Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1900-04-13
CENSUS OF 1900.
Vast Work of Organ
izing the Machin-
cry.

To build up great Office like the
Census Office in fifteen months from
absolutely nothing to an efficient ma
chine, employing about three thousand
men in Washington and about fifty
thousand elsewhere in the country, is
difficult task, and entire success Is
out of the question. The Office natu-
rally compares itself with the stage OF
preparation attained at the same peri
cd ten years ago and tried by this test,
it has gained several months on its
predecessor. One of the problems be-
fore it is how Ito put i'll the time thus
secured in such away as most to bene-
fit the Census.
In the Agricultural Division the need
of time for preliminary work is per-
haps as great as anywhere in the Cen
sus Office. Farmers, as "A class, do
not keep their accounts as well as
manufacturers, and the returns from
farmers may occasionally include serl-
Gus errors which a trained eye will at
once detect. Hence the Farm sched-
ules must be examined and such err
rors corrected before the tables can be
made up from them with safety. If a
farmer reports that his land sown to
wheat was ten acres and the yield
four thousand bushels, it is clear that
an average yield of four hundred bush
els to the acre is incredible, and must
be rejected or corrected III accordance
with the probabilities. Sometimes the
truth can be made out by an expert
from comparison with entries in other
parts OF the schedules; sometimes cor
respondence must be opened to settle
the doubt. All this ranks under the
general head of verifying the sched-
nles, and the Agricultural Division
plans to give all the time possible to
the work of verifying each of the mil
lions of farm schedules. 10 accom-
plish 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 a prod
uct of over forty bushels to the acre
they are suspicious and must be laiC
aside for an expert to pass upon. But
anv such rules must vary with the sec.
ton of the country. A yield Of twenty
bushels in one section might be more
questionable than a yield of forty
bushels in another. Hence the divls.
ion must fix in advance what is the
range of the reports in each part OF
the country and for each crop that
may be accepted as probable on theil
face and not requiring special exami
nation.
To get the limits of probability fol
this purpose for each county in the
United States; that is, the maximum
and the minimum yield and the maxi
mum and minimum price which may
be accepted without notification is the
object OF an extensive correspondence
now being carried on by the Agrlcul-
tural Division under the direction Of
Mr.. l.. G.. Powers, Chief Statician il
charge of that division. Three simple
schedules have been prepared anC
printed on different colorcd paper il
order that they may be readily distin
guished one from another. One Of
Them covers ordinary garden vegeta.
bles. a second covers fruits and the
third the great staple field crops
Each asks about the units OF measure
employed and The net price realized
and the two more important schedules