84 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 



A STANDARD SYSTEM OF CROP REPORTING 



After bringing these facts before the Institute, we introduced a 

 resolution which was afterward adopted, providing that each adhering 

 nation should adopt in the near future a standard system of crop 

 reporting; that all the information should be telegraphically com- 

 municated to the Institute not later than the tenth of each month ; and 

 that bulletins should be compiled and distributed to all the adhering 

 nations not later than the twelfth of each month. Each nation 

 agreed that it would endeavor to establish a standard system as soon 

 as it was possible to get trained experts for the work. 



AGRICULTURAL ATTACHES FOR FOREIGN EMBASSIES 



To further facilitate this work of crop reporting, I introduced 

 a resolution which was adopted, providing that agricultural attaches 

 should be placed in the embassies of the foreign nations to assist the 

 adhering nations in gathering the agricultural statistics and in bring- 

 ing the system of crop reporting to a greater state of efficiency; 

 these attaches to act also as agents for agricultural associations of the 

 nations represented. 



It has been suggested that the American consuls in the various 

 nations could assist in transmitting crop statistics, and there has been 

 a law on the statute books for a quarter of a century requiring the 

 American consuls to furnish crop reports to the Secretary of Agri- 

 culture through the Secretary of State, but so far this law has been 

 a dead letter. The fact of the matter is that the consuls are appointed 

 without any regard to their knowledge of agriculture and are not 

 trained in agricultural work whatever; therefore, any information 

 they might gather is taken from newspapers, trade journals, and other 

 sources that are not dependable. They lack the qualifications neces- 

 sary to be able to furnish an intelligent report on the agricultural 

 conditions of a nation because they are unable to understand clearly 

 what is wanted by the Department of Agriculture or to appreciate 

 the relative significance and value of information which is accessible 

 to them. 



The commercial attaches of the Department of Commerce are 

 another possible source of information. However, in the past they 

 have rendered no service of value to the Department of Agriculture 

 and very little if any to American agriculture. Their primary func- 

 tion is to obtain information useful to American business men in 

 promoting trade in American manufactures ; which in itself is enough 



