NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD

XI. DIVISION OF ECONOMIC RESEARCH 253
for these purposes, and, in any case, reliability and authoritativeness
ir the field of study.
Nonconfidential Government files and publications of governmental
bodies have been especially useful. Registration and similar
statements, required by law to be filed for public inspection, frequently
contain valuable information on, respondent's operation and
ownership. Among the agencies whose files and publications have
been used for this purpose are the Securities and Exchange Commission,
Federal Trade Commission, and the Patent Office, for a variety
of industries, the Post Office Department for publishers of periodicals.
the Food and Drug Administration for manufacturers and canners of
food products, Bureau of Animal Industry of the Department of
Agriculture for meat packers, Federal Communications Commission
for operators of radio stations and telephone and telegraph companies,
Bureau of Motor Vehicles of the Interstate Commerce Commission
for automotive transportation, Federal Power Commission
for public utilities, Prison Industries Reorganization Administration
for contractors for prison labor products, Bureau of Air
Commerce of the Department of Commerce for aviation manufacturers,
Public Works Administration
'
and Department of Interior for
contractors on Federal projects, and the Departments of War, Navy,
Treasury, and the Interior, for companies selling products to the
Federal Government. For general information on interstate commerce,
industry classification, and labor relations, much assistance
has been given by the various divisions of the Bureau of Labor
Statistics, the United States Employment Service, and other bureaus
of the Department of Labor, by the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic
Commerce and the Bureau of the Census, both of the Department of
Commerce by the Bureau of Mines of the Department of the
Interior, by the National Bituminous Coal Commisison, and by the
National Archives, with its vast store of records of present and past
governmental bodies.
To these sources must be added the published hearings of Federal
and State investigating bodies, the proceedings and publications of
labor unions and employer organizations, and the great store of
recorded learning on the problems of industrial and labor economics.
Finally, there is the constant stream of periodic publications of
general or special scope, including the newspapers, the trade and
labor periodicals, the academic journals, the financial and industrial
manuals and directories, and the countless pamphlets, leaflets,
and items of fugitive material.
Most of these are available in Washington, D. C. Occasionally,
however, staff members have been sent to other places to inspect files
of libraries, local governmental agencies, or, by consent, private
companies for relevant information not obtainable in the Capital.
Studies were also made at the offices of respondents or intervenors
who consented to the examination of their files and records.
Staff members conferred personally with officials, attorneys, and
economists of other agencies on matters falling within the special
experience of those bodies. Among them were the Federal Reserve
Board, the Treasury Department, the United States Maritime Commission,
and the Department of Justice.