From the arrangement disappeared the Bureau of Trade Relations. The appropriations act for the year 1912 omitted the appropriation for the chief of that bureau, although it continued the same number of clerks. The two trade advisers, therefore, took over the duty which had formerly been discharged by the chief of the bureau, and it became the "office of Foreign Trade Advisers."

Another change was the creation of the definite rank of assistant chief of each bureau and division, filled, however, by a clerk in the classified service.

In 1913 a further modification was made in this arrangement. The classification of the higher officials

"administrative," "advisory," etc., was abandoned and they were given in the order of their rank, which was changed. Next to the Secretary came, instead of the Assistant Secretary, the Counselor, and next to the Counselor the Solicitor, followed by the three Assistant Secretaries, the Director of the Consular Service and the Chief Clerk, next the foreign trade advisers, then the Divisions of Latin-American Affairs, Far Eastern Affairs, Near Eastern Affairs, and Bureaus in the same order as had previously been maintained. The Division of Western European Affairs was placed under the Third Assistant Secretary.

CHAPTER X

APPOINTMENTS.

THE SEAL. COMMISSIONS.

H

AVING considered the sometime and occasional

duties of the Department, and certain contingent duties which it has never been called upon to perform, we may now advance to a consideration of its habitual functions.

The organic act of the Department prescribed that the Secretary of State should keep "the seal of the United States." It is the mark of the supreme authority of the United States, and before the government went into operation under the Constitution, was in the custody of the Secretary of Congress, being used to verify all important acts, whether executive or legislative; but the debate on executive departments in the first Constitutional Congress indicated that Congress did not contemplate keeping the seal any longer, and thought it would pass to the custody of the Executive. The President did, in fact, take it under his control as soon as he assumed office and before legal provision had been made for its custody.

By the terms of section 7 of the Act of September 15, 1789, the Secretary of State became the keeper of the seal, and the fourth section of the act provided:

....

that the said secretary shall make out and record, and shall affix the said seal to all civil commissions to officers of the United States to be appointed by the President,

by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, or by the President alone: Provided, That the said seal shall not be affixed to any commission, before the same shall have been signed by the President of the United States, nor to any other instrument or act, without the special warrant of the President therefor.

And the third section said:

That the seal heretofore used by the United States in Congress assembled, shall be, and hereby is declared to be, the seal of the United States.

The device adopted for the seal by the Continental Congress was, therefore, continued, and the Secretary of State became the custodian of the arms of the United States.

The first committee to design the arms and seal was appointed by the Continental Congress July 4, 1776, and was composed of Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson.' The design reported by them on August 20 was not accepted, and nothing further was done on the subject until March 25, 1780, when James Lovell of Massachusetts, John Morin Scott of New York, and William Churchill Houston of New Jersey were appointed a committee to take into consideration the report of the first committee. They reported on March 10 "a device of a Great Seal for the United States in Congress assembled," and advised also: "A minature of the face of the Great Seal to be prepared of half the diametre, to be affixed as the less seal of the United States."

1 See the History of the Seal of the United States (Hunt), Washington, Dept. of State, 1909.

The design submitted by this committee shared the fate of the first committee's design, and in 1782 Congress named another committee, composed of Arthur Middleton of South Carolina, Elias Boudinot of New Jersey, and John Rutledge of South Carolina, to report on the subject again. This committee called into consultation William Barton, A.M., of Philadelphia and Lancaster, a scholar and a student of heraldry, who submitted designs for both obverse and reverse. They were turned over to Charles Thomson, the Secretary of Congress, who improved upon Barton's design; and from this improvement Barton designed what is now the arms of the United States. It was adopted July 20, 1782, as follows:

On report of the secretary, to whom were referred the several reports on the device for a great seal, to take order.

The device for an armorial achievement and reverse of the great seal of the United States in Congress assembled, is as follows:

ARMS. Paleways of thirteen pieces, argent and gules; a chief, azure; the escutcheon on the breast of the American eagle displayed proper, holding in his dexter talon an olive branch, and in his sinister a bundle of thirteen arrows, all proper, and in his beak a scroll, inscribed with this motto, "E Pluribus Unum."

For the CREST. Over the head of the eagle, which appears above the escutcheon, a glory, or, breaking through a cloud, proper, and surrounding thirteen stars, forming a constellation, argent, on an azure field.

REVERSE. A pyramid unfinished. In the zenith, an eye in a triangle, surrounded with a glory proper. Over the eye these words, "annuit cœptis."

On the base of the pyramid the numerical letters

MDCCLXXVI.

And underneath the following motto,

"Novus ordo Seclorum."

REMARKS AND EXPLANATION

The escutcheon is composed of the chief & pale, the two most honorable ordinaries. The pieces, paly, represent the several States all joined in one solid compact entire, supporting a chief, which unites the whole and represents Congress. The motto alludes to this Union. The pales in the arms are kept closely united by the chief and the chief depends on that Union and the strength resulting from it for its support, to denote the confederacy of the United States of America and the preservation of their Union through Congress. The colours are those used in the flag of the United States of America; white signifies purity and innocence, red, hardiness or valour, and blue, the colour of the chief signifies vigilance, perseverance and justice. The olive branch and arrows denote the power of peace and war which is exclusively vested in Congress. The constellation denotes a new State taking its place and name among other sovereign powers. The escutcheon is borne on the breast of an American eagle without any other supporters, to denote that the United States of America ought to rely on their own virtue.

Reverse. The pyramid signifies strength and duration; the eye over it and the motto allude to the many signal interpositions of Providence in favour of the American cause. The date underneath is that of the Declaration of Independence and the words under it signify the beginning of the new American æra, which commences from that date.

The reverse was not cut at the time the seal was adopted, and has never been officially used as a part of the seal. In 1882, that year marking a century of use of the seal, a great deal of popular interest was shown in it, and the government was urged by a number of people to cause the reverse to be cut. On