224 



National Resources Committee 



town, density of population, character of roads, physi- 

 ographic characteristics, location of markets, etc. The 

 Chief Statistician for Agriculture, Mr. Z. R. Pettet, 

 lias been one of the vigorous promoters of this work, 

 but it would not have been possible except for funds 

 furnished by the Department of Agriculture. The need 

 for improvement of the Census of Agriculture has been 

 a matter of concern not only to farm economists" 

 hut also to the statisticians in the Bureau of Agricul- 

 tural Economics, the A. A. A., and other agencies for 

 which the Government's expanding farm program ne- 

 cessitated much more extensive use of the census than 

 ever befoi'e. The Committee on Government Statistics, 

 the Central Statistical Board, and a special subcom- 

 mittee of the Social Science Research Council and the 

 American Farm Economic Association have made in- 

 tensive studies of the problems.''^ Since the Bureau 

 of the Census lacked adequate funds for analytical 

 studies of its own data, the Department of Agi-icul- 

 ture came to the rescue, and the work in progress, 

 under the joint auspices of the Bureau and the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, is an admirable example of the 

 type of studies needed througliout the Bureau. 



Manufactures and Business 



The phase of the Bureau's work which has been 

 receiving the major attention recently from the stand- 

 point of rebuilding is that relating to industry. In 

 connection with the Census of Manufactures there had 

 been hardly any research worthy of the name, to test 

 completeness of coverage or adequacy of classifications. 

 Confidential surveys were made in 1933-34, at the re- 

 quest of the Director, by the Committee on Govern- 

 ment Statistics and the Central Statistical Board. As 

 a result, the Division of Manufactures is undergonig 

 a complete overhauling, under conspicuously able new 

 leadership. There has not yet been time to conduct 

 much systematic research on the validity of the data. 

 Enough already was laiown, however, as a result of an- 

 alysis made by the Central Statistical Board to indicate 

 several points where improvement was compulsory if 

 the data were to be made even reasonably trustworthy. 

 Perhaps the most important concrete development has 

 been the effort to improve industrial classification.'" 

 This Division, like others, is sadly handicapped by 



" See, for example, John D. Black and I!. II. Allen, "The CountiuK 

 of Farms in the United States," with discussion by M. R. Benedict. 

 Journal of the American Statistical Association, XIXXII (September 

 1937), 439-70, and the criticism in two recent bulletins of the Social 

 Science Research Council : Dwight Sanderson. Research Memorandum 

 on Kural lAfe In the Depression, and Warren S. Thompson, Rescnich 

 Memorandum on Internal Migration in the Depression. 



»The subcommittee last mentioned summarized its findings and 

 recommendations in "The Census of .Agriculture," Social Science Re- 

 search Council Bulletin, No. 43 (New York, 1937). 



«• The work of an interdepartmental committee on industrial classltl- 

 cation was described in part II of this Section. 



lack of funds. The regular 1933 and 1935 Censuses 

 of Manufactures could be completed only with W. P. A. 

 aid, and there is not enough money for the regular 

 operations on the 1937 census — not to mention money 

 for research. 



The Census of American Business, first taken in 

 1930, and repeated in 1933 and 1935 with almost ex- 

 clusive relief financing, is again under way on a relief 

 basis but with a much restricted scope. Each succes- 

 sive census has been an experiment of a sort. This iiii- 

 jiortant effort to survey American business — the princi- 

 pal new major undertaking of the Bureau since its 

 establishment in 1902 — is still in a formative period. 

 Unfortunatelj', the funds available to carry out the 

 sheer routines have been so limited that sj^stematic 

 analyses of the data, to determine its strengths and 

 v.eaknesses, have been practically impossible. Mean- 

 while, the Bureau is almost defenseless against com- 

 plaints from the outside " that it makes arbitrary 

 changes without research on their probable effects and 

 that it continues to make errors because of iiaadequate 

 opportunity to look more deeply into its own data. 

 The Bureau's vital pioneering work in this field de- 

 serves much stronger financial backing than it has 

 received. 



If, like the Division of Agriculture, the Divisions of 

 Manufactures and Distribution had financial assistance 

 from some other Department, the opportunities for sys- 

 tematic self-analysis would be greater. The money 

 available to other Government agencies serving indus- 

 try and trade has not, however, compared in amount 

 to that available for agriculture. 



The Population Division and the 

 Next Census 



There is one division in which the lost opportunity 

 for research for the improvement of the data is par- 

 ticularly unfortunate. This is the Division of Popu- 

 lation — the very heart of the Bureau of the Census. 



Today the Division of Population consists of a Chief 

 Statistician and an Assistant Chief Statistician, 

 an expert on occupations, an expert on criminal sta- 

 tistics, and about 30 clerks, most of whom are over 60 

 years of age. The Chief Statistician, Dr. Leon E. 

 Truesdell, is one of the most distinguished scholars in 

 the Government. He has a world-wide reputation as 

 an expert on population. He is responsible for many 

 of the improvements which made the 1930 census tab- 

 ulations more useful to social science — for example, the 

 introduction of value of homes and rentals, the great 

 extension of tabulation by rural-fai'm and nonfarm 

 and by 5-year age groups, and the ingeniously designed 



"See, for example, Werner Gabler, Retailing, IX, January IS, 19.'i7 

 p. 3. 



