Relation of the Federal Government to Research 



as to the manner and melhoil in which the Hiune is con- 

 ducted. * * *" 



The Federal Trade Conunission is similarly empow- 

 ered to 



• • • gather and compile information concerning and to 

 investigate from time to time the organization, business, con- 

 duct, practices, and management of any corporation engaged in 

 commerce, excepting banks and common carriers subject to the 

 Act to regulate commerce, and its relation to other corporations 

 and to individuals, associations, and partnerships (38 Stat. 

 717, 721). 



Its activities, however, are I'ot confined to domestic 

 corporations. It is also authorized to "investigate, 

 from time to time, trade conditions in and with for- 

 eign countries where associations, combinations, or 

 practices of manufacturers, merchants, or traders, or 

 other conditions, may afi'ect the foreign trade of the 

 United States * *'*" (Ibid, 722). 



The National Bituminous Coal Commission is au- 

 thorized to "initiate, promote, and conduct research 

 designed to improve standards and methods used in 

 the mining, preparation, conservation, distribution, and 

 utilization of coal and the discovery of additional uses 

 for coal * * *" (50 Stat. 72). 



Authorization to Make Specific Studies 



Few indeed are the agencies of government that have 

 not, at one time or another, been directed by Congress 

 to make a particular investigation or sjDecial study, and 

 the list includes most of those agencies with broad au- 

 thority to conduct research in a given field. It is with 

 continuing rather than short time research that we are 

 concerned here, however; and examples of authoriza- 

 tions to investigate specific topics or to conduct re- 

 search along specifically circumscribed lines are numer- 

 ous. 



In some cases the authorization to conduct research 

 refers onlv to specifically enumerated studies, or sub- 

 divisior.o of a given field. The Smith-Hughes Act, for 

 example, directs the Vocational Education Board to 

 make studies and investigations "with particular refer- 

 ence to their use in aiding the States in the establish- 

 ment of vocational schools and classes and in giving 

 instruction in agriculture, trades and industries, com- 

 merce and commercial pursuits, and home economics." 



* • * Such studies, investigations, and reports shall in- 

 clude agriculture and agricultural processes and requirements 

 upon agricultural workers ; trades, industries, and apprentice- 

 ships, trade and industrial requirements upon industrial work- 

 ers, and classification of industrial processes and pursuits: 

 commerce and commercial pursuits and requirements upon com- 

 mercial workers; home management, domestic science, and the 

 study of related facts and principles; and problems of admin- 

 istration of vocational schools and counses of study and instruc- 

 tion in vocational subjects (39 Stat. 929). 



The Board is also empowered, under the Civilian Voca- 

 tional Kehabilitation Act of 1920, to make studies and 



99 



investigations "regarding the vocational rehabilitation 

 of disabled persons and their placements in suitable or 

 gainful occupations * * *" (41 Stat. 735). 



Generally speaking, the specific lines of investigation 

 authorized are fairly inclusive of the field in which the 

 agency operates, and are designed to keep research from 

 going otl at a tangent. Thus, the United States Tariff 

 Commission is empowered to 



* * * investigate the administration and fiscal and indu.s- 

 trial effects of the customs laws of this country now in force 

 or which may he hereafter enacted, the relations between the 

 rates of duty on raw materials and finished or partly finished 

 products, the effects of ad valorem and specific duties and of 

 compound specific and ad valorem duties, all questions relative 

 to the arrangement of schedules and classification of articles 

 in the several schedules of the customs law, and in general, to 

 investigate the operation of customs laws, including their rela- 

 tion to the Federal revenues, their effect upon the industries 

 and labor of the country * * * (30 Stat. 79.=j. 706). 



The fields of research open to the Federal Power Com- 

 mission, the National Bituminous Coal Commission, 

 the United States Maritime Commission, the Federal 

 Communications Commission, and other agencies are 

 similarly specified. 



The Bureau of Reclamation, through the Secretary 

 of the Interior, is empowered "to make examinations 

 and surveys for * * * irrigation works for the 

 storage, diversion, and development of waters, includ- 

 ing artesian wells * * *" (U. S. C. 43:411); and 

 the Rural Electrification Administrator may make 

 studies and investigations "concerning the condition 

 and progress of the electrification of rural areas in the 

 several States and Territories * * *"' (49 Stat. 

 1363). The Tennessee Valley Authority is authorized 

 to undertake "experiments for the purpose of enabling 

 the Corporation to furnish nitrogen products for mili- 

 tary purposes, and nitrogen and other fertilizer prod- 

 ucts for agricultural purposes in the most economical 

 maJiner and at the highest standard of efficiency," as 

 well as to make surveys and plans of the Tennessee 

 basin and adjoining territory (48 Stat. 58, 61, 69). 



In the social science field, the Federal Housing Ad- 

 ministrator is responsible for "such statistical surveys 

 and legal and economic studies as he shall deem useful 

 to guide the development of housing and the creation 

 of a sound mortgage market in the United States 



* * *■' (48 Stat. 1246, 1252) ; the Comptroller Gen- 

 eral is to investigate all matters relating to the "receipt, 

 disbursement, and application of public funds" (U. S. 

 C. 31 : 53) ; and the Bureau of the Budget, when directed 

 by the President, shall 



* * • make a detailed study of the departments and estab- 

 lishments for the purpose of enabling the President to determine 

 what changes • * * should be made in (1) the existing 

 organization, activities, and methods of business of such depart- 

 ments or establishments, (2) the appropriations therefor, (3) 



