Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-05-04

I some business interests will go to another
| city and construct factories and build
| ings where the laws are loose. The saw
| ing of life and the protection Of property,
| however. should be the important con-
/ sideration always, and l should be in
favor of a federal law governing general
| construction, so that the putting up OF
| infiammable buildings could be put at an
end. I believe that after a few more
such catastrophes as those which .oc-
| CURED at San Francisco and Omaha
/ there will be general recognition of the
! need of some federal law to govern build
/ ing construction"
| The government will soon conduct the
most thorough test of Alaskan coal which
has ever been made
\ NAVY to Test The bureau of steam
Alaskan Coal e Navy Department in
July will send to Controller bay. Alaska
the armored cruiser Maryland. which will
load 500 tons of coal mined on the old
Cunningham claims. which were de-
clared illegal during the last administra-
ton. This coal will be given a thorough
J sea test by comparing its merits with
those Of Pocahontas coal. which is now
largely used in the navy.
Naval experts have frequently pointed
out the fact that in event OF war the
American fleet in the Pacific ocean would
! be at considerable disadvantage il IL
had to depend upon eastern coal to sup
| ply fuel for the vessels. At the present
| time all of the coal used by the United
i States Navy is mined in the eastern
| fields. Carrying coal from Atlantic points
| to Manila, Honolulu and San Francisco
| is. of course, very expensive. and takes
much time. The Navy Department is
therefore. very anxious to avail itself OF
a cheap supply of coal from Alaska. and
| it is with this end in view that the bureau
| of steam engineering. under the direction
of Rear Admiral H. !. Cone. will con.
duct in July series of tests to see II
| it can be established that Alaskan coal
| is suitable for the running of naval YES
sells at high-speed forced draft steaming
at sea.
| The 800 tons of coal which the gov
eminent will use in the test on the
cruiser Maryland have been
/! Specially mined by a special expedi-
1r:, ton provided for by Con-
gress which has worked
under the direction of Joseph A. Holmes.
chief of the bureau of mines. There are
no wagon roads to the Bering river fields.
| and as the country is very broken and
badly cut up the coal was sledded over
A trail from Trout creek to Saltwater
during the winter. As soon as the ice
| breaks in the Boring river the coal will
be taken down the river in barges to
Chilkat. whence it will be loaded on the
Maryland.
The test which the Navy Department
is making this year in the Bering field
will be duplicated next year in the
Matanuska field in Alaska. so that the
government will have accurate data on
the value Of both kinds of coal taken
from the famous fields Of the northwest.
1t is not known what will be the out
come of the tests. but it is expected that
If the coal Is found satisfactory for use
on warships Congress will provide
the navy with coal reserves in Alaska and
transportation equipment which In the
future will supply the whole Pacific fleet
with accessible coal which can be OBJ
tanned quickly in case Of emergency.
How to get reasonably accurate esti-
is "a problem which
accuracy OF the federal govern
Crop Reports roan. s and s.a.es ran,
| organizations have attempted to solve for
many years. and the results obtained are
| seldom satisfactory to all interests.
Prof. Cyril 6. Hopkins Of the Univer-
stv of Illinois is the latest authority to
| attack the: accuracy OF government crop
reports andras statement which he has
made on Facts and Fiction About
Crops has been answered by George K.
Holmes of the bureau OF statistics Of the
Department of Agriculture.
The Illinois educator. has restated the
fact that the crop reports of the bureau
of statistics of the Department of Agri-
culture and the reports Of the bureau of
the census Of the Department of Com
| merce are. frequently at variance, and he
makes the claim that 1he Agricultural
Departments crop reD0rts are largely
exaggerated. Mr.. Holmes. who is in
charge of the division of production and
distribution in the bureau OF statistics.
claims that there Is no disposition on the
part of either his bureau or the bureau
of the census to initiate crop reports. In
reporting the acreage and production of
the country's farm products, valued at
s.. ON. O0000O to $1,000, 100000 a year. in
| Guiding live stock. it can hardly be ex-
pected that the figures gathered by two
bureaus and relating to every branch OF
the agricultural industry shall run ex-
actlv the same.
The crop-reporting system of the bureau
of statistics of the Department OF Agri-
culture is based on the fig
Based on ures gathered from the CEN
r. sus Of the country which is
made every ten years.
Through its field agents. the Agricultural
Department makes annual reports Of
crops, but the reports are only estimates.
made with as great accuracy as is pos
sible Claims have never been made that
the annual crop figures are reliable
as the decennial census reports, which
are gathered by an army Of enumerators
working over every section of the coun-
try. Beginning in 1919. in accordance
with the new law the government will
make an agricultural census every five
years. instead of at the end Of ten-year
periods. putting the crop-reporting work
on better basis than it has ever been
before in this country
Spectators on both sides of the mar
ket have often claimed that the Depart
ment Of Agriculture has made a practice
Of overestimating or Understanding the
size of the cotton crops. The correctness
of cotton crop reports offers an excellent
test of the reliability Of the Agricultural
Department. estimates. Mr.. Holmes
compares his bureaus figures with those
of the bureau of the census of the Depart
ment Of Commerce, which annually col
lects and tabulateS returns from all cot
ton ginners as to the number of bales
ginned He shows that evidences of
imitation would appear in a comparison