Democratic Sentinel, Volume 19, Number 42, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 October 1895 — GOOD CROP REPORTS. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

GOOD CROP REPORTS.

FIFTY THOUSAND CORRESPONDENTS BEING ORGANIZED. Thi A K r cultural Department Engages in a Gigantic Undertaking— The Agent Receive* Only Department Document* in Compensation. Improving the Service. Washington conespondence:

Henry a. robinson. the chief statistician of the Agricultural Department, is engaged in the gigantic task of organizing a corps of 50.000 correspondents throughout the jfSSr agricultural di s - tricts, particularly in " est au, i South. WStT/j This corps will be twice as great as the . standing army cf the TOTnrp- United States, neariWt'yJ.v one-half as great ’ rp |f,-as the militia force ! ;• in all of the States and Territories, one-

twelfth of 1 per cent, of the population of the United States, fifteen times as great as the whole corps of first, second and third class postmasters in the government service, to whom nearly §G,OOO,(XX> is paid every year. And the work of this corps of correspondents will be performed without any cost to the government, ex- ’ cept what is represented by the value of some crop pamphlets which are distributed by the Secretary of Agriculture every month. This work of organizing is the result of the meeting at Washington last spring of the representatives of commercial bodies from all parts of the United States to protest against the system under which the information about the crops was collected. The chief occupation of the statistician of the Agricultural Department is the preparation of statistics showing the condition of the growing crops. Bulletins containing this information are published every month. They are awaited anxiously by all the people who arc interested in cotton or cereals. They are of chief interest to the speculators in grain and cotton, because if the government report shows a good condition of the growing crops, the price sos grain for future delivery are likely to go down: and if the government report shows a bad condition of the crops, or a decrease in the acreage planted, the price is likely to go up. Whatever the character of the report, there is one class of men dissatisfied with it; and never a month passes that the statistican is not denounced by the speculators as unfair or stupid or corrupt. Mr. Robinson’s predecessor. Prof. had this experience, and it was the persistent attacks of the speculators and the dealers in grain in the large cities that brought about his retirement from the department. Mr. Robinson is having a similar experience, and it is making his hair gray. Weakness of the Old System. Under the old system of making up the monthly crop report, returns were received at the statistician’s office from each agricultural county. In each of these counties were four correspondents. One of these was designated the chief correspondent, and to this one the other three sent their reports of the crop conditions on a day fixed. These three reports the chief correspondent combined with his own, and he made a report to the Department of Agriculture on the crop conditions of his county. There were (and there are now, for that matter) 10,000 of these correspondents, of whom 2.500 sent reports to the department. In addition to these correspondents, there is another corps which is intended to be just as large, which is organized in each State under the supervision of a State agent, who receives a salary from the government. This salary may be anything from S4OO to $1,200 a year. The amount is supposed to be proportioned to the work. Mr. Robinson tells me that the division of salaries has not been entirely fair in the past, and that there is to be a reorganization of these State agencies some time in the near future.

These State agents appoint their correspondents in each county, who are independent of the agents reporting direct to the department. The reports of their agents are made to them direct, and then each State agent assembles the reports which come to him and makes up a general report of crop conditions in the State to send to Washington. The two sets of correspondents are expected to be a check on each other. If there is any discrepancy between the reports of one and the reports of the other, the statistician investigates through a special agent, and learns which set of correspondents is wrong. When the representatives of the commercial bodies met here the statistician went over the subject of the reports with them very thoroughly, and after some consideration he came to the conclusion that he was not raking the country carefully enough for his crop facts. So he determined to- multiply the number of the department’s direct correspondents by five. Instead of having four correspondents to a county, he determined to have one to each township. The question was how to get at the right men. Mr. Robinson decided to write to the county clerks, as men likely to know the most available correspondents. So he selected twenty-one States, in which from twothirds to nine-tenths of the grain crops are raised, and sent circular letters to the county clerks, asking them to send the names of men, two in each township, who might be willing to act as the department’s correspondents, and who would be competent to make crop estimates. With each circular was inclosed a franked envelope for reply. This correspondence has involved no little labor. Most of the county clerks have replied promptly, but a great many have not replied at all, and it has been necessary to address these again. In all, there are about 2,500 county clerks to hear from, but the department has not entered into correspondence with all of them at once. For, when the county clerk replies, it is necessary for the statistician to address circular letters to twenty men more or less in the county: and when thegfe twenty men have replied, to send circulars to the alternates, in case the men first addressed refuse to serve.