_The Bureau of Corporations_, created in 1903, was intended mainly to furnish an agency for the investigation of corporations suspected of violating the anti-"trust" laws of the United States. It was authorized to investigate the organization and methods of any corporation or joint-stock company engaged in foreign or interstate commerce (except common carriers subject to the interstate commerce act) and to report to the President such information as might be of value in enabling him to enforce the anti-"trust" laws. It was abolished in 1914 and its duties were devolved upon the newly created Federal Trade Commission, which has already been described (see p. 245). =The Department of Labor= was created in 1913, and is charged with fostering, promoting, and developing the welfare of the wage earners of the United States, especially the improvement of the conditions under which they work and the advancement of their opportunities for profitable employment. _The Bureaus of Immigration and Naturalization_, formerly consolidated in the department of commerce and labor, were divided in 1913 and transferred to the new department of labor. They are charged respectively with the administration of the immigration laws and the administration of the naturalization laws of the United States.[95] [95] See also pp. 238-239. The increase in the number of immigrants by decades is shown by the following table: -------------------------+-------------------------+----------------- DECADE | POPULATION AT BEGINNING | TOTAL NUMBER OF | OF DECADE | IMMIGRANTS | | -------------------------+-------------------------+----------------- 1821-1830................| 9,633,822 | 143,439 1831-1840................| 12,866,020 | 599,125 1841-1850................| 17,069,453 | 1,713,251 1851-1860................| 23,191,876 | 2,598,224 1861-1870................| 31,443,321 | 2,314,824 1871-1880................| 38,558,371 | 2,812,191 1881-1890................| 50,155,783 | 5,246,613 1891-1900................| 62,622,250 | 3,687,564 1901-1910................| 75,994,575 | 8,793,386 -------------------------+-------------------------+----------------- In 1916 naturalization certificates were issued to 93,911 persons and declarations of intention to become citizens were made by 207,935. _The Bureau of Labor Statistics_, formerly known as the bureau of labor, was transferred from the former department of commerce and labor in 1913. It is charged with collecting and diffusing among the people of the United States useful information on subjects connected with labor in the most general and comprehensive sense of that word, and especially upon its relations to capital, the hours of labor, the earnings of laboring men and women, and the means of promoting their material, social, intellectual, and moral prosperity.