Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 269, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 November 1919 — Answering Census Questions Will Help Out Farm Profits [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Answering Census Questions Will Help Out Farm Profits

Full and Fair Replies When the Enumerator Calls Are Likely to Aid the Farmer to Success —Every Question That Will Be Asked Is an Essential Question—Not Too Early to Get Facts Ready for Census Man.

(Prepared by the United States Department of Agriculture.) Washington—When the census enumerator comes around to the farm shortly after January 1 next year, he will ask some questions -that may sound like prying into the purely personal affairs of the farmer. Now, the farmer, like every other self-respect-ing man, dislikes having his private affairs peeped into and, unless he thinks about this thing in advance, may have a disposition to be qnregponi sive if not actually resistant. In actual fact, every question that the enumerator will ask Is an essential question and has a direct bearing on the personal welfare and pro|perity of the Individual farmer as well as upon the advancement of the agriculture of the nation as a whole. When the bureau of the census decided to take the farm census in January instead of in April, it did so upon the advice of the United States ■department of agriculture. The farmer is less likely to be very busy in January than at the spring planting and breeding season, and his products and live stock are in better shape for statistical treatment. Also, every new question—and there are a number of ■them —inserted in the agricultural schedule was placed there after consultation with the agriculture and for the purpose of clearing up some specific situation in which the department of agriculture Is trying to aid the farmer. Here are some questions that will ibe asked: “Do you own all of this ifarm?” ‘‘Do you rent from others part but not all of this farm?” “Do

farm?” "If you rent all of this farm, what do you pay as rent ?-” “If you own all or part of this farm, was there any mortgage debt or other encumbrance on the land so owned on January 1, 1920?” “What was the total amount of debt or Indmbrande on land on this farm owned by you, January 1, 1920?’ Pertinent—Not Impertinent, “What rhe Sam Hill,” you may inquire, “has the government got to do with how much money I owe on my land?” Well, two of the things to which the department of agriculture has been giving deepest thought" during the past several years are farm tenancy and rural credits. The past three censuses have shown an Increase in the number of tenants. Alarmists have felt —and said —that the country is going to the bow-wows by the landlord route. The department of agriculture, however, looked Into the matter as well as it was able, and refused to be alarmed. Whe-e it was able to make surveys It discovered that while toe number of tenants 25 years .old was greater in 1910 or 1890, the number of tenants 45 years old was considerably smaller in 1910 than in 1900 or 1890. < The Inference is that tenancy is a step toward ownership, that the young fellow who becomes a tenant farmer when he marries, say, is likely Io be a farm owner before his first

child is grown—the farm paid for and the money that used to go to pay off the mortgage available for sending the children to college. ' Now to .the_ department of agricul- , ture that looks like a thoroughly normal, healthy and beneficial process. To ■ Jflst the exteht thaf tenancy leads to" farm ownership, it is a good thing for the country and for the individual. Full Answers Essential. But it has not been possible to get a complete, nation-wide survey of the situation. The forthcoming census offers the opportunity for doing that. If every farmer will answer the enumerator’s questions fully and fairly the department of agriculture will have the data from which to analyze the situation accurately and to determine what things can be done to best advantage to help the tenant in his aspiration to become a farm owner. One of the directions that aid may take is encouragement of rural credits finding all of the ways possible of helping the young farmer to get the money that he needs to borrow. It is necessary, therefore, to know what proportion of farmers who advance from tenants to owners have to borrow money to make the change, and how much, in proportion to total value of the farms bought, they have Yo borrows The road toward ownership does hot necessarily start with tenancy. A great many farm owners were first farm hands, then tenants, then owners with a mortgage, then owners debt free. The census will show, if the questions are answered fairly, how many years, if any, every farmer

wo^fced. for wages; liow* many years he was a tenant; and how many years he has been an owner. The department of agriculture will have the basic information it needs to Help men to success in farm ownership. Other Important Queries. Here are some ofhdr questions that will be asked: “Has this farm a telephone?” “Is water piped, into the operator’s house?” “Has the operator’s house gas or electric light?" - Now that looks like an effort to find out whetljpr or not the farm family has the modern comforts—and it is just that, but it means something more than mere Inquisitiveness. Several months ago, when the bureau of farm management was in process or reorganization, the secretary of agriculture called a conference of heads of schools, social workers and others from all over the country. When thepebnlewere assembled ■to Washington, he asked their opinion as to the most usefhl thing that could be done by the office of farm management For a x whole day those people discussed' the matter. Jisst before night with a score of Items on the ballot they took a vote. The -wofk of promoting the comfort and, convenience* of the farm home received an overwhelming majority of the votes.* That, then. Is one of the things that, the department of agriculture la tajr-

Ing to do 4n aid of the farm population of this country. In dYder to do the work intelligently, the department needs as full Information as possible as to how the farm homes of the country are equipped for comfort and convenience.

If You Aim to Climb This Ladder, Tell the Census Enumerator All the Facts About Yourself So That the Government Can Help You.