The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1889-04-11
AGRICUTURALAN AND MANUFACTURING
nNnEREGHS

AGRICUTURALAN AND MANUFACTURERS
INTERESTS.
The WdtchmdR last week has an ed
toral article which is both timely an
Important. 1t says;
The Commissioner has issued a SUP
Elementary circular to the listers request
ing, among other things, that the figure
of the butter and cheese product be col
lected and gwen in the reports. Il
suggests further that the creamery re
turns should be entered in the manufac
turers' schedule, so that a statement o
the dairying interest as comprehensive
as possible may be made. We trust tina
all concerned, people and officials, will
heartily cooperate with the commission
er in the performance of the new anC
very difficult task imposed upon him
and information is demanded by Law
The is absolutely necessary for the sue
cessful accomplishment of the very i'm
portant purpose the legislature had in
view, 1t should be as full, complete and
accurate as is required by the general
government in taking the census. The
Information required is in the nature OF
an annual Invt cory, and 1t is impor
tant thatIthe.Inyentory should be approx
imately exact-as important as in the
case of merchant or manufacturer who
aims to get ut the bottom facts about
his affairs, that he may intelligently di
rect his future operations The appoint
ment of this commissioner and the
gathering of these statistics marks now
and sensible departure IN the policy OF
the state. 1t is the first step towards
doing something, in systematic way,
not only to develop the resources OF the
state, but TO reoccupy waste and sban-
dOned places, to bring all her resources
into market, to direct production on the
farm, into the mandatory. in the mines
and ouarries into channels that shall en-
able the people of the state not merely
10 hold their own against the sharp CON-
petition of the West and OF neighborlnV
communities, but 10 keep pace with
those communities in the growth in
population, wealth aud all that makes a
state prosperous and progressive. This
information can not be procured from
the United States census. An inventory
of productions once in ten years NAV
suffice to mark the progress of the ma
ton, but it is wholly uusuited to local
business purposes. A yearly taking OF
the figures of the dairy product, OF such
farm products as hay, maple sugar, the
grain, etc., and the average adduced
therefrom, is the only practicable way
OF procuring trustworthy information.
Ia two seasons ten years apart the hay
crop or growth of grass, or the maple
sugar product, may be controlled by
conditions varying 30 widely that for
purposes OF comparison they are utterly |
valueless; but procured yearly, or even |
biennially, and an average taken, they |
afford some certain index OF the growth
or decline of various interests. There is
a certain kind OF stimulus in figures OF
production taken at intervals sufficient
ly frequent to invite comparisons that
show positive growth, and II they show
a decline the causes may he sought In
season and the remedy applied SO the
census figures can never be made to
serve the purpose for which the stats
tics the commissioner is now asking Is
designed to answer, and we urge upon
the listers and the people the Importance
of taking al least as great ere in obtain
ing full and accurate information as II
exercised in taking the census
in response to correspondent who ap'
pears TO fault the blanks the watch man
continues The commissioner has cor
rected the omission Of bu Ter aud cheese
from the list of farm products. There
is room in the blank to the right OF the
space occupied by kinds and bushels OF
gram 10 include the production of pota-
toes, The record of the production for
the past year il the main thing. Put H.
the figures with substantial fullhess and
accuracy and the essential objects OF the
inquiry will be satisfied. Guesses a. thu
the answers given bear to tn,
production of the years since 1880 will
be Of little practical ysLSe. The yearly
record for a series of/fears will tell the
story. The figuresM no single year are
conclusive Our correspt ndent il'u
trates the point we make elsewhfr4 s'e
abovel against the value of census fig
ures for purposes of compar sbn or &C
curacy of information. The census year
may be an exceptionally favorable or
urfavorable one. The last ear, as our
correspondent says, was IN Vermont
much below the average in farm pro-
ducts. Its showing is not conclusive
but taken every successive year for 4
serivs of years, the figures would from |
an adequate and trustworthy basis for
comparison or calculated. As we I'M
deTstand il, the creation Of this commits t
sion, experimental at first, contem-
plateR permanent pro, i,ion for gather
ing annually statistics of the farm pro-
ducts and the general industrial inter es's
OF the state, The first effort are necessa
rily crude. Time will systematic and t
the work. II the blanks allow
ed for answers and remarks are not I
spacious enough for all that any farmer
or manufacturer Is moved 10 say, let i
him use a separate sheet and attach it to
his schedule. In 1880 a great ourcry
was made against the tax inventories. \
Few men, it was declared, would be abe =
to c mprehend or fill them out, but the {
liJns in The way disappeared when they I
were resolutely faced, and it will be go /
in respect to the commissioner blanks. 4
The listers, in this as in the other mat Z
ters, can very materially advance the a
best interests of the state by little as I
sistance here and word of explanation G
there" is