United States Department of Commerce and Labor

Secretary of Commerce and Labor of the United States of America
Seal of the Department
United States Department of Commerce and Labor
Style	Mr. Secretary
Member of	Cabinet
Reports to	The President
Seat	Washington, D.C.
Appointer	The President with Senate advice and consent
Term length	No fixed term
Formation	February 14, 1903; 118 years ago (1903-02-14)
First holder	George B. Cortelyou
Final holder	Charles Nagel
Abolished	March 4, 1913; 108 years ago (1913-03-04)
Succession	Secretary of Commerce Secretary of Labor

The United States Department of Commerce and Labor was a short-lived Cabinet department of the United States government, which was concerned with controlling the excesses of big business.

It was created on February 14, 1903, during the administration of President Theodore Roosevelt. Investigations were the province of its Bureau of Corporations. The department was renamed the Department of Commerce on March 4, 1913, and its bureaus and agencies specializing in labor were transferred to the new Department of Labor. In 1915, the Bureau of Corporations was spun off as an independent agency, the Federal Trade Commission.

The United States secretary of commerce and labor was the head of the department. The secretary was a member of the President's Cabinet. Corresponding with the division of the department in 1913, the secretary of commerce and labor's position was divided into separate positions of United States Secretary of Commerce and United States Secretary of Labor.

In 2011 and 2013, in response to federal budget-cutting efforts, Senator Richard Burr (R-NC), sponsored S. 1116, a proposal to re-combine two departments as the "Department of Commerce and the Workforce".^[1] To date, no action on this proposal has been taken beyond referral to committee.^[2]

List of secretaries of commerce and labor[]

Parties

  Republican (4)

No.	Portrait	Name	State of residence	Took office	Left office	President(s)
1		George B. Cortelyou	New York	February 18, 1903	June 30, 1904		Theodore Roosevelt
2		Victor H. Metcalf	California	July 1, 1904	December 16, 1906
3		Oscar S. Straus	New York	December 17, 1906	March 5, 1909
4		Charles Nagel	Missouri	March 6, 1909	March 4, 1913		William Howard Taft

See also[]

• United States Bureau of Fisheries, a component of the U.S. Department of Commerce and Labor

Notes and references[]

External links[]

• "Labor and Commerce, Department of" . New International Encyclopedia. 1905.