83 



March 4, 1913: Department of Commerce and Labor separated by 

 act of Congress which created a new Department of Labor. 

 (Public Law 426; 37 Stat. 736) 



May 8, 1914: The Smith-Lever Act provided for cooperative agricul- 

 tural extension work between the agricultural colleges receiving 

 benefits under the Act of July 2, 1862 (the Morrill Act). Coopera- 

 tive agricultural extension work (home and field demonstration) 

 was also authorized for people not in the colleges. By this act the 

 Extension Service of the Department of Agriculture was put on a 

 separate and permanent basis. (Public Law 95; 38 Stat. 372) 



March 3, 1915: The Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (later the 

 National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, or NACA) was es- 

 tablished by a rider to the Naval Appropriations Act, "* * * to 

 supervise and direct the scientific study of the problems of flight, 

 with a view of their practical solution." The sum of $5,000 a year 

 was appropriated for 5 years. The total appropriation for naval 

 aeronautics was $1 million. NACA was the first war research 

 agency of the World War I period. (Public Law 271; Stat. 928) 



July 1915: A Naval Consulting Board with Thomas A. Edison, 

 chairman, was appointed by Navy Secretary Josephus Daniels. 

 The Board whose membership was selected from the eleven larg- 

 est engineering societies in the U.S. was intended to serve as a 

 review and evaluation board for ideas and suggestions which 

 might be developed for defense purposes. 



1916: A National Research Council of the National Academy of Sci- 

 ences was established to permit a larger part of the scientific 

 community to assist in research in connection with national pre- 

 paredness. Approval of the Council by a letter of July 25, 1916 

 from President Woodrow Wilson to the President of the NAS was 

 formalized by the issuance of Executive Order 2859 of May 11, 

 1918. 



August 25, 1916: National Park Service was established in the De- 

 partment of Interior. National parks, monuments and reserva- 

 tions were placed under the supervision of the director who was 

 responsible to the Secretary. (Public Law 235; 39 Stat. 535) 



February 23, 1917: Smith-Hughes Act created a Federal Board of 

 Vocational Education for promotion of vocational education in 

 cooperation with the states. Appropriated funds for the training 

 and salaries of teachers of trade, home economics, and industrial 

 subjects. (Public Law 347; 39 Stat. 929) 



October 1, 1917: Congress created the Aircraft Board to expand and 

 coordinate the industrial activities relating to aircraft and to fa- 

 cilitate generally the development of air service. (Public Law 48: 

 40 Stat. 296) 



October 27, 1918: A joint resolution establishing a Reserve Corps 

 for the Public Health Service was passed. The 1918 influenza epi- 

 demic emphasized the need for a reserve corps in the Service to 

 meet such emergency situations. (Public Resolution 45; 40 Stat. 

 1017) 



June 10, 1920: Federal Power Commission was created to provide 

 for the improvement of navigation, the development of water 

 power, and use of public lands in relation thereto. The Commis- 

 sion was authorized to make investigations and collect data on 

 the utilization of water resources, and on the water power indus- 



