El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1900-03-30
FARMERS AND
THE CENSUS
The Great Work Of the Agri-
cultural Division
HOW IT is GOVERNED
In Verifying Statistics Gathered


Special Correspondence OF the HERALD.
WASHINGTON, D. c., March 26-To
build up great Office like the CEN
sus Office in fifteen months from abso-
lutely nothing to an efficient machine,
em ploying about three thousand men
in Washington and sbout fifty thou
sand elsewhere in the country, Is q
difficult task, and entire success ia out
of the question. The Office naturally
compares itself with the stage OF pre-
paration attained at the same period
ten years ago, and tried by this test it
has gained several months on its pre-
decessor. One Of the problems before
it ia how to put in the time thus secu.
red In such way as most to benefit
the census.
In the agricultural division the need
OF time for preliminary work Is per-
haps as great as anywhere in the
census office. Farmers. as class. do
not keep their accounts as we'll ss man
ufacturers, aud the returns from far
mers may occasionally include serious
errors which a trained eye will at once
detect. Hence the farm schedules
must be examined and such errors
corrected before the tables can be
made up from them with safely. Ii
farmer reports that his land sown to
wheat was ten acres and the yield four
average yield of four hundred bushels
to the acre is incredible, and must be
rejected or corrected in accordance
with the proba bilities. Sometimes the
truth can oe made out by an expert
from comparison with entries Ia other
parts Of the schedules; sometimes
correspondence must be opened to
settle the doubt. All this ranks under
the general head of verifying the
schedules, and the agricultural division
plans to give ali the time possible TO
the work Of verifying each of the mill
lions of farm schedules. To 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
product OF over forty bushels to the
acre, they are suspicious and must be
laid aside for an expert to pass upon.
But any such rules must vary with the
section of the country. A yield of
twenty bushels in one section might
be more questionable than yield OF
forty bushels in another. Hence the
division must fix in advance what is
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 examination. |
To get the limits OF probability for this |
purpose for eaob county in the United |
States, that is, the maximum
and minimum yield and |
the maximum and minin um
price which may be accepted |
without veri6cation. is the object of
an extensive correspondence now being |
carried on by the agricultural division
chief and the ststisticiau in charge of
that division.
IL I
and printed on different
colored paper In order that they may
be readily distinguished one from an
other. One OF them covers ordinary
garden vegetables, a second covers
fruits, and the third the great staple
field crops. Each ssks about the units
of measure employed and the net price
realized, and the two more important
schedules, those for staple field pro-
highest and lowest yield of each crop
per acre. These schedules are being
mailed 10 prominent farmers all over
,he country and in many instances
returns have already been received.
When the returns have been receiv-
I'd and taoulated, scheme viii be
N ade from them of what Is to be
v hat Is to be proved farther. The
'nly aim of the office is to get what
vas really the intention OF the farmer
n answering the questions. If the
resumption Is strongly against HE
meaning what the schedule says, the
'fiice will try TO learn by correspond
'nce from the supervisor or the
merator, or the farmer him self
that the real facts were
If the farming bile will continue to
cooperate with the heartiness already
isplayed, this effort will result in q
1ore trustworthy census OF farms than
as ever been taken. Farmers, a. q
lass, are less able to cooperate than
be esentatives of any other great
Hence the census Office can
o more for them than it can for
lines of business, which
an and do make their own ipvestiea-
ions, and it will do its best to pres
Mt full and accurate photo
raph of this leading occupation. The ,
irector OF the census urges every one
,terested to aid the work.