Office of Consumer Affairs

Office of Consumer Affairs agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce, established 1971. The office advises and represents the president on matters of consumer interest, and analyzes and coordinates activities of the federal government in the area of consumer protection. It conducts investigations and surveys on matters of consumer interest, takes action on individual consumer complaints, publishes the Consumer's Resource Handbook, and presses for legislation to protect the consumer.

Zabern Affair (1913) A German political crisis, it developed in response to the partly unlawful actions of the German military taken to quell popular unrest in the Alsatian garrison town of Saverne (Zabern). The unrest itself had been caused by an army officer openly insulting the local population. The crisis was fuelled by the support given by senior army figures and the German Chancellor Bethmann Hollweg to the behaviour of the military in Saverne. On 4 December the German Parliament accepted a vote of no confidence in the Chancellor by a huge majority, an unprecedented move which remained without effect as, in the German Empire, the Chancellor was appointed by the Emperor and needed his support only. As with the Daily Telegraph Affair, the Parliament was ultimately half-hearted in its attempts to increase its power against the executive.

Alsace-Lorraine