2 STATISTICS OF EXPENDITURE AND 



affairs. They collect figures of exports and imports because of 

 the obvious bearing of such figures upon the collection of a 

 revenue ; and in some cases provide us with information regard- 

 ing the industry carried on within the country because certain 

 articles of manufacture are subject to internal revenue duties- 

 Where there is no question of collecting revenue, the information 

 afforded us is not usually carefully collected. We know more 

 accurately what is imported than what is exported ; we know 

 better how much beer is consumed than we do how much meat 

 or grain is consumed ; how much tobacco better than how 

 much clothing. The interest of the government is mainly 

 in the collection of revenue. An enlightened government may 

 make provision for the collection of other statistics ; it may 

 establish labor bureaus and agricultural departments ; it may 

 publish banking returns and railroad earnings ; but since the 

 interest of these things is not so immediately practical, the infor- 

 mation afforded is apt to be meagre and to cease, short of the 

 point of completeness. For instance, the main industry in 

 Canada is agriculture ; but we know less of the output of our 

 farms than we do of the output of our brew.eries. Ontario and 

 Manitoba collect elaborate agricultural statistics ; but in the other 

 provinces the gathering of information is perfunctorily performed 

 or not performed at all ; and, consequently, we cannot even use 

 what information we have, because statistics of interprovincial 

 trade are lacking. In the census years, elaborate returns are 

 made ; but even here there are gaps in our information, and too 

 much of what is set down depends on the memory of the private 

 citizen, which is not a scientific instrument. In Canada there is 

 an additional difficulty in the way of obtaining adequate con- 

 sumption statistics. Nearly half of our population is dependent 

 on agriculture. In time, and with organization, we may learn 

 the amount of eggs and potatoes, milk and meat and vegetables, 

 maple sugar and cordwood marketed ; but it will always be next 

 to impossible to ascertain how much of these commodities the 

 autonomous producer uses in his own consumption. Private 

 investigation may step in to make up for the deficiencies of 



