United States Department of Commerce and Labor

Seal of the U.S. Department of Commerce and 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 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. The Bureau of Corporations was spun off as an independent agency in 1915, 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's position was divided into separate positions of Commerce and Labor.

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

List of Secretaries of Commerce and Labor

Parties

      Republican

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 Secretary of Commerce and United States Secretary of Labor