J ee Ving n 
24 = - REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 
Another line of statistical investigation of the highest importance, : 
for which Congress is asked fora special appropriation, is athorough ~ 
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_ statistical survey of the Territories and States of the Rocky Mount- 
ain region. There has been much done by the General Government 
to indicate the wealth of minerals beneath the surface, but nothing, 
except from the pittance available from the regulation appropria- 
tion, for collection of statistics of agriculture, for the description of — 4 
the magnificent agricultural resources of this great continental area, 
and the exact results attained thus far in their development. With- 
out it, a close approximation of the rapid changes occurring in the 
cattle husbandry, wool growing, in irrigation and other improve- - 
ments, in the introduction of new grasses and various plants, can 
not be made. This region is destined to achieve a progress that few 
at present realize as a possibility. It is a district comparatively 
neglected, and reasonable complaints of such neglect are not unfre- 
quently made. 
I desire in this connection to make public acknowledgment of 
obligations, personal and official, due and gratefully tendered to the 
public- spirited and intelligent eS mers who constitute the Department 
corps of crop reporters. They stand asa guard of honor over the 
interests of the great class which they represent, in opposition to reck- 
less ard irresponsible misstatement of crop prospects for private 
speculative purposes. ‘They realize that the exact truth, if it can be _ 
ascertained, is best for the interests of all, and that an inaccurate — 
statement destroys public confidence and recoils upon its prepetra- 
tors. They are deserving of the gratitude and respect of the nation 
for their freely given and unremunerated labors. 
The Statistician of the Department of Agriculture, Mr. J. R. Doda 
a member of the International Statistical Institute, was designated 
as the representative of the Department, in accordance with pro- 
vision made by the last Congress for such representation, at the first” 
biennial meeting of the institute, which convened in Rome, Italy, 
on the 12th of April, 1887. This body was organized for the devel- 
opment of the progress of administrative and scientific statistics 
throughout the world, and is limited to 150 members, at present com- 
prising little more than half thatnumber. Itseeks to secure greater 
uniformity in the schedules for statistical returns of different coun- 
tries, to unify international methods in statistics, and to render com- 
parable statistical results of different countries. It intends to pre- 
pare international publications in elucidation of statistical questions, 
and to invite the attention of governments to the questions to be 
solved by statistical investigation. 
The Italian Government co-operated generously in making the 
sessions of the institute profitable and agreeable. The status of 
landed property, the methods of census enumeration, questions of 
economic and social statistics, and statistics of labor occupied a large 
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