The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1880-08-22
Minnesota wheat.

gxAG0ERhffxG THE YIELD OF 1880 BY At
LEAST TEN MILLION BUsHELs--TuE TOTAL
CROP OF THE STATE THIS YEAR NOT MUCH
ABOVE FORTY MILLIONS.
fspecial correspondence OF the Chicago Tribuue.l
Sr. PAUL, MIxy., August 1T.-Until with.
in the last week the claim WAS that the pres.
ent harvest would produce As, 00G. 900 bush
els OF wheat in Minnesota and 10000, 900 in
the Red. River Valley, one side Of which T.
I'm Minnesota and the other in Dakota. The
best way 10 estimate this Is 10 compare II
with estimates OF former years and their re-
suits. In 1877, the FIRST ear after the grass
bopper scourge left the State, the prellmi-
nary estimates Of the newspapers bounded
up like a spring from which a weight has
been removed. The lowest computation Of
the crop which was permitted was 40 000,0
bushels. The newspapers kept the impo-
sing figures standing In their columns. and
The Board Of Emigration printed them upon
an advertising envelope which was sown
broadcast over the country.
TUE OPTICAL RETURNS
Of this statstician's Office next year showed
that the actual yield was little more than
80, 900, 900 bushels. The next year the crop
was q comparative failure. but the acreage
had been greatly increased by the expec'a-
tons excited the year before, aud the pro-
phets again camored for 40,000,000 bushels.
The official returns gave them little over
$4,000, 900. The summer OF 1879 saw the
same undlsmayed liars again proclaiming 10
the world that the crop Of Minnesota was
about to reach 100000 or 1000, 900 bush
els. When the official returns came into
the Office OF the Commissioner OF Statistics
the crop Of 1879 measured little over 81
100000 bushels.
Up TO this year the annual report OF the
Commissioner OF Statistics has been the one
source OF. Trustworthy information about
the wheat crOp-the one straw which the
seeker after truth might grasp TO save him
self from drowning in food OF lies. The
system upon which the report was made
was established twenty years ago. Under
it the town assessors, when making their
rounds each June. collect statistics OF the
amount OF each kind OF grain or other
crops harvested by each farmer the pre-
vious year and his acreage for the present
year. The assessors make returns to the
county auditors, who in turn report to
the Commissioner OF Statistics. He in
cludes in his annual report statistics OF the
product and acreage Of each croD by couu-
tics. These reports have been a delayed but
CtIldiil tlItCh buon tue WIN DOdsliueS vi tit
newspapers for many years. This year the
infection OF falsehoOd has attacked the last
stronghold of solid fact, and attacked the
Office Of Commissioner OF Statistics itself.
That ingenious official outdoes the bodest
bear and the most enterprising newspaper
in his eXaggeratiOn OF the prospective wheat
crop. As has been known for some time,
his county returns make
THE WHEAT ACREAGE
of Minnesota this year a trife less than
5000, 900. The newspapers have been esti-
mating the average yield at fifteen bushels
per acre, though it was only eleven and a
fraction last year and twelve and half the
wear before. This makes the conventional
boast OF 45,000,0O0, which is not quite so
outrageous as It was last year, but is venture
some enough now. 1t does not satisfy the
towering ambition OF the Commissioner OF
Statistics, however, and he achieves the
browning triumph Of Minnesota mid-sum-
mer mendacily by adding 20 per cent. in
gross TO the returns OF acreage he received
from the county auditors, TO cover cOnjectu-
raj errors and omissions OF assessors. This
makes his report of last years crop over
81. 200, 900 bushels, instead OF 3l,2lS,634, a
il originally was, and. as he preserves the
popular estimate OF fifteen bushels per acre
for the present year, il makes his report OF
this years crop SO, 339,S56, instead OF A.
449, 975, which is the amount the auditors
returns iu>lifV.