Evening star., 1929-12-15
Farmers to Get More
Reliable Statistics
BY HARDEN COLFAX.

Uncle Sam is going to search the re-
mote corners of the world and in
tensify his efforts here at home to
supply statistical and interpretative
information for American farmers.
Spurred en- by the Federal Farm
Board and encouraged by the House
appropriations committee, the DeparI-
mentS Of Agriculture. Commerce and
State are making plans to compile ana
distribute data in the field Of agri-
culture on scale never attempted
before.
Industry and trade have built up dur
ing the present decade a system of
statistical information. with the ala
of the Departments of Commerce anu
State, in an effort to make it pos
Sible for business men to interpret the
signs of the times. The Department
of Commerce has been given funds for
this purpose generously by Congress.
Results have been beneficial to the OBJ
ject of Strengthening out the old curves
in manufacturing and merchandising,
a brilliant example of this fact being
the relatively little disturbance of
basic business by the recent recession
in stock market activities; the sJa-
tistical position Of the basis was known
to be sound.
A major effort now will be to build
up for agriculture a system to sup
plant gueSses with facts, just as has
been done in the field of business ana
industry. In this movement, however.
the Federal Government Will be called
upon to play an even greater part than
it has in the former, because agr1-
culture, as a whole, lacks the organize
ton which marks commerce and trade,
in which field efflcient trade asSocia-
tions do much for their own members
along these lines.
The Department Of Agriculture has
been doing much for the farmers in
supplying statistical and interpretatiVe
information, mostly here at home. but
some abroad, and the foreign agencies
of the Department of Commerce ana
the Department of State have been
helpful in this direction also. but much
stronger emphasis is to be placed on this
work in the coming year than hereto
fore.
Whatever is accomplished can be
brought about only with additional
funds to be supplied by Congress, and
the House appropriations committee
already has gone on record in favor
of strengthening this service to agri-
culture, and no substantial opposition
is anticipated in either branch OF tnc
legislative body.
X X 4
AS a start in that direction. the De-
partment of Agriculture appropriation
bill for the next fiscal year, which was
r~1orted to the House Friday contains
ms to enlarge the activities Of the
department in crop and live stock esti-
mates, both here and abroad, and in
its Market News Service.
Uncle Sam will spend considerably
more than $2,000,000 directly in this
work in the approaching year, and aid
will be given from other appropriations,
so that the sum total is difficult to cal
culate.
The appropriation bill carries an in
crease OF $4,000 in the item for MAIN
tenance of the foreign service of the
Department OF Agriculture, which al
ready is spending $ll3,000 70 that pur-
pose. Six agents and a number of
clerical assistants now are maintained
abroad by this department. 1t is pro-
posed, with the addition to the appro-
priation, to add one expert TO the Lon
don ONCE, to send a fruit specialist to
the ONCE in the Orient, to add q live