The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1891-06-29

l
other force of clerks verifes these averages.
As soon az this work is completed it is taken
from the hands of the clerks and delivered
into the hands of the statisticiau. where all
of the cards are placed unde. lock and key.
On the morning of the Sth the statistician
takes hold of these reports and goes over
them The reports of the unimportant
crops are sent into another Office, where
the average is worked out. No interests
could be affected by the publication
of this information, and 80 the same care Is
not exercised In guarding it. The reports
of the wheat. cotton and oat crops remain
in the hands of the statistician and his
assistant, Mr. Snow. The reports OF the
state agents are also in Mr.. Dodgehs hands
for comparison with the averages made up
from the reports of the county agents The
accuracy of these reports is frequently
attested by the exact agreement OF the
figures of the state agent with the
figures made up in the department from the
reports of the county correspondents.
| Where there is difference the statistician
tries to reconcile it. Sometimes, however,
there will be a material difference. The
correspondents sometimes become over
exuberant and send in absurd estimates;
sometimes they go to the other extreme,
and allow personal dependency TO affect
their Judgment. Wherever a very
striking difference appears, the statistiscian
looks over the details of his reports, and,
making comparison. changes the average
according to his own judgment. Sometimes
the telegraph is brought into requisition to
correct some error or make up some de-
fciency. About 10 per cent. of the reports
reach the office too late for use
On the morning of the 10th the final flg-
ures are made up. The cotton report Is
| given out at noon on tho 10th: the grain
report at O'Clock in the afternoon of that
day. Usually Mr.. Dodge knows the aver
age condition of the cotton crop more than
an hour before the time when the report is
written. In making up the last report he
was not able to I'LL in the final figures until
most of the report bad been written.
There are about 800 words in
the report as given out at
noon. AS Mr.. Dodge writes 1t the expert
calculator puts IL on the cyclostyle, and
within five minutes after the last word is
written printed copies are being run off
from this reproducing machine. These are
| placed in envelopes sealed and addressed
This work is completed few minutes be-
fore noon. Mr.. Snow takes the envelopes
and goes over to the Office Of the secretary.
| In this adjoining room the telegraph
operator is sitting at his instrument. He is
| in direct communication with the Washing
ington offices of the press associations and
with the cotton and produce exchanges
| A number of messengers are waiting in the
i
newspaper Offices and the offices of brokers.
Any one can obtain copy of the bulletin
| if he will make application for it and send a
messenger to the department.. A copy of
the report is taken to the secretary of agri-
culture. He reads it and authorizes
the statistician to issue it. At almost
| exactly noon Mr.. Shaw steps from
the secretary's Office to the adjoin-
| ing room and hands the sealed envelopes
containing the bulletin to the messengers in
waiting. The telegraph operator receives
| copy, tears it open, and one minute after
the secretary has put his seal OF approval
upon the report the telegraph instrument is
ticking 1t off In the Offices of the cotton and
produce exchanges all over the country, and
it is being copied in several hundred news
paper offices for use in early editions OF
| afternoon papers.
This system Of distribution renders it i'm
possible for any one to have the advantage
| Of any one else in the distribution of this
news, after it has been given out officially
| from the department. A few years ago
| there was no telegraph instrument in the
department, and there was always a scram-
BILE among the messengers and others inter
ested TO see who would first deliver
the report at the telegraph office.
| AT that time the most important in
formation in the report was in the
summing up. A great many brok-
l
who sent messengers to the department
| mounted on horses or bicycles and
there was always race for the telegraph
office. A broker with private wire antici-
pated the press associations by clipping the
summary at the end and sending that first
1t took some minutes for the oper-
ators of the press associations to
get through the Introductory part of
the report and down to the important
summary. These few minutes were of
value to the broker or speculator. as they
/ gave him an opportunity to make at least a
| few deals in anticipation of the official re-
port. Nowadays the summary is put in the
first sentence of the report, and the intro
| duction is no longer an introduction.
| About ten years ago a syndicate of brokers
puzzled the department and the country
| by anticipating the report some ten
minutes. The messenger who came from
the Office of the agent of this syndicate
was watched and followed, but he
seemed to have no advantage over
any one else, as he had 70 go just as far
up town with the report before delivering
months telegraph operator betrayed the
syndicate's secret. There was a wire
stretched from their Office in Wash
ington to the office of lumber COM
pany not far from the Agricultural de-
partment. The agent of the syndicate sent
two messengers 20 the department. on the
morning of the 10th. The one made great
show of hurrying to the agents
office with the report while
the other one quietly slipped into the
office of the lumber company. where the
operator was waiting to send the report out
through the country. While a dozen mes
sengers were racing across town to reach
the telegraph Office the bulletin was going
out over the private wire of the syndicate
fully five minutes in advance of its delivery
at the main telegraph Office.
BANKER CLEwS' VIEWS.