The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1933-01-13
OmGoperumeut
How 1t Operates
By William BryckHrt
MARKET INFORMATION

TN A nation that Is as great as ours
L in volume of things produced.
there must In the natural course be-
an enormous consumption at home OF
commodities and merchandise pro-
duced here. II Is essential. therefore.
that the producer Of agricultural COM
modities, the professor Of those CON-
modities and the distributor Of them,
all must be up-to-the-minute on mar
ket data. The same is true II Ii be q
package of pins, gusher Of oil.
manufacturer of automobiles, and on
through the list. So there Is the need
for domestic facts and figures.
The bureau Of foreign and domestic
commerce is just as thorough In its
study Of the domestic markets as IL
was shown heretofore TO be in the
assembly OF information from the for
eign field Possibly the gathering OF
information at home is a little more
simple than ii is abroad. but that IS
more apparent than real; it only seems
more simple because we are more IA
miliar with the practices of commerce
and industry here than, say In France
or Japan.
Throughout the United States, In all
OF the principal cities, the department
maintains branch offices. Stationed
there are men highly trained for their
particular work In the territory IN
which Akron, Ohio, is located. we find
men who have intimate knowledge o.
the tire industry. Along the sea-
coast there will be men OF shipping
experience as well as men with knowi-
edge OF whatever other industries
make up the principal businesses OF
the area. In the vast farming areas
of the Middle West. there are men
with intimate acquaintance with mar
kets for agricultural staples, and so on.
These men are reporting constantly
to the home Office in Washington, and
they are thus serving as advisers 70
the nation as a whole since II is caIcu-
lated with some defniteness that our
national consumption constitutes about
80 per cent OF our production OF all
commodities put together.
| Besides the ''feld Offices" as they
are called. there are the various divi-
sions in the headquarters here with
specific jobs TO do. One OF them. for
| example, has been engaged over a pc
| Rod Of several years attempting 10
find out why some grocery stores pros
/ per and why others alongside viii fail.
Another crew has been studying the
reasons for demand in one section for
certain types Of merchandise while
another community a few hundred
miles away wants something Of q dif-
ferent type.
The bureaus domestic division has
men who are actually serving retail
businesses Of the country In exactly
the same way as physician treats q
| patient. They point out how 70 avoid
wasting dollars instead OF wasting
health; they suggest ways TO attract
customers to increase trade instead
of building up bodily resistance TO dis
ease, as the doctor would tell his pa
| tient. In other words. these are COM
mercial diagnosticians, and the rec
ords would seem TO Indicate retail
trade Is on very much irmer founda-
ton and that the consumer gets more
for his dollar as a result OF their
/ work.
/ Statistics constitute an important ad-
| junct Of this service, as well as that
supplied by the foreign service, and IN
this the bureau OF the census plays
| its role in behalf Of business. I used
/ TO think before knew better that all
| the bureau Of the census did was 70
count the noses OF the nation. but that
/ is only a minor part Of its work. L
| does that Job every ten years. and L
| Is an immense task. but all OF the other
| time II is engaged in finding out how
| many washing machines were pro-
| duced last year, how many pairs OF
shoes were manufactured In the first
three months Of this year, etc.
| It always has been a matter Of in
terest TO me TO observe those census
statistician sin action" They viii ex-
anime tabulation several feet square.
| spend hours doing so. From these ig-
ures they make others. Every move
ment, however. Is towards a definite
| end, namely, fact.
Here is one result Of constant cal
culation and one that illustrates bet
| ter than any that comes 70 mind ar
the moment: In the census office Is q
| giant electric clocklike machine. L
has several hands, moving In clock
manner, around the perimeter, and
every time this "clock" ticks. ii records
the birth OF an American citizen. In
something of the same manner, a death
Is registered
OF course, that machine does not
register deaths or birth; II merely
registers figures on these vital stats
tics that represent the average number
Of deaths and the average number OF
births that have been shown TO &C.
cur through tabulation Of statistics.
One may say that has nothing TO do
with business, but that is an incor-
rect assumption. How, for instance.
would manufacturers of boys clothes
be able to plan their production pro-
grams for ten years hence, say, IL they
could not figure on a certain increase
In population In the territory they
reach That example may not bethe best,
but IT viii serve to show to what ex-
tent those statistics may be used Il
serves TO indicate likewise that the do
nestle staff OF the bureau Of foreign
and domestic commerce digs around
In the most unexpected places for ma
terial with which to ill this new style
Do - boz f7Tn NH -H