Omaha daily bee., 1908-10-05
Deputy Commissioner Ryder Makes
Comprehensive Showing.
VALUE OF THE SURPLUS PRoDUCT'
Money Comes in Steady Stream to Pay
for the Output.
MINOR CROPS MAKE BIG SHOWING
Immense vaIueY Discovered In Sources
that Have Been Neglected as
Part of the Statistical
showing Heretofore.

EuIetin NO 10 issued Dy JOHh D. rSNS'
labor commissioner contains many new
+, ,.tures Of interest to tine people. The
,,,lIctin contains statistics on the number
OF milk cows, tho number of hand separ-
ators. the relative number OF owners and
tenants Of farms, and the farm census. As
this is the first time deputy assessors have
been urged 10 get these statistics, Mr.
Ryder believes they are not absolutely ac-
cttratr, but for the first attempt he Is well
pleased. owing 10 the small appropriation
made for the maintenance of the statistical
bureau. only a limited number Of bulletins
were published. Following are few fig
ures taken from the publication showing
the valuation of surplus products shipped
ont in 1907: Corn. $50, 2102S7.5O; alfalfa $lOS,-
1os: other hay $1CS5. 1885, alfalfa seed $685.
GsG cattle. s4s.i52, 1880; hogs H26s2.5SS75
horses ana mules, S6,142,14O; sheep. &l26,l7o
butter. "a 552s47.ss; eggs, A,1o6095.0 20; live
poultry. si,s620ie.iO.
M- Ryder has made the following state
ent in an analysis OF the bulletin figures
"hdpaucs copies Of the bulletin, like its
pred re%sar No. T. have met with some
ccmmerdltnn from those interested In
such triaRs. spsa&ing frankly. however
Il Is not what can be called a finished
spccimtn Of work as / view statistics
That Is largely owing to the fact that this
bureau is carry ing too many handicaps. our
shop is not properly equipped, In any sense,
to do the work laid out for it. and more's
the pity for the best interests of the state
Bulletin No. 70, carrying our crop fig
ures for 1907 was exhausted long ago; and
II we had $1,000, instead of 5000 we could
have sold probably every copy, to people
interested in getting fair show for Ne
brsska throughout the country. Letters on
file here will entirely substantiate this
seemingly strong statement, viz: Private
citizens would spend their own money to
buy a state publication, wrap IL and pay
postage; but we could not take advantage
Of their public spirit. Queer state Of af-
fairs, isn't It? have no doubt this last
bulletin. No ls, will be exhausted without
delay. aud Il is to be deeply regretted that
It Is not al we would like It to be,
About nairy cows.
"rake the item Of dairy cows. our fig
urcs are from the deputy assessors OF the
state, who are not mnch interested, as a
rule In the work the state law says they
shall DO for this bureau, even though the
supreme court has held they must be paid
for this branch Of their work the same as
for general assessing The result of this
lack Of interest shows all through the as
SCISSORS returns. The number OF dairy COWS
In Nebraska is given as 5S4,64e, whereas the
government report Of February last cred
tied us with $4,000 mich cows. am con-
WINGED that figure is much nearer correct
than the figure In the bulletin. Taking the
production Of butter 200 pounds per COW
per year, on the government figures we
would get 177soo,0OO pounds of butter, AL
lowing Is cents q pound--a very low aver
age for Nebraska marketable butter--we
get value Of sa2004,Oo0; and II we take
20 cents, a much fairer figure. our contribu-
tion to butter product value will be sS5
b6o, 900. so in this one item, as will be read
lily seen. our state returns would stand for
large injustice to Nebraska in statistics.
why do / say the government figures
are more nearly correct?
THE main reason is that our farmers In
ali too many instances labor under the i'm
preston that In some way our figures may
be used for purposes of taxation, or for
board OF trade purposes, which they never
are, and in some cases refuse to give the
assessors any information at all OF a
statistical nature. The assessors Cas some
of them have told mel then either make a
guess or pass over the case entirely. Be
sides, drovss OF cows are kept by ones,
twos and threes-for family use. and for
noted In any report. As the matter stands,
do not feel like blaming either the farmer
or the deputy assessors, because the state
does not so about this businss in a bust
nesslike way. Hence. vre do not get really
accurate results. only approximate correct
ness.
Getting the Farm Census.
I'm taking what l have called a farm
census we have had a rather encouraging
result. for the first attempt The law has
always provided for a census of persons
over "a years OF age in townships or pre-
cinqts. and their occupations This year
We tried to get this information, and with
fair measure OF success Stin there is
much to be desired, because instead OF set
ting down the number aged p or over,
in any given place assessors simply wrote
(yesl. Next time we Will make our in
structiorls specific to dot, II We can.
Strangely enough the poultry returns.
especially on chickens. come very close 70
an estimate we had previously made This
, item Is decidedly important, too. because
while pottering around last yEar the barn
= Of the most wholesome sklnd OF
wealth. That means 100000 dozen
eggs al Is cents dozen-and consider the
fine feeding stlil left for fries, stews, and
delicious pies. Hats off TO the hens, mes
aieuf6l
Definite information rs to the proper
tion Of tenants to owners OF farms In Ne
braska will be useful and eniightening es-
pecially when we get TO the point where
We can show alsdN the number of farm
owners who rent ard work extra land.
These things will come eventually. II we
follow an intellectual course OF investisa-
ton. This year We merely made a start.
and the result is, perhaps. as good AS
: could be reasonably hoped for, although
In many counties the question was ignored
by the assessors, There is a demand for
this class Of statistics, and Il must be met
In some way.
Alfalfa n source of wealth.
"A healthy increase Is shown In acreage
0t alfalfa yet ! have no doubt the figure