Charlevoix county herald., 1919-09-05

figures that are promised he will be oil
an equal footing with the buyer.
If there were ever any doubt as II
the ability of the department of agri
culture to obtain quickly and accu
-ately countrywide information OF
present and prospective food supplies
the doubt has been dispelled. The wa
emergency demonstrated. the matte
very clearly. During the two years
1917 and 1918, the department esti
mated in advance of the planting sea
son the acreage that farmers intended
to plant to food crops. In both year
these preplanting estimates came with
in per cent of the final figures. II
1913, when for the first time it was
possible to check up accurately on
wheat, the departments estimates
came within 2 per cent of the wheat
production, as shown by the guam
tity used for seed and total receipts
at mills and elevators as reported by
the grain corporation of the food ad-
ministration.
Such figures, authoritative and un-
biased, are q prerequisite to the most
intelligent program either of produc-
tion or of marketing. They prevent
the issuance of biased and misleading
reports by spectators. They tend to
stabilize prices by giving advance in
formation of overproduction or under
production. The certainty of supply
resulting from dependable government
reports reduces the carrying risk of
buyers and dealers, and enables them
to pay better prices than would be
possible otherwise. The government
reports enable transportation COM
panies to estimate tonnage and to pro-
vide cars when and where they are
needed. They give bankers the in
formation necessary in providing funds
for financing farmers in the produc-
ton of their crops and, after harvest,
for buyers and distributors of crops.
They enable manufacturers to know,
months in advance, what materials
should be contracted for in order that
farm machinery, equipment, and sup
plies may be made available without
annoying and expensive delays.
There is just one class of men in
jured by the government crop reports.
They are the professional spectators
who profit by the ignorance and un-
certainty of others.
Those facts have long been realized
as to the government reports on field
crops. Now they are to become equal
ly true as to live stock.
To Shcw "CommerciaI Production"
A number Of other things are to be
done under the new program. One
will be to show, not merely total pro-
duction, but commercial production as
well. That is, the crop report will
show not only how much Of given
commodity is produced on the farms
but how much leaves the farms and
goes on the market. The price of any
thing is not determined by the quan-
tity of that thing produced on the
farm consumed on the farm or wasted
on the farm, so much as by the mar
ketable surplus-the portion that actu-
ally leaves the farm and becomes a
factor in supply and demand In the
open market.
Another important thing that will
be a little longer in coming is the
actual taking of a farm census every
year instead of using as basis of all
figures the last preceding 10-year cen
sus This is to be accomplished by
using tax assessors as gatherers or
basic farm figures. About 30 states
have already passed laws requiring
assessors to do this work, the returns
to be made to the state commissioner
of agriculture and to be checked up
by the state field agent of the bureau
of crop estimates. In states where
such laws have been passed, they are,
for the most part, new and are not yet
fully in effective operation. The de-
partment of agriculture expects, how
ever. that similar laws will be passed
in all other states and the plan put In
complete effective operation through
out the United States within the next
five years.
A great deal of work is being done,
also looking to closer cooperation be-
tween the federal department of agri-
culture and the state departments.
Such cooperation results in combining
the facilities of the two organizations
and using them for the issuance of a
single monthly crop report for the
state instead of two. Cooperative
agreements have been entered into in
Wisconsin, Ohio, Illinois, Iowa. Ne
braska, Missouri, Georgia, Alabama,
North Carolina, West Virginia, Arkan-
sas, Utah and Idaho, and are under
consideration in many other states.