AN INTERNATIONAL SERVICE 83 



tfon and per capita consumption; imports and exports; stocks on 

 hand ; surpluses and deficits ; supply and demand ; trends of produc- 

 tion, consumption, and prices. 



It was urged that this information, to be of the greatest value 

 to the adhering nations must be timely, dependable, and unbiased, in 

 order that it might be used with confidence as a guide to production 

 and marketing programs. Much information regarding foreign agri- 

 culture is available in past and current literature, official bulletins and 

 reports, and unofficial trade papers. However, a great deal is not 

 available in any form and the information that is available is mostly 

 historical, incomplete, and fragmentary, and neither systematically 

 arranged nor promptly accessible. In fact, it is information that has 

 passed its greatest usefulness and really has no bearing on present 

 conditions. 



At present this nation is receiving agricultural reports and bulle- 

 tins from foreign nations, but the crop reporters are dilatory in get- 

 ting their reports ready and the printers are also dilatory in getting 

 their part of the work done. Another delay is caused in mailing and 

 transmitting the bulletins, while a further delay is caused by their 

 translation ; so that, by the time it is ready for the farmer, the grain 

 merchant and the business man, the information is out of date and 

 worthless. 



Some of the foreign nations have never taken an agricultural 

 census, and others have done so only at infrequent intervals. Informa- 

 tion of this kind should be collected at stated intervals and in a 

 standardized manner. 



The International Institute of Agriculture at Rome, organized 

 in accordance with the international treaty promulgated in 1908, fur- 

 nishes, through its monthly and annual bulletins, information relat- 

 ing to crop reports, agricultural statistics, agricultural technic, dis- 

 eases of plants, and agricultural economics which is of great value. 

 However, the reports of the Institute are lacking in completeness; 

 many important crops are not covered by the reports. They also 

 lack timeliness, because the Institute has no organization and no 

 representatives in foreign countries for collecting data, but in accord- 

 ance with the international treaty, must depend upon data trans- 

 mitted to it by the adhering governments. 



As the adhering governments are without proper organizations 

 and methods for collecting these data, the reports of the Institute can 

 be no better with respect to accuracy, completeness, and timeliness 

 than the original reports transmitted by the adhering governments. 



