Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1900-04-14
CENSUS s; OF | LIVE j J +: STOCK
Arrangements Made for the Collection
Of lStati sites.

Of Statistics. s.
The live stuck intefests Of the
United States are to be given special
attention in the twelfth census. In
previous enumerations the live stock
on farms and ran nges have been enum-
Grated on the farm schedule, but all
other live stock has been disregarded.
This limitation interfered with the
correctness of the census figures and
resultedin Misrepresentation OF an inn
portant element in national wealth.
To remove the difficulty congress has
passed a law, approved Feb. 900,
which allows the director Of the census
to collect information concerning the,
number and kind Of live stock not on
farms.' y 3.Esss a$ sSf i " ssi "a s
For this purposeXa special schedule
has been prepared by the census office,
on which all live stock not on farms or
ranges are to be reported by the barns
or enclosures in which they are kept.
BY cont binlng the results of this sched-
ule with those on the farm schedule,
the Office should obtain a full and ac-'
curate picture of the live stock con-
dltions of the United States, June i,
1900. % $ IL & u ~ .2s # II
This improvement will be Of value,
not merely for itself, but: because the
department Of agriculture each year
makes an enumeration or estimate Of
the number OF live stock in the coun-
try, by correspond with its thou
sands of special agents scattered over
the United States. Now, in January,
there are few young animals, and
prices of live stock are high. For
both reasons the average valuation
per head obtained by the department
of agriculture enumeration tends to
exceed the truth. On the other hand
that department confines its attention
to farms and ranges, emitting live
stock in barns and enclosures. The
latter class are worth rather more on
the average per head than the former.
These two sources of error thus tend
to counterba alance. 2. 53 q
The animals are to be classified by
age, somewhat as. the; people of the
r United States, but OF course with
much less detail. III The special sched-
ule classifies the neat cattle into those
under one year and those over one.
The second class is divided into steers,
bulls and cows; the steers being subs
divided into those3on and under. two,
two and under three, and over three;
the cows being classified into those
one and under two, and those over
two, the latter being subdivided into
those kept for milk and those not kept
for milk. ssg b s $5 E& 4.
Horses and mules are Classified as
those under one, those one and under
two, and those over two. Sheep are
classified into those under one and
over one, with the distinction in the
latter class into ewes and rams and
wethers The other classes Of live
stock, namely, asses and burros,5 age.
The object Of this group Of live
stock is to furnish some basis for esti-
mating the probable increase Of
horses, mules, cattle or sheep in the
near future The widening of the in
quiry to include live stock not on
farms or ranges has the same end in
view, namely, to afford a survey Of the
whole live stock interests of the tcoun-
try, since animals are constantly pass
ing from the farms or ranges to- the
barns or enclosures and back. 81
The Following table derived from
the statistics Of the department Of ag-
riculture shows the way in which the
humber of live stock has been sincreas-
ing within the last two years ::fss
Number OF live stock on farms and
ranges: ~ fSEg