Evening star., 1925-09-28
BOARD DEFENDS
US. COTTON REPORT
Department of Agriculture,
Answering Critics. Refuses
to Change It's Figures.

Critics of the cotton report issued
September IS by the Department of
AgriCulture's crop Reporting Board
We're answered yesterday by the or
saniZation with a statement that II
stands fairly and squarely behind
it's report and accepts fun response
bility for them" The September 23
report was assailed particularly by
Senator Heflin of Alabama.
THE complete records of the board
are on file at the department. the
statement said, "and members of
Congress and others have frequently
been invited to inspect them. These
records contain the data upon which
the September % and earlier reports
We're based, and reflIte the insinua-
tions which have been made that the
board is affected by outside influences
IN arriving at its forecasts.
Acknowledges Task Difficult.
THE board realizes al all times the
magnitude of its responsibility and
the necessity always to act upon the
evidence before it. II calls attention
make any estimate they wish based
upon as much or as little evidence
as they may have. Statements that
The board erred in certain reports
ire frequently merely expressions of
opinion based upon SCant evidence
and superficial observations.
Statement of Crop Board.
The statement of the crop board
continued:
In connection with the report is
sued September %. every source of
information available to the board, in
Guiding reports of thousands of town
ship, county and field correspondents,
reports of State statisticianS based
on personal field observations and in
QuirieS. as well as estimates from key
men i'll hundreds of counties as to the
number of bales of cotton likely to be
produced in their own counties. show
ed d material increase in the probable
crop outturn as of September 10, COM
pared with the previous report. Fur
thermore, a careful analysis of the
ginning report, combined with eSti-
mates from the correspondents as to
the percentage OF the crop picwed and
ginned to September IS. fully con-
tirmed the data received from other
sources.
some Statements I DIRECTED.
Contrary to some statements that
the crop was going TO pieces, many
statisticians reported that the yield
was turning out much better than eX
pected in some States and that the re-
cent rains had helped the late crop.
When the September l report was
issued excessive drought and the
threatened invasion of insects in vari-
Gus sections gave a decidedly pesSl-
miStic tone to many Of the reports re-
ceiVed This peSSimism was largely
missing from the reports received for
the September Is report. except in
North Carolina. Tennessee. Missouri
Arkansas and Oklahoma, where a de-
cline in crop prospects occurred
The function of the board is to
review carefully all of the evidence
and to arrive at the best possible
estimate of the crop as it appears
from the data available.
Board Familiar With Methods.
"A maj jority of. the board. which
Washington from the cotton belt the
day previous to the report, while
the other members of the board make
frequent trips 10 various sections of
the belt where conditions seem to be
uncertain. Every member of the
board is thoroughly familiar with the
methods used in estimating the crop