The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1900-04-17

up from them with safety. II a farmer re-
ports that his land sown to wheat Vas
ten acres and the yield 400 bushels, II is
clear that an average yield of 400 bushels
TO the acre is increditable. and must be
rejected or corrected in accordance with
the probabilities Sometimes the truth can
be made cut by an expert from comparison
with entries in other parts Of the sched-
ules; sometimes correspondence must he
open TO settle the doubt. All this risk
under the general head Of verifying the
schedules. and the agricultural division
plans to give all the time possible to the
work of verifying each Of the millions
of farm schedules. To accomplish this in
the time allowed. the work of several
hundred clerks will be required and thej-
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. But any such rules
must vary with the section of the country
yield of twenty bushels in one sector
might be more questionable than a yielt
of forty bushels in another Hence thu
division must fix in advance what is th
range OF reports in each part of the cour
try and for each crop that may be accent
ed as probable on their face and not RI
quiring special examination. To get re
limits OF probability for this purpose fir
each county in the United States, that 3,
the maximum and minimum yield and IT,
maximum and minimum price which may
be accepted without verihcation, is the ob-
ject of an extensive correspondence n'w
being carried on by the Agricultural Divi-
sion under the direction of Mr.. l.. g. Pow
ers, chief statistician in charge of that d.
vision. Three simple schedules have been
prepared and printed on different col0red
distinguished one from another. One OF
them covers ordinary garden vegetables,
a second covers fruits, and the third ihe
great staple field crops. Each asks about
the units of measure employed and the net
price realized, and those for staple fed
products and for vegetables ask for he
highest and lowest yield of each crop per
acre. These schedules are being mailed to
prominent farmers all over the country
and in many instances returns have al
ready been received When the returns
have been received and tabulated, scheme
will be made from them of what is to be
accepted 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 CORE
spondence from the supervisor, or the
enumerator or the farmer himself what
the real facts were.
II the farming public will continue TO CO.
operate with the heartiness already dis
played. this effort will result in a more
trustworthy census of farms than has
ever bean taken. Farmers. as a class. are
lers able to cooperate than the repressn-
tatives of any other great industry. Hence
the census office can do more for them
than 1t can for centralized lines OF busi-
ness. waich can and do make their own
Investigations, and It will do its best to
present a full and accurate photograph of
this leading occupation. The director OF
the census urges every one interested TO aid
the work.-Washington Post.