The Opelousas courier., 1900-03-31
The Census of 1900.

10 Uttffu up u SIGab VIiCC lIho LIZ
Census Office in fifteen months from alb ,
solutely nothing to an efficient machine,
employing about three thousand men in
Washington and aboutGtifty Thousand
elsewher in the country, is n difficult
task, and entire success is out OF tho
question. The Office naturally compares
itself with the stage of preparation at
tanned at the same period ten years ago
and tried by this test, it has gained sew
| eral months on it's predecessor. One OF
| the problems before it is how to put in
| the time thus secured in such IA way IA
most to benefit the Census.
In the Agricultural Division the need
of time for preliminary work is per
maps as great as anywhere in the Census
Office. Farmers, as a~.ciass, do not Keep
their accounts as well AZ manufacturers,
aud the returns from farmers may oc-
casionally include serious errors which
a trained eye will at once detect.
amined and such errOrs corrected be-
fore the tables can be made up from
them with safety. II il farmer reports
| that his land soWn to wheat was ten
acres and the yield four thousand
bushels, it is clear that an average
| Weld Of four hundred bushels to the
| acre is incredible, aud must be rejected
or corrected in accordance with the
probabilities. Sometimes the truth
can be made out 10y an expert from
1'comparison with entries in other parts
of the schedules sometimes correspond
ence must be opened 10 settle the doubt.
| All this ranks under the general head
Of verifying the schedules, and the
Agricultural Division plans to give all
the time possible to the work OF verify
ing each of the millions of farm sclled-
ules. To accomplish this in the time
allowed, the work of several hundred
clerks will be required, and they must
have hard and fast rules to guide them.
For example, they might be told When
the wheat reports show q product of
over forty bushels to the acre, they are
suspicious and must be laid aside for
an expert to pass upon. Bnt any such
rules must vary with the section Of the
country. A yield OF twenty bushels in
one section might be more questionable
than a yield of forty bushels III another.
Hence the division must fix in advance
what ia the range of reports in each
part Of the country and for each crop
that may be accepted as probable on
their face and not requiring special ex-
animation. T0get the limits OF proba-
bility for this purpose for each county
in the United States, that is, the maxi
mum and minimum yieldsand the maxi
mum and minimum price which may be
accepted without veritication, is the ob,
iect of extensive correspondence now
being carried on by the Agricultural
G.. Powers, Chief statistician in charge
of that division. Three simple
schedules have been prepared aud
printed on different coiored paper in or
der that they may be readily distin-
guished from one another. One of them
covers ordinary garden vegetables, Il
second overs fruits, and the third the
great staple field crops. Each asks
abont the units of measure employed
and the net price realized, and the two
more important schedules, those fof
staple field products and vegetables,
ask for the highest and lowest yield OF
each crop per acre. These schedules
are being mailed to prominent farmers
all over the country aud in many in
stances returns have already been re-
ceived and tabulated, u scheme will bt
made from them of what Is TO be ac-
is to ba prObed farther. The only aim
of the office is to get what was really
the intention of the farmer in nsWer
ing the questions, Ii the presumption is
strongly against his meaning what the
schedule says, the Office will try to learn
by correspondence from the Supervisor
or the Enumeration, ar the farmer him
self what the real facts were.
If the farming public will continue ia
Cooperate with the Eleartiness already
displayed, this ttfott will result in a
more trustworthy census vt farms than
has ever been taken. Farmers. as IL
class, are less able 10 cooperate than
the representatives nf any either great
industry. Hence the Census Office can
do more for them chan it can for cen
traliZtd lines of business, which eau
and do make their own Investigations!
and it viii do its s'+si to present n tut
and accurate photograph of this lead
ing occupation. The Director of the
Censua urges eyer one interested 10 aid
in tho wnlk