CHILDREN'S BUREAU.

ARTICLE I.-ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT.

The Children's Bureau was established by an act of Congress approved April 9, 1912,1 and began active operations upon the passage of the legislative, executive, and judicial appropriation act of August 23, 1912. The act creating the bureau differs very little from bills which had been favorably reported by committees of the House and Senate in several preceding Congresses. Originally established as a part of the Department of Commerce and Labor, the Children's Bureau was transferred on March 4, 1913, to the Department of Labor.

ARTICLE II.-FUNCTIONS.

The bureau is required by its organic act to investigate and report on all matters pertaining to the welfare of children and child life among all classes of our people, and especially to investigate questions of infant mortality, the birth rate, orphanage, juvenile courts, desertion, dangerous occupations, accidents and diseases of children, employment, and legislation affecting children in the several States and Territories.

The Senate Committee on Education and Labor, which reported the bill to establish the Children's Bureau, said:

The bill as drawn and recommended for passage confines the operation of the bureau primarily to the question of investigation and of reporting the same, the design and purpose being to furnish information in this general way from all parts of the country to the respective States to enable them to deal more intelligently and more systematically and uniformly with the subject. The bill is not designed to encroach upon the rights nor relieve the States from the duty of dealing with this subject, but to furnish the information to enable them to more successfully deal with it.

The bureau has no power to do administrative work, nor can it make any regulations concerning children or create any institutions for them. Its duty is solely to study and report on conditions affecting their welfare. It may publish, in any form approved by the Secretary of Labor, the facts it secures.

ARTICLE III.-PUBLICATIONS.

Any publication of the bureau will be sent without charge upon application so long as a supply is available for distribution. Lists of all publications, showing those still available for distribution, are kept constantly on hand and will be sent upon request, so that a person interested in the work of the bureau can indicate by a check

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the publications desired and return the list to the bureau. The publications will then be sent.

To provide for persons who have a continuing interest in certain of the subjects which the bureau is directed to investigate and who desire to see all that the bureau publishes in connection therewith, five special mailing lists have been established, covering different series of publications, on any of which a name will be placed upon request. To the persons on each of these lists are sent all the publications covering the subjects included in the series to which the list appertains. These lists are as follows:

Care of Children list.

Receives all publications on the hygiene of childhood designed for the use of the individual mother.

Infant Mortality list.

Receives all publications relating to child health in its community aspects, including such subjects as infant mortality, vital and morbidity statistics, birth registration, and baby-saving campaigns.

Industrial list.

Receives all publications dealing with child labor and kindred subjects. Dependent, Defective, and Delinquent Classes list.

Receives all publications dealing with these classes of children. Miscellaneous list.

Receives publications not clearly within any of the above series.

The popular pamphlets on the care of children, and certain of the other publications, are in great demand and the bureau receives frequent requests for large numbers to be distributed at meetings of various kinds. Because of the small amount of money available for printing and because of the great danger of waste in this method of distribution, a rule has been adopted against sending the publications in large quantities to one address. Upon request, however, the bureau will send for use at fairs, conferences, clinics, and similar meetings, several copies of these popular pamphlets to serve as samples and will also send blanks on which persons desiring copies may enter their names and addresses. Upon the return of the blanks clearly filled out the pamphlets desired are mailed to the addresses given.

The bureau has a small amount of material suitable for use in child-welfare exhibits, at present mainly lantern slides and charts. Persons desiring to borrow this material should correspond with the chief of the bureau.

Naturally the bureau has, in its highly specialized library and in its files, much material regarding the subjects which it is directed to investigate that is not included in its publications. It endeavors to make this material available for its correspondents in the way that seems most feasible in each particular case. The object of the bureau, as a whole, is to serve as a clearing house for information regarding child welfare.

BUREAU OF NATURALIZATION.

ARTICLE I.-ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT.

The Bureau of Naturalization was organized in July, 1906, under the provisions of the act of June 29, 19061 (34 Stat. L., 596), being "An act to provide for a uniform rule for the naturalization of aliens throughout the United States."

It was originally organized as the Division of Naturalization of the Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization of the Department of Commerce and Labor. It so continued until the act of March 4, 1913, entitled "An act to create the Department of Labor," became a law, when it was raised to the rank of a bureau and given the title "Bureau of Naturalization."

ARTICLE II.-FUNCTIONS AND DUTIES.

The Bureau of Naturalization has administrative control, under the direction of the Secretary, of all matters relating to the naturalization of aliens and the administration of the naturalization laws. By the organic act of March 4, 1913, the administrative officer in charge of the Bureau of Naturalization and of the administration of the naturalization law is the Commissioner of Naturalization and in his absence the Deputy Commissioner of Naturalization.

In its administration of the naturalization law the bureau obtains the cooperation of the public-school authorities throughout the United States. It furnishes them the names and addresses of the declarants for citizenship and petitioners for naturalization, for the purpose of bringing these prospective citizens into contact at the earliest moment with the Americanizing influences of the public-school system and thereby contributing to the elevation of citizenship standards. By insuring comprehension of the true spirit of our institutions on the part of aliens admitted to citizenship the bureau may hope to make their acquisition serve as a strengthening influence upon the moral, social, political, and industrial qualities of those institutions.

Through reports from various public schools where courses in citizenship have been taken by aliens seeking naturalization the bureau aims to disseminate information throughout the public-school system. It thereby acts as a clearing house of information on civic instruction. Without relaxing its efforts at excluding unfit aliens from citizenship, it is endeavoring to stimulate preparation. Its

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ideal in this respect is to promote the attainment by aliens of such qualifications for the citizenship they seek as will better fit them for its duties.

The Bureau has in its archives the duplicate of all naturalization papers issued by all of the courts exercising naturalization jurisdiction throughout the United States since the Federal supervision of the naturalization law was undertaken. These embrace the declaration of intention, the petition for naturalization, and the certificate of naturalization.

ARTICLE III. ORGANIZATION OF NATURALIZATION SERVICE.

The bureau has a field force extending throughout the United States. The United States is divided into 11 districts, with a central headquarters in each district. These district headquarters are located at Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Washington, D. C., Pittsburgh, Chicago, St. Louis, St. Paul, Denver, San Francisco, and Seattle.

The territory of the United States by districts is as follows:

Boston.-Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island.

New York. Northern, eastern, and southern New York, and Hudson County, N. J.

Philadelphia.—Eastern and middle districts of Pennsylvania, Delaware, and New Jersey (except Hudson County).

Washington, D. C.-Alabama, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky (except counties of Campbell, Jefferson, and Kenton), Louisiana, Maryland (except counties of Allegany, Frederick, Garrett, and Washington), Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee (except Shelby County), Texas, and Virginia.

Pittsburgh.-Western Pennsylvania; western New York; West Virginia; Ohio; counties of Allegany, Frederick, Garrett, and Washington, Md.; and counties of Campbell and Kenton, Ky.

Chicago. Southern Wisconsin; Indiana; northern Illinois; Jefferson County, Ky.; southern peninsula of Michigan; and Mackinac County, Mich.

St. Louis.-Arkansas; Oklahoma; Iowa; Missouri; Nebraska; Kansas; Shelby County, Tenn.; and southern Illinois.

St. Paul. Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, northern Wisconsin, and northern peninsula of Michigan (except Mackinac County).

Denver. Colorado; New Mexico; Wyoming; Utah; and the counties of Bannock, Bear Lake, Bingham, Bonneville, Custer, Franklin, Fremont, Jefferson, Lemhi, Madison, Oneida, and Power, Idaho. San Francisco.-Arizona, California, and Nevada.

Seattle. Washington, Oregon, Montana, and Idaho (except as otherwise assigned).

At each headquarters there is located a chief examiner and a staff of examiners and the necessary number of clerks. The officers of this force travel throughout the respective districts, conducting

preliminary examinations of the fitness of all candidates for citizenship therein and appearing in the courts at the hearings of the petitions for naturalization, representing the Bureau of Naturalization at such hearings. The State courts in which the naturalization examiners appear represent the courts of the highest original jurisdiction in all the States. They also appear in the district courts of the United States throughout the country. In these courts the examiners uniformly conduct the hearings, examine the petitioners and the witnesses produced in support of the applications for naturalization upon any matter touching or in any way affecting their right of admission to citizenship, and call witnesses, produce evidence, and are heard upon all matters that tend to facilitate or to oppose the granting of petitions for naturalization.

ARTICLE IV.-NATURALIZATION RECORDS.

The bureau not only receives the duplicates of all naturalization papers filed or executed in or issued out of the courts exercising jurisdiction to naturalize aliens, but also receives from the clerks of such courts quarterly an accounting for all fees collected by them in naturalization proceedings. The bureau examines and audits the accounts of the clerks of courts making these remittances and causes the moneys so received to be deposited in the Treasury of the United States through the Disbursing Clerk, who renders an accounting therefor quarterly to the Auditor for the State and Other Departments.

The bureau also prepares and furnishes to the clerks of courts exercising naturalization jurisdiction the records which are required to be maintained by them as the records and dockets in naturalization proceedings. It furnishes the certificates of naturalization, consecutively numbered and printed on safety paper in accordance with the requirements of the law, to the clerks of the courts referred to.

In addition to examining the fiscal accounts of the clerks of courts the bureau also examines the duplicate declarations, petitions, and certificates, to determine that their issuance complies with the provisions of the law as to form and execution.

The bureau also receives and considers the applications for clerical assistance from clerks of courts whose fees exceed $6,000 per annum, and upon its recommendation the Department authorizes such clerks of courts to employ additional clerical assistants as necessity indicates. These additional assistants are compensated out of the appropriation of the bureau provided for the maintenance of its field service.

There is also conducted with judges, district attorneys, clerks of courts, and other officers, and the general public a large correspondence dealing with various phases of the administration of the naturalization law.