The Bozeman courier. (Bozeman, Mont.) 1919-1954, 1923-02-28
FORMS READY.
TAKE FARM CENSUS

Has the cultivated farm acreage IN
Montana shrunk since the federal CEN
sus was taken in 1919? If so, farm
ers ought to know it, and they also
should know in what crops the decline
has been greatest. Has the poultry
bushes sexpanded in Montana within
the lest year or two to such an eX-
tent as to produce a surplus that must
be marketed at distant points?
For the sole purpose'o of being able
to answer accurately just such ques-
tio~s as these, 10000 farm census
blanks have been placed in the hands
of county assessors in thi: state, and
beginning March 1 they will request
farmers personally or by mail to an
svver 20 simple questions relating to
their farm operations. A state law re-
quires the assessors to obtain this in
fo~rmation-and likewise farmers to
furnish it. The data is then trans
mitted to the state department of ag-
riculture, and it is one Of the chief
factors in the compilation Of crop
estimates by the Montana Co-operat-
i've Crop Reporting Service.
For years every big industry in the
United States except farming has had
acceas to the detailed records of past
, performances and knowledge Of pres
ent conditions upon which to base
present activities and prepare for fu-
ture developments. Statistics of
acreage and production in past years,
of existing acreage and condition of
growing crops, of supplies and pre-
vailing prices, past and present, are
the basis for intelligent and success
full handling Of the business end of
agricultural problems. Only through
the cooperation of each farmer are
accrSate statistics to be obtained.
Some farmers have been of the
opinion that such data was of use
only to spectators. In holding to
this opinion farmers have put the cart
before the horse. Through private
agencies spectators in the past have
spent millions of dollars collecting
crop data. This information was
~jealously guarded. The result in
SOME cases has been that the specu-
lators were the only mes possessing
accurate information. The market
ing operations of the growers were
consequently conducted on a guess ba-
bis. Uncertainty is the food upon
which speculation thrives, and to the
extent that state and federal crops re-
ports eliminate uncertainty, ~specula-
ton is discouraged and markets sta
bilized. If every farmer would take
the pains to answer accurately ques.
/ tions bearing upon his operations, un-
certainty would be reduced to a min.
imum and the spectators advantage
. wiped out.
: Crop reports aid farmers in many
( ways indirectly. Railroads use the
data in estimating the number o,
cars that will be required to handle
: the crops; bankers use them as an in
! dex of the amount of money that will
8 be required to finance the CROWNS
and marketing of crops; INSURANCE
: companies which deal in crop insur
: ance use crop reports as a basis 70
establishing fair premium rates. Il
! some districts where crop estimate
! are available over a series Of year
rates have been reduced as much a
h rs per cent in comparison with dis
o trictE for which such data was lack
'ng. Next to the farmers, wholesal
ne-ca?ti'e houses and manufacturer
use official crop reports fore tina
any other class. They use them as q
j. index of the buying power Of farmer
and SIS a guide to the production, di.
II tribution and sale o. merchandise al
far mmachinery for a six TO swsl'
months period.