208 



National Resources Committee 



nuisance, like his income tax returns and social 

 security forms. 



A realistic understanding of the problems of getting 

 support, in a democracy, for work basic to all the 

 social sciences, requires a somewhat more detailed con- 

 sideration of such a practical situation as this.'^ 



Agencies other than the Bureau of the Census have 

 established prior claims on the privilege of issuing the 

 type of rejiorts which would make the manufacturer 

 more conscious of the Bureau's importance. For ex- 

 ample, among the most important series of index num- 

 bers in the country are indexes of industrial production 

 (prepared by the Federal Reserve Board), indexes of 

 commodity prices (prepared principally by the Bu- 

 reau of Labor Statistics), and indexes of employment 

 and payrolls (prejjared by the Bureau of Labor Statis- 

 tics). Perhaps not one manufacturer out of a hundred 

 knows that the biennial Census of Manufactures is an 

 indispensable basing point for the adjustment of 

 weights and a check on coverage of these indexes. 

 Interpretative analyses of current conditions within a 

 given industry are the function not of the Bureau of 

 the Census, but of the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic 

 Commerce. Monthly figures for several hundred in- 

 dividual industries are collected by many different 

 agencies. Here the Bureau of the Census saw an op- 

 portunity to render a service direct to influential 

 consumers. It entered this field of curi'ent reporting. 

 This was encouraged in the 1920's under Secretary 

 Hoover. By 1925 it was collecting 28 series, by 1930, 

 44, and by 1937, m.^" 



" The hope was entertained in some quarters that the Bureau of For 

 eign and Domestic Commerce would develop to such a point that the 

 service it might give to business would be comparable to that given 

 by the Bureau or' Agricultural Economics. At the beginning of the 

 present administration, the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce 

 was drastically curtailed, and all of the positions except lower clerical 

 grades were removed, by executive order, from the classified Civil Serv- 

 ice. It is hoped hy the Bureau that all positions in Grade 5 and abovf 

 will be restored to Civil Service under Executive Order No. 7916 of 

 June 24, 19.38. effective February 1, 1939. This Bureau has flehl 

 offices and a field staff, but it has not yet developed a scientifl'- 

 atmosphere comparable to that of the Bureau of Agricultural Eco- 

 nomics. In face of the handicap due to the insecurity of tenure 

 of the higher appointments in the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic 

 Commerce, the outlook is not encouraging. Theoretically, a strong 

 argument could he made for building around the Research Division o( 

 the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce and the Manufaeturcs 

 and Distribution Divisions of the Bureau of the Census a new Bureau 

 of Industri.il Research, which might be to industry what the Bureau 

 of Agricultural Economics is to agriculture and the Bureau of Labor 

 Statistics is lo labor. Practicall.v, such an arrangement would be no 

 improvement, unless such an organization could have a scientific atmos- 

 phere such as has dominated the Bureau of Agricultural Economics 

 from i'.s beginning and such as has been developed In the Bureau of 

 Labor Statistics under Commissioner Isador Lubln. 



-"Three of tliese inquiries — on men's, youths' and boys' clothing, 

 boots and shoes other than rubber, and flour and other grain-mill prod- 

 ucts — involved monthly reports from over a thousand separate concerns 

 each, and many others required reports from 500 or more. The cover- 

 age in some cases was so large that delays in release of the reports 

 occasionally occurred. 



"\^niile the Bureau's current industi-ial reporting is 

 doubtless motivated by a desire to render a needed and 

 easily appreciated service, it cannot be said that large 

 taxpayers are in wholehearted agreement that this 

 service is a proper function of government. Indeed, a 

 special committee of the Business and Planning Ad- 

 visory Council for the Department of Commerce, com- 

 prising Walter S. Giii'ord, Pierre S. du Pont, and 

 William A. Harriman, with Donald R. Belcher as ex- 

 ecutive secretary, took an opjiosite view : 



"In the interests of economy and efficiency," advised this 

 committee, "the ideal system would be one under which prop- 

 erly constituted trade associations performed the entire job 

 of primary compilation for the two-fold purpose of assembling 

 the comprehensive data needed by the membership of the in- 

 dustry and of preparing the limited statistical information 

 which should be made public. * * * Xhe efforts of the De- 

 partment of Commerce in bringing about more extensive report- 

 ing of industrial statistics should be centered primarily upon 

 the encouragement and promotion of the statistical activities 

 of the trade associations themselves." ^ 



Expression of much the same attitude can be found 

 elsewhere, from business sources.-- In some cases, trade 

 associations desire to keep important data as a trade 

 secret. Moreover, biases can enter into privately col- 

 lected statistics or carelessness permit gross inaccura- 

 cies. Standards improved rapidly under the National 

 Recovery Acbninistration, but afterwards deteriorated 

 in many instances. It is said that the majority of trade 

 associations which first began collecting statistics under 

 the National Recovery Administration have discon- 

 tinued the work entirely. The opinion of several of 

 the country's ablest economists, with whom the writer 

 discussed this problem, is in agreement with the posi- 

 tion of the Committee on Government Statistics of the 

 Social Science Research Council and the American 

 Statistical Association, which advised : 



Generall.v speaking, Government agencies cannot rely with 

 assurance on the maintenance of standards in the private col- 

 lection of statistics. Important facts now compiled by gov- 

 ernment agencies should not be relinquished unless private 

 compilers can demonstrate clearly their ability and willingness 

 to maintain criteria of excellence at least equivalent to those 

 estab!i.shed for government reporting. ♦ • * When privately 

 collected data satisfy reasonable criteria of accuracy and de- 

 pendability, government agencies should not hesitate to make 

 use of such sources, thus husbanding their limited resources 

 for work along lines less adequately covered. Where trade 

 associations refuse or are unable to establish adequate stand- 

 ards, or fail to maintain them, the appropriate government 

 agency should continue or resume direct collections of data 



= Reporting of Industrial Statistics, Report of the Committee on 

 Statistical Reporting and Uniform .\ccountlng for Industry to the 

 Business and .Vdvisory Council for the Department of Commerce, Sep- 

 tember 17, 1931, pp. 5-G. 



" See, for example, S. M. DeBruI, "A Proposal for an Integrated 

 Program for the Reporting of Business Statistics to Government 

 Agencies," Journal of the American Statistical Association, XXXI 

 (March 1930), 53-57. 



