.

Born on a farm, Mr. Jardine spent his first twenty years in that line of industry. Agriculture, with all its adjuncts, has been the main study of his life. He has been a teacher of the science and a lecturer for more than twenty years. The following is a brief resume of his activities in that direction:

Assistant, department of agronomy, 1904; instructor, 1905; professor, 1905 and 1906, Agricultural College of Utah; assistant cerealist of the United States Department of Agriculture, in charge of dry land grain investigation, 1907 to 1910; agronomist, Kansas State Agricultural College and Experiment Station, July, 1910; lecturer, Graduate School of Agriculture, Michigan Agricultural College, 1912; acting director of Experiment Station and dean of agriculture, January 1 to April 1, 1913; director of Experiment Station and dean of agriculture, 1913-1918, and president, March 1, 1918, to March 4, 1925; member of President's Agricultural Conference, 1924-1925. Is a member of Rock Creek and Potomac Parkway Commission, National Forest Reservation Commission, Federal Board for Vocational Education, Federal Power Commission and War Finance Corporation; member of Cosmos Club (Washington) and Kansas Authors' Club; author of numerous papers and bulletins on dry farming and crop production; member and chairman of the Agricultural Production Committee, Kansas State Council of Defense, 1917; fellow of the American Association of the Academy of Science; president of the International Dry Farming Congress and Soil Products Exposition, 1915-1916; American Society of Agronomy, 1916-1917; member of the executive board of the National Research Council; advisory council of the Agricultural Commission of American Bankers' Association; Mason and Rotarian; member of Sigma Xi, Beta Theta Pi, Alpha Zeta, Phi Kappa Phi, Gamma Sigma Delta.

labor could well be handled by one department. The matter was taken up seriously by Congress and in 1902 a measure was proposed establishing a new department to be known as the Department of Commerce and Labor. It finally passed both houses of Congress and was approved February 14, 1903.

Section 3 of the act provided "that it shall be the province and duty of said department to foster, promote and develop the foreign and domestic commerce, the mining, manufacturing, shipping and fishing industries, the labor interests and the transportation facilities of the United States." To accomplish this various bureaus, offices and branches under the control of some of the other departments were placed under that of the new department, as follows:

"The following named offices, bureaus, divisions and branches of the public service, now and heretofore under the jurisdiction of the Department of the Treasury, and all that pertains to the same, known as the Lighthouse Board, the Lighthouse Establishment, the Steamboat Inspection Service, the Bureau of Navigation, the United States shipping commissioners, the National Bureau of Standards, the Coast and Geodetic Survey, the Commissioner General of Immigration, the commissioners of immigration, the Bureau of Immigration, the immigration service at large, and the Bureau of Statistics, be, and the same hereby are, transferred from the Department of the Treasury to the Department of Commerce and Labor, and the same shall hereafter remain under the jurisdiction and supervision of the last-named de

partment; and that the Census Office, and all that pertains to the same, be, and the same hereby is, transferred from the Department of the Interior to the Department of Commerce and Labor, to remain henceforth under the jurisdiction of the latter; that the Department of Labor, the Fish Commission, and the Office of Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries, and all that pertains to the same, be, and the same hereby are, placed under the jurisdiction and made a part of the Department of Commerce and Labor; that the Bureau of Foreign Commerce, now in the Department of State, be, and the same hereby is, transferred to the Department of Commerce and Labor and consolidated with and made a part of the Bureau of Statistics, hereinbefore transferred from the Department of the Treasury to the Department of Commerce and Labor, and the two shall constitute one bureau, to be called the Bureau of Statistics, with a chief of the bureau; and that the Secretary of Commerce and Labor shall have control of the work of gathering and distributing statistical information naturally relating to the subjects confided to his department; and the Secretary of Commerce and Labor is hereby given the power and authority to rearrange the statistical work of the bureaus and offices confided to said department and to consolidate any of the statistical bureaus and offices transferred to said department; and said Secretary shall also have authority to call upon other departments of the government for statistical data and results obtained by them; the said Secretary of Commerce and Labor may collate, arrange and publish such statistical information so obtained in such manner as to him may seem wise."

The act provided for the organization in the department of a bureau to be called the "Bureau of Manufactures." This bureau was to foster, promote and develop the various manufacturing industries of the country, and markets for the same, at home and abroad. To aid the bureau foreign consuls are required to make reports. A Bureau of Corporations was also provided for. Among the powers and duties of this bureau was that of investigation into the organization, conduct and management of the business of any corporation, joint stock company or corporate combination engaged in commerce among the several states and with foreign nations. From this power common carriers were excepted.

The control over the fur seal, salmon and other fisheries of Alaska and over the immigration of aliens was taken from the Department of the Treasury and given to the Department of Commerce and Labor.

In 1913 the name of the department was changed from the Department of Commerce and Labor to that of Department of Commerce. As the Department of Agriculture ransacks the world for forage and food plants and seeds in the interest of the farmers of the United States, so the Department of Commerce ransacks all civilized nations in the interest of the producers of America. It has so interwoven itself

with the business interests of the country that it is now regarded by all classes as one of the most important branches of the government.

It requires a large force of experts to answer the inquiries that flow into it daily. Those inquiries average a million and a quarter annually, and are on all imaginable subjects connected with business. They come from all classes-importers, exporters, manufacturers, farmers and merchants.

If a costly bridge is to be built anywhere, the knowledge of it no sooner reaches the public than it is wafted to the Department of Commerce, and by it carried on to manufacturers of iron and steel, to producers of cement and other material that might be needed and to contractors. A large number of large contracts have been secured to Americans by the department.

If the people of Ashantee are in need of agricultural implements, or will buy phonographs, the information is given to the department, and through it to American manufacturers. In his report for the fiscal year 1924 Secretary Hoover says of one of the activities of the department:

The vital value of the bureau to all Americans concerned with world trade was signally illustrated during this past year by its informational and promotive efforts following the great earthquake disaster in Japan. Though our office in Tokyo was destroyed and its established routine shattered, the work was immediately resumed and vigorously pushed forward. Accurate estimates were given of the extent of the damage to the economic structure of Japan. Americans relying on raw materials from Japan were advised of the position and prospects. Markets for reconstruction materials were investigated. The purchase of great quantities of supplies here was furthered. In every phase of the situation the bureau was alert, active and helpful.

Yet this was only the most outstanding example of a service which, throughout the world, has been constantly growing in effectiveness. Profiting by their accumulated experience and utilizing ever more skillfully all the available means of trade promotion, our offices abroad and our divisions at Washington have made their efforts show a steadily rising proportion of practical results. Those efforts have been determined not by mere theories but by the specific requirements of American business, directly and precisely expressed.

During the past year the most significant feature of our work is to be found in this element of intimate contact and co-operation with American manufacturers, exporters, financiers and domestic merchants. Now, more than ever before, the bureau is functioning as an integral part of American economic life-an organization responsive to the guidance of its clients, while at the same time initiating a variety of services designed to strengthen and augment the currents of our trade. Outside of the very large functions of the department in the promotion of foreign trade, in aid to navigation, in provision of systematic economic information, and in co-operation with commerce and industry to advance productivity, a definite constructive national program has been developed for the elimination of waste in our economic system. The need is plain. The American standard of living is the product of high wages to producers and low prices to consumers. The road to national progress lies in increasing real wages through proportionately lower prices. The one and only way is to improve methods and processes and to eliminate waste. Just as twenty years ago we undertook nation-wide conservation of natural resources, so now we must undertake nation-wide elimination of waste. Regulation