The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1905-07-23
PATHOS OF THE COTTON SCANDAL
Review of the Astounding Utterances of Secretary
Wilson and How Facts COMPOUNDED
Him.
Manufacturer Record.

1 t6rlnlndllO1l Ol the Is
made by the SatiStician, the ultimate
averages of all the more important
! crops being worked out behind closed
doors during the two or three hours
| Immediately preceding the time APP
| pointed for their publication, and dur
| ing the time when the statistician is
engaged on this work no one is per-
mitted to enter or leave his room
| Constant prodding, however, evil
IDENTIFY turned the mind of the Secre-
| tary to serious consideration of the
subject, for, in reply to a complaint
from a committee of the Savannah
Cotton Exchange, as reported TO the
New York Journal of Commerce, that
| information relative to the Depart
ment's figures of September 2, 1904,
on the cotton crop had been known
| in Savannah half an hour before the
report was supposed to be made pub
lie, he telegraphed:
1.-The claim of any persons having
| been in possession of the government )
cotton hgures before lilo today, the
time of the official prmulgation, is alb
SoIutely false and without foundation.
Spurious claims are frequently made,
but usually they are faisitied by the
oncial figures themselves and speedily
| forgotten.
Surely it is not reasonable to as
/
proof of a leak. The Secretary OF Ag-
riculture is always ready to investigate
| any charge of this kind if 1t IS ac
coInpanleu by substantial evidence or
/ testimony; but the means adopted to
| safeguard the figures during the short
time that elapses between being ar
rived at and their PRONUNCIATION render
d leak impossIbel, and a mere colnci-
dence of figures, as in this case
/ o To n IN in, tea
/ Secretary Wilson must have had that
episode in mind when he framed his
annual report for 1904, for, referring
to the crop reports, he said:
Criticism is not lacking. On the
contrary, 1t is one of the curious fea-
| lures OF this work that the more close
/ ly reports represent the actual facts
and the wider the appreciation OF
| their accuracy the more subject they
| become to criticism. This is undouDt-
eddy due to the fact that as their gen.
eral accuracy is more and more wide
/ ~ recognized the necessarily exercise
a greater influence upon the mar
kets, thus inevitably favoring or an
| tagonizing, as the case may be, some
of those who are engaged in the game
/ of speculation in agricultural pro-
| ducts.
This Immediately attracts the adj
verse comments of the losers. This
result is unavoidable, and is apparent
] ly the inevitable penalty the Depart
ment must pay for issuing reports so
reliable and so generally appreciated
as to have instant effect on the mr.
| kets Were the reverse true, ana
we're these reports regarded as unre-
| liable, they would not influence prices,
/ and criticisms would be reduced to a
minimum"
This unsophisticated rebuke to the
| "gamblers" was probably directly
! connected with the somewhat strenu-
| Gus remarks of Statistician John Hyde
in his report for that year. Referring
to the crop reports he said:
"While the general commercial SEN
| timent of the country, as reflected IN
thelcommercial journals and in the at
/ tude of the exchanges, is usually just.
| honest and impartial in its dealings
| with the bureaus crop reports, there
s a fiuctuating sentiment that is ia
| gorable, or unfavorable, according 10
the effect of the reports upon lndlvld-
| dal interests, and 1t is rarely tnat
there is not some call for their dis
| continuance from the element that is,
| for the time being, suffering from
| heir effect upon prices. AT times the
/ hostility arounSed becomes exceeding
1 Y hitter. and the most INSCRIPTIONS
| Methods are reSorted to for the puf-
| )ose of discrediting the bureaus re-
| ,orts. Their purport is misrepre-
;ented, their meaning is distorted, ana
ven the integrity of those responsible
or them is assailed. The records OF
he past three years make 1T clear that
he more closely the bureaus cotton
estimates approximate the actuai
lcts. as subsequently determined TO
he satisfaction of the entire cotton
| yorld, the more violent and persistent
| ire the attacks made upon them al
| he time of their first PRONUNCIATION
l nd these records also show that
1 ,either the adoption of measures
1 ,hich render the premature puDllca-
| on of the figures, even approximate
| v, absolutely impossible, nor evan
| he successful prosecution in United
l tates court of persons who nave car
4 led their criticisms to point Wnere
/ hey have become libelous, Will pre-
/ ent or even greatly moderate the
Il lncorous attacks of disappointed
peculators and traders"
Recent developments have naturally
weakened the confidence of the pup
lie in the reliability of the crop re-
ports, but criticisms of conditions re-