COTTON 251 



ports may not mislead them into early sales at 

 prices wrongfully made too low. 



6. To create confidence, that sales and consign- 

 ments by producers may be made more freely, 

 that dealers may more safely conduct their busi- 

 ness with lower handling charges, and that spin- 

 ners may more freely purchase stocks to hold, 

 thus adding certainty and stability to business, 

 that they may work on a less speculative basis, and 

 thus bring more equitable returns from labor 

 expenditure to all interested persons. 



7. To make reports so frequently and to give 

 facts so soon after changes in prospective condi- 

 tions occur, or so soon after actual yields are 

 gathered, that there may be the least possible ele- 

 ment of uncertainty, of speculative conditions, to 

 remove prices from their normal economic place. 



HOW COTTON STATISTICS ARE GATHERED 



The large body of people concerned with the 

 gathering of cotton statistics may be grouped into 

 the five following classes : 



1. The State Statistical Agent and corps of aids. 



2. Three Cotton Special Field Agents. 



3. The County Agent for the Department. 



4. The Township Agents for the Department. 



5. Individual reports of cotton farmers. 



The State Statistical Agent is a paid employee 

 of the Department who reports to the Bureau of 

 Statistics the information which he obtains from 

 tabulations that are sent direct to him by his corps 

 of aids in the cotton counties of his State. These 

 aids are selected because of their qualifications as 

 farmers of judicial mind and individual integrity. 

 This part of the crop-reporting service is one of 



