400 HEARINGS BEFORE COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE. 
Mr. Grarr. This operates as the opinion of another man, as a 
check upon the judgment of these other men. You have some men 
doing this work? 
- Mr. Houmegs. Yes, sir; but we have not a sufficient number. 
The Cuarrman. You will admit now that the whole thing after all 
is an estimate ? 
Mr. Homes. Yes, sir. 
The Caarrman. My point is, gentlemen, whether or not it is a 
function of the Government to give estimates on anything? 
Mr. Hormzs. We have been doing it for a great number of years. 
Mr. Bowrs. It may be a proper subject for discussion after we come 
to the bill; but I believe that this Bureau of the Government that 
is under consideration has saved the cotton farmers of the South 
$500,000,000 at least, in the last five years, by putting out their 
reports. These speculators have estimated their crops from half a 
million to a million in excess every year, until the Department of 
Agriculture took hold of it, and began to tell the truth about it. 
‘Mr. Scorr. Undoubtedly, if any estimate is to be made at all, it 
out to be made as accurately as is possible. 
Mr. Burueson. And from an impartial source. 
Mr. Hotmrs. Suppose we did not make estimates. You would 
have a man on the “‘ bull” side of the market making any estimate he 
leased, giving it out and probably forcing the market up; and next 
tay aman on the other side would come out with an estimate of a 
great big crop, and it would go down. That is what it did. 
The Cuarrman. It is paternalism, the Government going in to guard 
all of these things. 
Mr. Hotmss. We are supposed to be in the estimating business for 
the purpose of letting everyone in on the same basis; that is, we let 
the farmer in and the mill owner in just as quickly as the member of 
the board of trade or the chamber of commerce. 
Mr. Burizson. As a matter of fact, it is for the protection of the 
producer and the consumer of cotton? 
Mr. Houmes. Yes, sir. 
The CHAINER, How long have these statistics been going on in 
cotton ¢ 
Mr. Hotmes. Thirty or forty years. 
The CHairman. Going on before the war? 
Mr. Hotms. No; not before the war. 
The Cuarrman. I do not believe you gentlemen in the South con- 
tend that you are any more prosperous now than they were then in 
the cotton-raising States. 
Mr. Bowrz. We get more truthful statements than we used to get. 
I think it is due to perfection of the system of crop reporting that 
has gone on. 
Mr. Homes. If we are going to do it at all we should do it 
properly. ‘ 
The Cuarrman. In that I agree with you perfectly. 
Mr. Bowrs. There has been a tendency to accuracy all the time. 
The Cuarrman. There has been a question in my mind all the time 
whether it is the Government’s function to furnish guesses. The 
guesses are founded on pretty accurate information; I can see that; 
but it is very doubtful if it is a Government function. 
Mr. Apams. It is a Government function, under the Constitution, 
