Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-10-20

tective or of the federal secret service
and when his report finally comes in it i:
practical certainty that 1t is correct
to the last figure
But all this is more or less in the nature
OF preliminary work, for it is after the esti
mates of the correspondents are all in
after the special agents have concluded
all their investigations, after the labors
or lp.OoO men have been compared and
tabulated, that the real task of eettinc
out the report begins. and this time at
the hands of the experts of experts.
once started. this final work is con-
Quoted with the utmost secrecy and with
more precautions against leaks than
the average man would think of in a
month OF bordering in solitude Both Sc
crecy and precautions are necessary. too,
for single premature hint as to the ma
ture of the repOrt-whether it is to be
publish or bearish''-might easily re-
suit in "sure-thing" gambling that would
put the most gigantic crook game now
IN existence to shame. Armed with such
hint stock gamblers winnings would
be limited only by the amount of capital
ne could command with which to specu-
late, and the possessor of such a hint
would probably have little difficulty in
securing the use of millions
Precautions and secrecy have ALWAYS
played prominent part in the getting
out of the report, but for the past seven
years both have been doubled and re-
doubled by a system devised by DR.. Ohm
sted himself. Before that time the re-
Port was gotten out solely by the stat
istician and his associate. Then came a
leak followed by scandal which rocked
all governmental Washington. There was
a big Shake-up. The statistician was AL
lowed to resign. The associate was dis
charged and criminal prosecutions started
against him. TfOh DIR. Olmsted was ap-
pointed statistician. and straghtway. to-
gether with Assistant Secretary Of ipri
culture w. NJ. Hays. proceeded to install,
a new system. There have been no leaks
since; indeed, today such a thing is prac
tically impossible.
Here is the way Dr. Olmsted safeguards
his reports:
When the estimates come to him he all
ulates them, district by district and state
by state. Then he cuts them into little
slips. into a sort of official jgsaw puzzle
of which he alone knows the solution. I'm
in one corner of each slip is little mark
which tells DIR. Olmsted to what state
and section the figures belong. To every
body else that mark is meaningless hence
the clerk who gets the slip for co,rnils-
ton reaches his total without the slight
est idea as to what section it refers or to
how many farms
When the totals have all been COM
piled they are gone over and verified by
DR.. Olmsted. Then a new jigsaw puzzIe
this time one of totals-is cut IN ami
sent out. Finally. the chief gets a total
of totals.
These. too he goes over and yerif1es
Then he locks them in his safe, a safe tn
which no other official in the government
except the Secretary Of Agriculture knows
the combination. There. hidden from ALI
eyes, the figures remain until the morn
ing of the day the report is to be given
out On that morning Dr. Olmsted calls
meeting of the crop reporting board. OF
which he is permanent chairman. and
the figures are solemnly removed from
the safe for a final authoritative consid
Grafton.
The system of having the report issued
by board was devised by Assistant Sec
rotary Hays. and makes it Impossible for
it to be influenced by the personal in
chnation of or opinion either Of the stat
istician himself or Of any other one Of
fetal, however powerful.
The crop reporting board is composed
of the chief of the bureau, his associate.
an expert statistician from the central
bureau. and two special field agents, call
ed to Washington each month especially
for this service. These last named two
are changeable. and no agent knows he