El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1911-04-25

states will send six delegates to
the meeting and they are already
arranging for their departure on
the mission. The delegation will
be headed by Victor Olmstead of the
department of agriculture and E.
Dana Duran, director of the census
The sessions Of the institute will last
about q week and will serve as clear
Ing house for the worlds progress in
The institute is the outgrowth Of a
agriculture during the past two years.
conference in 1905, when steps for its
organization were taken and recon-
mendations made to the governments Of
the world that they support it. Forty
eight governments have ratified the
articles. Each government is entitled
to certain representation in the
affairs of the institute, based
upon the amount Of support it con-
tributes The ruling body of the in
stitute is the general assembly, made
up Of all the delegates. When it is
not in session the affairs are under the
supervision of a permanent commission,
consisting of one representative from
each supporting nation. Under the
direction of this board of directors,
as 1t Were, the administrative officers
carry forward the work, which involves
all but five percent of the earth's
landed area. and all but two percent
OF its population.
Accompanying one Of the monthly
bulletins of the institute is map
showing in graphic form the proper
ton of the area of the earth not
covered by the operations of the in
stitute. South America probably has
a greater area uncovered than all the
remainder of the world together.
Bolivia. Panama, Venezuela, Paraguay
and Colombia show in the black Of
Incorporating territory In Asia,
Africa and North America there are
only few splotches of black on the
otherwise white map, but with these
exceptions the entire earth is shown in
light coiors indicating cooperation.
Covers Most of the Earth
No other international association in
existence embraces more territory than
this one 1t is fitting that this should
beAso. since the majority of the earth's
inhabitants are engaged in agricul-
ture- The scope of the wark of the
association is broad, including every
thing that will assist in uplifting the
work of the farmer, making his energy
more productive and his profits more
certain One Of the principal activi- /
ties is the gathering of such statisti-
cal information as will enable the far
mers of the world to market their
crops more intelligently. Unless he is
afforded wide-view Of production the
farmer has no chance whatever to
profit by the law Of supply and de-
mand- The statisticians declare that
even when he does market his products
to disadvantage, he does not transfer
the advantage to the consumer, but to
the well posted middleman, who is able J
to harvest the advantage before the |
farm products reach the consumer
Organized By american.
In its statisticaI service the Inter |
national institute is modelled after that (
OF the United States. 1t was the chief /
clerk of the American department of 4
agriculture, c. c. Clark, who organized |
IL and he is the agricultural statisti- /
clan of the institute. The whole world /
is covered, and gradually a standard |
OF statistical information is being !
worked out which will make the re-
ports of the whole world comparable
In this way every intelligent producer
in the world may have full inforfna-
ton in the sale of his crops The fact .
that the harvest season occurs at var
Ing times in different countries makes
1t necessary TO divide the earth into
a number Of statistical zones. which
are laid out with reference to the time
of seeding and harvesting
Every month the institute issues a
bulletin modelled after the United /
States crop reporter. This gives SUBJ
stantially the same information about
international crops that is given by
the crop reporter about American
crops. 1t considers all the big cereal
crops and deyotes some attention TO
statistics of live stock The showing
as TO the ratio between population and
the number OF cattle, sheep and hogs
in 1900 and in 1910 is particularly in
teresting in view OF the high prices of
meat said to be prevalent throughout
the cizilized world Some people have
asserted that, the high price of beef
is due to the fact that population has |
increased faster than the beef supply, |
thereby producing a shortage of beef
Yet the population of the world in
creased about 13 percent in ten years,
while the number of cattle increased
over II percent. During the same
period the number Of swine increased
nearly 20 percent.
Sheep Show Falling Off.
Sheep alone showed a falling off in
to population, the increase
being less than percent Every kind
Of live stock in the United States in
creased in numbers faster than theu
population in the ten-year period
reputation advanced 17.S percent, the
number of cattle, 57.4 percent the
number of sheep 36.4 percent and the
number of hogs 2S.6 percent From this
the conclusion is inevitable that either
ticular, or those of the world in gem
sral. have suddenly developed a large
appetite for meat, or else some in
'luence other than the natural law of
supply and demand is responsible for
the reign Of high meat prices Atten-
ion is also called to the fact that the
breed of the live stock of the world
IS improving constantly. and that the
amount Of meat has increased even
more rapidly than the number of
animals.
The success OF the institute in in
iucing the participating governments
o adopt a uniform statistical method !
las been phenomenal and it will not |
'e many years until the principal fea- |
lures of the American system will be
utilized in the statistical inquiries of |
he entire world. Once the system |
caches a degree of perfection, the re-
PORTS Of the International crop report
ng service will transform the worlds
market conditions from a system OF
ong-range guessing into a certainty,
md when the monthly internationa
W ic ~ 4