The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1894-10-21

ito tell the state department and
through the department the American
manufacturer and exporter that the
local prejudice against American goods
is partly responsible, and that in part
the responsibility lies with the Chi
other oils or who have not been suffi-
GENTLY 'fnsulted." The American peo-
pie are disturbed by local labor
troubles. American ministers and con-
SulS sent to the state department for
publication information about the way
foreign nations legislate to settle ques-
tons arising between employer and en-
ployed. The American public is
wrought UP over the trolley question?
Along comes the consul-general at
Frankfort with the information that
German inventor has possibly solved
the question of an Independent motor
for street cars, and that model is
building in England to be sent to this
country in October next. There is not
a topic which could possibly interest
the people of the United States relat-
ing to any mercantile, manufacturing
or social question with which the
American consul is not prepared to
grapple. He jumps from "Coal-Mining
in Saxony' to "Onion Cultivation in
Egypt" and from a description of the
Brussels public pawn office to an essay
on the sausage-casing industry of
Russia. Of course, in handling these
reports there is a judiciouS exercise OF
the editors pencil Not all of the con-
sular representatives of the United
States are trained writers, and not all
of them are so we'll versed in diplomacy
that they can be trusted to express an
opinion without making themselves
offensive to the people among whom
they are sojourning.
The newspaper reader will remem-
Der the unpleasant case of Nicholas
Smith, who provoked the people of
Canadian town to stone his dwelling
by making criticisms in his reports of
the sanitary condition of the place
Mr.. Smith is now serving his country
in another field. The Smith report
was published in the bulletins of the
Maritime hospital service. and that
statement opens up a view of another
branch of Uncle Sans news industry.
REPORTS ON THE PUBLIC
HEALTH IN FOREIGN LANDS.
The consuIs of the United States are
required to send in at regular intervals
reports of the condition of public health
in the towns or cities where they are
stationed. These reports and the re-
ports sent by certain medical CORES
pondentS who represent the hospital
service abroad are published by the sur
geon-general in a weekly bulletin. This
bulletin is one Of the most valuable
news publications of the government.
Not all of the information published in
it comes by mail. Where the United
States is threatened with cholera or
any other contagious disease the sur
geon receives reports by wire, usually
through the state department and its
representatives.
THE AGRICULTURAL DEPART
MENTS NEWS SERVICE.
Next to the news service of the state
department the agricultural depart
ment has the most elaborate and COM
plete system of news gathering and dis
tribution. For the crop report alone the
services of nearly 5000 correspondents
are called into requisition directly or in
directly. There are about $500 cores
pondents who report to the department
direct.
There is almost an equal number re-
porting to the state agents of the de-
partment, who make up state estimates
and forward them to the statistician for
comparison. These correspondents are
just as surely newS-gatherers as are
the correspondents of city papers in the
rural districts. They receive no COM
pensation Their only reward is copy
of each of the department bulletins. AS
a rule these correspondents are farm
ers. Some of them, though are country
doctors. All Of the reports of these cor
respondents are edited by the statis-
tician before they are made public
They are compared for possible error
or false statement, and the crop esti-
mate made public every month is the
expression of the individual Judgment
of the statistician, based on all of the
reports received from 5000 sources. The
work of these correspondents is so VAL
liable that two ex-employees of the ag-
ricultural department some time ago es-
tablished a bureau in Chicago for the
collection and dissemination of the
same information which the department
distributes, and this department has
succeeded in forecasting the govern
ment crop report very accurately. An
other important s-gathering and
Notwithstanding branch of the agri-
cultural department is the weather bu-
reau. At $50 stations in different parts