Relation of the Federal Government to Research 



Because of the long time elapsing since the 1930 cen- 

 sus and because the census was not designed with So- 

 cial Security problems in view, the task of utilizing the 

 available figures has been difficult. Heroic estimates 

 have sometimes been made, with millions of dollars 

 turning on the decision. 



Finally, we may recall that in the 1880's there ex- 

 isted little interest in State or National planning. The 

 last two decades have seen the rapid development of 

 State planning commissions, the very life blood of 

 whose work is information provided by the Bureau of 

 the Census. On almost every page of some of the pub- 

 lications of the National Resources Committee appear 

 descriptions and analyses based on data from the Bu- 

 reau of the Census. Whether or not so-called "na- 

 tional planning" is carried out in a permanent Federal 

 agency, the formulation of broad governmental policies 

 will call for census data. "I am doing a thorough 

 work of retrenchment," wrote Congressman James A. 

 Garfield in support of a census appropriation just after 

 the panic of 1873, "but I do not wish to put out the 

 eyes of the Government in the name of economy." ^° 

 In Garfield's time this may have been hyperbole ; hardly 

 so today. 



Private Consumers 



If the importance of the census to public consumers— 

 as illustrated with respect to agriculture, industry and 

 labor, social security and State and National plan- 

 ning — has increased in half a century, so has its im- 

 portance to private consumers. In the 1880 's research 

 in economics, sociology, political science, and education 

 had hardl.Y begun. The science of statistics was still 

 awaiting its Pearsons, Westergaards, Bortkiewiczs, 

 Edgewortlis, Mitchells, and Fishers. The social science 

 research in Francis A. Walker's census of 1880, and 

 in publications of the 1890 census completed under the 

 supervision of Carroll D. Wright, probably was more 

 significant, both in quantity and quality, than all the 

 university research of the period put together. Today 

 social scientists are numbered by the thousands and 

 social research is carried on in all universities and by 

 foundations, using Bureau of the Census data as a basis 

 of much of the work. 



In the 1880's industry had little interest in statistics. 

 Today large organizations, like the American Tele- 

 phone & Telegraph Co., General Motors, and the Metro- 

 politan Life Insurance Co., maintain statistical depart- 

 ments rivalling or surpassing those in the Government. 

 In addition to data which they collect them- 

 selves, they are large consumers of census statistics. 

 The same, of course, is true of advertising agencies. 



" Letter to Francis A. Walker, January 17, 1874. Quoted In James 

 P. Munroe. A Life of Francis A. Walker, p. 125. 



radio broadcasting chains, and publishel-s. The use 

 of census statistics by farm organizations, labor unions, 

 and trade associations has increased greatly in the last 

 decade. Through the schools and press the "general 

 public" may be rapidly becoming more "statistically 

 minded." A modern textbook in history replaces pic- 

 turesque anecdotes about personalities with graphs 

 from census data. 



While the rapidly moving social forces were enor- 

 mously increasing the need, within and without the 

 Government, for census products, the Bureau of the 

 Census has had funds and professionally trained per- 

 sonnel to satisfy only a fraction of these needs. 



Relationship With Consumers 



The relationships between the Bureau of the Census 

 and the consumers of its products within the Govern- 

 ment are for the most part cordial. Sometimes, espe- 

 ciallj^ in connection with the work in agriculture, the 

 Bureau has obtained direct financial subsidies through 

 the efforts of organizations better situated strategically. 

 Frequently, representatives of other agencies have 

 aided the Bureau indirectly in its budget battles. One 

 must not lose sight of the fact, however, that many 

 of these agencies regard themselves as competitors of 

 the Bureau of the Census and their cooperation with 

 the Bureau all too frequently is that of one competitor 

 with another. Perhaps the most valuable aid which 

 most of them give is not related to finances but rather 

 to the giving of expert advisory service when requested. 

 Of the more than 2,000 statisticians and social scien- 

 tists in the professional and scientific classification in 

 Washington, the Bureau of the Census had in its own 

 organization as late as January 1938, only 42. There- 

 fore, the opportunity to use expert advice often arises. 

 The Central Statistical Board has facilitated this inter- 

 change of expert advice between agencies, though much 

 of it is obtained informally and personally without use 

 of official channels. 



Agriculture 



An outstanding recent example of cooperation is that 

 which has grown up between the Bureau of the Census 

 and the United States Department of Agriculture. The 

 Bureau of the Census takes the quinquennial censuses 

 of agriculture and has not had the funds or personnel 

 to carry out the task in sufficient detail to satisfy the 

 pressing needs of Government agencies administering 

 crop control and other farm legislation. 



In 1935 the Secretary of Agriculture obtained a 

 million dollars from the emergency drought relief fund 

 which was used by the Bureau of the Census in secur- 

 ing special data concerning drought areas. Based on 



