The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-09-02
WROTE TO MR. WILSON
FREEMAN & co. MAKE PUBLIC
 THEIR LETTER.
sor,e Interesting Correspondence Witn secretary of Agriculture Regard
 tnr the Work of the Bu- reau of Statistics.
Advertiser Bureau. sO1 Fourteenth Street, N. W"
 WaahfnRton. Sept.


 Washington, Sept. l.
 Charles D. Freeman & Co.,. cotton ,onoroIssion merchants of New fork CJtv. are sending out copies Of letters es sone correspondence had with Sec rstarv of Agriculture Wilson with re- snect to the work of the Bureau or StatiHtics. In a letter transmitting the copies to It's patrons and others nresun1ed to be interested, Messrs' Ereeman & Co., say: we take this op- nortunity of suggesting that 1t IS the dutv of the trade actively to aid the denartment in it's efforts to establish hureau of statistics that will com nand the confidence of every one in terested In the cotton industry or the country"
 r-anman & CO, at 21 South William street, New York, dated August Sz' 10 s.Hon. James Wilson, Secretary Depart ment of Agriculture, Washington. D. C.:
 "sir-Ttme was when the cotton re- norts of your department were looked forward to with respect by all inter- ested in the cotton industry Of the world. No matter how greatly they may have differed from individual opinion they were accepted because tbev were believed to have been based ,,nop honest and scientific investiga- tions. but whatever confidence they ip- snired has been destroyed by the dis closures brought to light through the vigilance of the Southern Cotton Crow ers' Asociation, and the public Is now demanding the abolition of these cotton reports ~ - these reports have afforded an oppor- tunItv for oflcial corruption they are no longer of value or could be dis nensed with. The cotton reports can | he made valuable and public conf denca in them might be restored.
 "It Is our understanding that Lere- | tofore the estimates of the Bureau | oS statistics of your department were baaed upon reports derived from six | or seven different sources, namely: County. township and special corre- | Snondents; individual planters and gin- ners and field and State agents. When these different estimates were sub mitted to Statistician Hyde, he used bis own Judgment as to which he pre- Sarred It Is also our understanding that in the future 1t is your intention tn follow the same method in accumu- 1attpg the crop information, except in- stsad of one statistician being the l 1udee of the value of the returns you are to have four.
 1 '"This. MT secretary VIII nAFuly meet ,ba reouirements. It is not a question o1 whether four statisticians are more borest than two statisticians. or whether the judgment of four statisti- clans is superior to that of two; but Srhat the trade wants. If the previous rontbod of research is to be pursued. ,s that your report shall make true and faithful exhibit of all the reports oa which estimates may be based, by Vh oF ha rasuits obtained from the various l sources. ,- .,4 ...,
 may judge for itself ana draw It's con suroed your department has sought scientifically to establish.
 ..The cotton trade of the country. in ,aot os the world, desires the United etstss Government to furnish facts. It Soes not desire the judgment, preju- dices or conjectures of one or four statistieians. Pursuing this course,