The citizen., 1900-03-30
AGRICULTURAL STATIS-
TICS.
Farmers are Requested, For
Their Own Interest, to Aid
in the Work Of Compil-
ing the Census for
1900.

the census OlHCe In htteen
months from absolutely nothing
to an efficient machine, employ
ing about three thousand men in
Washington and about fifty
thousand elsewhere in the coun.
try, is difficult task, and entire
success is out of the question.
This Office naturally compares it.
self with the stage of preparation
attained at the same period ten
years ago and tried by this test,
it has gained several months on
its predecessor. One of the prob
lens before it Is how to put in
the time thus secured in such a
way as most to benefit the census.
In the Agricultural Division
the need of time for preliminary
work is perhaps as great as any
where i'll the Census Office.
Farmers, as class, do not keep
their accounts as well as the
manufacturers, and the returns
from farmers may occasionally
include serious errors which Il
trained eye will at once detect.
Hence the farm schedules must
be examined and such errors cor
rected before the tables can be
made up from them with safety
If farmer reports that his land
sOwn to wheat was ten acres and
the yield four thousand bushels,
it Is clear that an average of iour
hundred bushels to the acre is in
credible, and must he rejected or
corrected in accordance with the
probabilities. Sometimes the
truth can be made out by an eX.
pert from comparison with entries
III 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 all the time posi-
ble to the work of verifying each
of the millions of farm sched.
uleS. To accomplish this in the
time allowed, the work of sew.
eral hundred clerks will be re-
quired, 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
a yield of forty bushels in an
other. Hence the division must
fl 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 spec.
ial examination. TO get the linn
its of probability for this pur-
pose of each county in the United
States, that is, the maximum and
minimum yield and the maximum
and minimum price which may be
accepted without verification, is
the object of an extensive CORE
spOndence now being carried on
by the Agricultural Division
under the direction of Mr.. l.. &.
Powers, Chief Statistician in
charge of that division. Three
simple schedules have been pre-
pared and printed on different
colored paper in order that they |
may be readily distinguished one
from another. One of them !
covers ordinary garden yegeta
bles, a second covers fruits, and |
the third the great staple field |
crops. Each asks about the units
of measure employed and the net |
prices realized, and the two more
important schedules, those for
staple field products and for veg
etables, ask for the highest and
lowest yield of each crop per
acre. These schedules are being
mailed to prominent farmers all I
over the country and in many in
stances returns have already
been received. When the re-
turns have been received and |
tabulated, scheme will be made
from them of what is to be ac-
cepted as correct in each case
and what is to be probed farther.
The only aim Of the Office is to
get what was really the intention
OF the farmer in answering the
questions. If the presumption is
strongly against his meaning
what the schedule says, the Office
will try to learn by correspon-
dence from the Supervisor, or
the Enumerator, or the farmer
himself, what the real facts were.
If the farming public will con
time to cooperate with the hear
tineSs already displayed, this eff
tort will result in a more trust
worthy census of farms than has
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