5'34 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



news services, we have collected and distributed in mimeograi)lied 

 form extensive data relating to marketing conditions, receipts, ship- 

 ments, supplies, prices, etc. When issued, this information was of 

 current value and has been largely used in studying market fluctu- 

 ations over short periods. Many of the files, however, now cover a 

 period of years and when these figures are tabulated, summarized^ 

 and analyzed by a competent statistician they should indicate signifi- 

 cant trends and be of great assistance in the analysis of funda- 

 mental factors affecting marketing conditions. These data should 

 be of especial value, because they will be compiled from a general 

 rather than a special standpoint and will be nation-wide rather than 

 local in scope. At present, consideration is being given to the issu- 

 ance of a comprehensive annual summary of marketing information 

 in statistical form. 



Foreign markets service. — The importance of developing a foreign 

 markets service to obtain and disseminate information relative to 

 our foreign trade in agricultural products has been evident to this 

 bureau for some time, and since 1916 investigations have been con- 

 ducted concerning the marketing of American agricultural products 

 in foreign countries, preparatory to establishing a service of adequate 

 size and scope when sufficient funds should be made available by Con- 

 gress for its support. World markets have a deep and far-reaching 

 influence on domestic markets and prices, but, although approxi- 

 mately 50 per cent of our exports last year consisted of agricultural 

 products, and although the prices of some of our largest staple crops, 

 such as wheat, cotton, and wool, are made in foreign markets, so little 

 attention has been given to conditions which our farm products en- 

 counter in foreign fields that we have been without fundamental in- 

 formation which is of vital importance to our prosperity. 



Other governmental agencies are interested in certain phases of 

 our foreign trade, but they have never attempted to cover agri- 

 cultural commodities in any adequate, systematic, or comprehensive 

 way, and the Bureau of Markets, so far as it has been able to proceed 

 with the funds in hand, has been developing a pioneer project. 



In the annual report for the last fiscal year mention was made 

 of the fact that in June, 1919, representatives were sent to South 

 America to study the markets for purebred live stock and to acquaint 

 South American producers with the merits of the stock raised in this 

 country. The United States produces some of the best purebred live 

 stock in the world, in rapidly increasing numbers, and the de- 

 sirability of finding an outlet for it is evident. Most of this live 

 stock is raised under climatic conditions similar to those prevailing 

 in the Argentine Republic, Uruguay, Paraguay, and southern Brazil, 

 where 60 to 90 per cent of the total industries consists of live- 

 stock work. Both Argentina and Uruguay have many high-grade 

 herds, the great live-stock show at Palermo, Argentina, being con- 

 sidered one of the best in the world. Brazil, in the past, has not 

 given so much attention to live stock improvement, but is now taking 

 rapid steps in that direction. For all of these reasons this seemed 

 a most promising field to survey and this conclusion was justified 

 by the fact that the trip of our representatives brought out excellent 

 prospects for the development of a profitable trade. As a result of 

 the contacts they established it appears that business was transacted 

 up to June 30, 1920, amounting to over $400,000. The results of this 



