22 FOREIGN COUNTRIES 



without explanation. The case is unique at 

 one end of the scale no less than that of 

 England at the other end. Between 1890 

 and 1901 the agricultural population more 

 than doubled, and sprang from 27.1 per cent, 

 of the whole to 48.2 per cent. Some change 

 in the method of enumeration is suggested by 

 these results, but the statistical work from 

 which all the above figures are taken — issued 

 by no less an authority than the Imperial 

 Statistical Office of Germany — makes no 

 mention of any, although it expressly ex- 

 cludes the later but less complete census of 

 1906 on the ground that it is not properly 

 comparable. The inference is that in the 

 opinion of this competent authority the 

 censuses of 1890 and 1901 are valid for com- 

 parative purposes as they stand. 



It should be understood that statistics of 

 this kind must be read broadly. They will 

 not bear being used for minute comparisons, 

 because the census is not taken in a uniform 

 manner in different countries, and allowance 

 must be made for discrepancies on this ac- 

 count. A more exact enumeration might 

 change the relative position of some countries 

 which stand close together on the list ; but 

 the place of the United Kingdom, and still 

 more of England at the bottom is separated 

 from the rest by too wide an interval to be 

 materially affected by any such qualification. 



