The Work of the Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics in Its Relation To the Business of the Country

• Published date: 01 January 1916
• Author: Royal Meeker
• Date: 01 January 1916
• DOI: 10.1177/000271621606300124
• Subject Matter: Articles

263

THE

WORK

OF

THE

FEDERAL

BUREAU

OF

LABOR

STATISTICS

IN

ITS

RELATION

TO

THE

BUSINESS

OF

THE

COUNTRY

BY

ROYAL

MEEKER,

United

States

Commissioner

of

Labor

Statistics.

The

Federal

Bureau

of

Labor

Statistics

is

generally

thought

of

as

a

governmental

agency

endowed

with

purely

inquisitorial

functions

which

enable

it

to

pry

into

employers’

payrolls

and

do

certain

other

rather

disagreeable

things.

The

statistical

output

of

the

Bureau

is

not

usually

thought

of

as

especially

helpful

to

business.

At

times

employers

have

even

refused

to

cooperate

with

the

Bureau

in

making

investigations,

on

the

ground

that

business

would

be

injured

by

publishing

the

information

sought.

In

almost

every

instance,

however,

such

opposition

on

the

part

of

employers

has

disappeared

when

the

studies

which

had

been

considered

objection-

able

have

appeared

in

print.

In

general

it

can

be

maintained

that

the

publications

issued

by

the

bureau,

now

known

as

the

Bureau

of

Labor

Statistics,

although

intended

primarily

to

inform

the

public

of

labor

conditions,

regard-

less

of

the

effect

upon

business,

have

aided

business

immeasurably

by

showing

that

the

employer

who

deals

justly

with

his

workers

can

produce

better

goods

and

services

at

lower

prices

than

the

employer

who

depends

for

his

profits

upon

low

wages,

long

hours,

and

bad

working

conditions.

While

much

has

been

done

by

the

Bureau

of

Labor

Statistics

in

the

past

to

instruct

both

employers

and

employees

in

the

science

and

art

of

cooperation,

which

confers

benefits

upon

both,

vastly

more

remains

yet

to

be

done

along

that

line.

Since

taking

charge

of

the

Bureau

of

Labor

Statistics

it

has

been

and

will

continue

to

be

my

earnest

endeavor

to

win

the

coopera-

tion

of

employers

in

our

investigations

with

the

view

of

making

our

studies

more

helpful

to

them

and

at

the

same

time

making

these

’

studies

more

useful

to

the

public.

There

are

hundreds

of

methods

and

practices

outside

the

realm

of

trade

secrets,

which

are

in

use

by

the

most

successful

employers,

which

make

for

greater

factory