326 president's address. — sectio:n' gi. 



awaiting the sickle. With these objects in view, I have traced the 

 growth of our science from the remote past, the diminution and sub- 

 sequent expansion of its recognised scope, and the modern develop- 

 ments in consequence of which the statistician has become not the 

 mere I'ecorder of numerical facts and mechanical keeper of the 

 national ledger, but has united, with those eminently useful though 

 not very lofty functions, the interpretation of recorded facts on the 

 one hand and the scientific investigation of methods of record, 

 analysis, and presentation of facts on the other, requiring for the one 

 all those qualities of clearness of vision, extent of knowledge, and 

 breadth of view which go to make the genuine statesman, whether his 

 sphere of action be that of administrator or of expert in statecraft 

 (otherwise statistician), and for the other an acquaintance of no mean 

 order with the application to statistical science of the various branches 

 of mathematics. In liis thi*eefold capacity as recorder of facts, inter- 

 preter of facts, and investigator of methods of presentation of facts, 

 the statistician occupies an important position in the communitv. and 

 one which, it is essential, should be of a judicial character, requirins: 

 of its occupant those qualities of unbiased impartiality usually asso- 

 ciated Avith occupants of the judicial bench. 



The official side of statistics is not its only side. In many 

 countries, non-official statistics assume large proportions, and are of 

 the highest value. Where man governs himself, as in democratic coun- 

 tries, he is the direct recipient of the benefits that in olden times 

 belonged to the monarch, and it cannot be too vividly realised that the. 

 utility of the effort of the statistician will and must depend greatly 

 upon cordial co-operation and ready supply of information by the public 

 generally, for whom he labours. 



The course of public finance, the cost of government, the develop- 

 ment of the people, their ability to bear the strain of administrative 

 demands, these are all under his oversight. If each individual and 

 each body of men will discharge their statistical duty to the body 

 politic, official statistics will be supplemented by the results of a host 

 of special inquiries. Then, given the imagination and the necessary 

 mathematical ability to pierce the often apparently impenetrable 

 results which constitute the crude data or material on which one has 

 to operate, the meaning of these can be resolved. 



As we have seen, statistics had its origin in the practical needs of 

 administration, and its scope was bounded by the horizon of the time. 

 To-day it is no less practical, but our conception of what is essential 

 for wise administration of human affairs has deepened and broadened. 

 We see more clearly the sweep of each influence, and the extent and_ 

 force of the action of one thing on another. A larger outlook, and 

 gi eater range of knowledge, has enlightened our view as to what 

 things are of really practical value. Thus, with a better grasp of the 

 complexity of human affairs, the consciousness of what is needed for 

 administrative guidance has been correspondingly elaborated, and has 

 called for the exercise of a higher order of abilities than was demanded 

 even a decade ago. 



Finally, the day is, let us hope, not far distant, when, thanks to 

 the International Institute of Statistics and its splendid labours, all 

 international effort will be guided into common lines by the highest 

 and ablest of those who are devoted to unfolding the meaning and 

 resolving the problems of statistics. 



