Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1913-06-14
CROP REPORT
10000 PEOPLE
OF Vital Importance to Bust
ness Welfare OF the
r, Nation.


junction with the reports from the de-
partmsnt's salsr1sd dsad agentS and
stats statistical agents, form The basis
Of each of the u,osthly reports issued
BY the bursau- Of statistics. The divi-
sion of domestic crop reports tabulates
and computes the result, Of oil the re-
port1 received from the various classes
Of voluntary coernpondsnts.
Despite the fact that these voluntary
correspondents receive no pay, they
seem to like the work, to Judge b. the
length OF time they stick to it An In
quiry. made in January. 1912. showed
that Of the entire list Of county CORE
spondents So per cent had served more
than ono year. 81 per cent more than
two years, ~ per cent more than six
years, q per cent more than eleven
years. 4 per cent more than twenty-slx
years and per cent more than thirty
six years. The average length Of serv-
ice of all the county. correspondents
was about seven years.
The department considers this sta
bility Of service az evidence Of high
standard Of quality. It believes that
careless or Indifferent farmers would
not take the pains to report, month
after month and year after year. with
out being paid
How Reports Are Handled.
All the reports Of the state statis-
tical agents and special field agents
are sent directly to the secretary Of
agriculture He retains In his posses
sion those Of the reports which deal
with certain cr0ps OF highly specula-
tive character-corn. wheat. oats and
cotton-and does not turn them over to
the bureau Of statistics until the morn
ing of the day when the bureau is to
issue its report. But the reports on
other crops are delivered by him to
the bureau as soon as he receives them,
to enable their tabulation long enough
in advance Of the preparation OF each
crop report to render them ready for
use when they are needed The pre-
caution in the case Of the speculative
crops was adopted as result of the
cotton leak" scandal Of some years
ago. when advance Information got out
to interested parties.
The reports Of the voluntary CORE.
spondents are tabulated and computed
and the results turned over to the chief
of the bureau Of statistics to DO tabu-
lated in connection with the reports
of the state and special beldeagentA :.
Precautions Against Leakage.
When the monthly crop estimates
are finally made additional precau-
tons are taken against leakage. The
crop reporting board, which does the
fnal work, consists Of I'VE members.
with the chief Of the bureau % chair
man. and Its personnel 10 changed
each month. The meetings are held in
the Office Of Chief Victor II. Olmsted,
and the doors are locked and oil the
telephones disconnected.
1t may be said that, after al. and de-
spite the numerous correspondents who
check one another up. the reports on
crops issued by the bureau Of statis-
tics cannot be mathematically exact
since they are gathered from the con-
illusions Of farmers. interviews with
merchants, etc. This Is true. The re-
ports do not purport to be other than
estimates. They are not the results of
actual enumeration, as are the figures
reported decennially BY the census bu-
reau.
But, while they may not DO exactly
accurate. as no estimate can be. they
are given as the best available data
and represent the fullest Information
at the time they are made.
The government has been doing the
work Of collecting agricultural statis-
tics for fifty years. but tho present
broad scope Of the work IL matter of
only q few years. It was widened
into its present large field under Secre-
tary Wilson and multiplied many times
in size and efficiency iE the last six or
seven years.