(Witness: Powers.)

Mr. POWERS. No, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. Then do you give any amount of acreage that is in cotton?

Mr. POWERS. Excepting that which is grown, that which has been harvested; not the new crop.

The CHAIRMAN. That you only give once in ten years?

Mr. POWERS. That is all.

The CHAIRMAN. What statistics does the Census Bureau gather together and publish annually besides these cotton statistics?

Mr. POWERS. The only annual statistics that are authorized are those on mortality and certain statistics known as official statistics of cities. Then, of course, the other statistics are all special reports which have been authorized by Congress. Those would not be annual reports.

When the census bill was passed there were four fundamental investigations that were called the census proper; and then the office was authorized, when those were completed, which was to be within a certain specified time, instead of running on indefinitely, as they had done before, to take up the other investigations that had been covered by preceding censuses, one after the other, and publish them, not as of 1900, but of certain other specified dates, as they might elect, the idea being, instead of taking up these other investigations at the same time and one delaying the other, that these should be taken up from time to time as those special reports were made. That is being done now.

The CHAIRMAN.

character?

Those are not in any sense annual in their

Mr. POWERS. No, sir; they are, as a rule, decennial.
The CHAIRMAN. They are supplemental?

Mr. POWERS. They are so made by law. They are called by law supplemental. That is, the main census involves four things: Population, mortality, agriculture, and manufactures. In addition to the decennial manufacturing census, you have authorized a manufacturing census every five years. That was taken in 1905. That involves everything that is covered by the decennial census.

The CHAIRMAN. With relation to what do you take annual statistics besides the cotton industry?

Mr. POWERS. There are the annual statistics of cities--the official statistics of cities-and mortality.

The CHAIRMAN. Outside of that, nothing?

Mr. POWERS. Nothing.

The CHAIRMAN. And so far as you are engaged in statistical work independent of that, that is a supplemental proposition?

Mr. POWERS. That is supplemental work; yes, sir.

Mr. SAMUEL. Do you take agricultural statistics as regards foreign labor?

Mr. POWERS. No, sir; we take no statistics except once in ten years.

The CHAIRMAN. Is there any work that is now being done by the Agricultural Department in the statistical line that could with profit be taken over into your Bureau?

Mr. POWERS. I question it. The work of the two Departments is radically different and involves the use of radically different methods.

(Witness: Powers.)

Individually, I should regret to see any work of the Agricultural Department brought into the Census. That would be my own individual opinion, unless it was decided that it could be done by census methods rather than by estimates. But that involves too much money. It will not be done until Congress gets ready to give much larger sums of money than are now authorized, because it can not be done, in my opinion, without it.

The CHAIRMAN. Is there any work being done by other statistical bureaus or departments outside of the Agricultural Department that could, with profit, be covered into the Census Office, so far as you

know?

Mr. POWERS. I think not; no, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. Is there any work that your Department does decennially that is an essential duplication of work being done by any other statistical bureau?

Mr. POWERS. I can not think of any. The Census Office, when it began the statistics of cities, included, following that which had been done by Colonel Wright in the Bureau of Labor, certs in statistics of education, but in taking up those statistics after the first year Director North concluded that we should not trench in the least upon the field of the Department of Education and all the earlier questions relating to education have been stricken from the schedules for this investigation. We are constantly studying how to eliminate everything of that kind, and we should not hesitate even if we felt that any of these things could better be done in our division than elsewhere. On the other hand, we feel, as in the instance of this educational work, we ought to avoid duplication, and we have stricken it out.

The CHAIRMAN. Why could not your men, at the time they are taking these statistics that you use, do the other work?

Mr. POWERS. Well, the only statistics which we are taking annually are those for cities of 25,000. That only makes it a very small part of education.

The CHAIRMAN. Twenty-five thous nd and over?

Mr. POWERS. Twenty-five thousand and over. You see, the educational division is collecting this information all over the country, and the cities constitute only a small part of it. We would be simply duplicating some of that work, which would probably cause confusion as to a small amount of it. That has been the idea of the office in striking that out.

The CHAIRMAN. It would not be practicable for your men to do the work in those cities and turn the results over to other investigators? Mr. POWERS. That could be done.

The CHAIRMAN. Would that result in any substantial economy? Mr. POWERS. Well, yes and no. We are obliged to take our financial statistics, which are the main parts of those statistics with reference to certain fiscal periods, and those fiscal periods do not always harmonize with the school periods. The result is, if we should attempt to take the school statistics in harmony with the financial statistics at the same time, we would not get such a symmetrical class of statistics as the Department of Education is now taking. That is the way we now look at it. I should rather see, as a matter of fact, some effort made to strengthen the Department of Education in those statistics than to have the Census take them.

(Witnesses: Powers, Zappone.)

The CHAIRMAN. Why would it not be a good idea for the men at the head of these various statistical bureaus to meet at short intervals for the purpose of discussing general subjects, seeing that the alignments of work were such as would not involve duplication, and seeing that such of the work done by one bureau as could properly be utilized by another was so utilized?

Mr. POWERS. I think that one of the results of the work of the Keep Commission thus far has been to tend to develop a custom such as you suggest among the departments. I think there is to-day, from all that I can see, a cooperation that did not exist before; that there was a petty feeling of jealousy and rivalry between the departments. The only thing that I would suggest and I have been thinking for the last three weeks of calling the Keep Commission's attention thereto is that it would be wise, in my opinion, both for Congress and the departments and the general public, if there were est blished a bureau of information somewhere in the Government.

For example, a Congressman comes down to my office and wants certain information. He goes to the wrong office, and then I have to think where he can go to get that particular information. I know of plenty of men in various Departments who do not know even what there is in their own Department. The other day a man came to me from the Agricultural Department and wanted a certain thing and I had to refer him right back to the Agricultural Department as the place to get it. Now, if we had a bureau filled with some of the brightest newspaper men, trained to news gathering, and they should endeavor to locate where everything is being done, so that if a Congressman or a Congressional committee wanted a given thing they could tell them exactly where to get it, I think that would be an excellent idea. If such a bureau could be established, working in the right way, it would be possible to tell at a glance just what duplication was going on. In my opinion, that would do far more than anything that has been done to call attention to any and all duplications, and at the same time it would become an agency of great help, both to Congress, to the Departments, and to the general public.

The CHAIRMAN. That is, if a man knew where all the sources of information were he could not help knowing where there were com

mon sources?

Mr. POWERS. Yes. That is an idea I have had in my mind for the last few days. I had given a great deal of thought to the general subject of how to eliminate all these things and at the same time make the matter as helpful as possible to the general public. That is what any Department ought to do.

Mr. ZAPPONE. Mr. Powers, could not that same information be given in a Government publication, to be supplemented by weekly or monthly publications thereafter?

Mr. POWERS. I think that such a bureau would have to get this thing together, after a time, in ready reference form for their own use, and that could readily be put into shape in the form of a report.

Mr. ZAPPONE. It was my thought, that perhaps a committee could collect all that information and have it published and issued to all Members of Congress, and also have it for ready reference at each department, so that it could be given out to anybody calling for it. In connection with the work of the Keep Commission, such a depart

(Witnesses: Powers, Zappone, Steuart.)

mental publication has been considered, in which shall be published notes relative to all matters (not of a confidential nature) of public and governmental interest.

Mr. POWERS. There would have to be some headquarters for it in some department, and in order to make it a success I should want to have some newspaper men.

Mr. ZAPPONE. I think that if a representative from each of the departments, or only a few of the departments, assembled as a general board or committee they might collect the important data from each department and issue the first publication. I mention that because the cost of establishing and maintaining a separate bureau for this purpose, to be known as a bureau of information, would be considerable.

Mr. POWERS. I will give you my reason why I should question that. There are a great many heads of departments that "have no nose for news," as a newspaper man would express it, and while they are excellent men for their respective positions, they do not really see that which you want and anybody wants.

Mr. ZAPPONE. Perhaps the head of the department would not want them to see it; it might not be his policy. There may be reasons why certain information should not be given out, as, for instance, matters pertaining to the work of the State Department, War Department, or Navy Department during the consideration and adjustment of international difficulties.

Mr. POWERS. That is right. It would not be that kind of news that should be given out.

The CHAIRMAN. Your suggestion applies to information that is intended for public use?

Mr. POWERS. Only information that is intended for publication. The CHAIRMAN. Or perhaps for the use of the men in the Government service interchangeably?

Mr. POWERS. Yes, sir.

STATEMENT OF WILLIAM M. STEUART, ESQ., CHIEF STATISTICIAN FOR MANUFACTURES, BUREAU OF THE CENSUS.

The witness was duly sworn by the chairman.

The CHAIRMAN. You have charge of the division of manufactures! Mr. STEUART. Division of manufactures, in the Bureau of the Census.

The CHAIRMAN. Is there any duplication between the work done by your division and the statistical work done by the Bureau of Statistics in the Department of Agriculture?

Mr. STEUART. No; I think not-now.

The CHAIRMAN. You say "now." Was there at one time?

Mr. STEUART. There was at one time.

The CHAIRMAN. Under what circumstances, and what was the work?

Mr. STEUART. A joint resolution of Congress, approved February 9, 1905, authorized and directed the Director of the Census to collect and publish statistics of the consumption of cotton, the surplus of cotton held by the manufacturers, and the quantity of cotton exported, these statistics to be summarized as of September 1 each year, so as to show the cotton consumption of the preceding year.

(Witnesses: Olmsted, Steuart.)

In compiling statistics of production as measured by the commercial movement of the crop the Department of Agriculture canvassed the mills in the Southern States for statistics relative to the quantity of cotton taken during the year, and in this respect a duplication would naturally have resulted, to avoid which the Secretary of the Department of Commerce and Labor and the Secretary of the Department of Agriculture entered into an agreement, which provided that the Bureau of Statistics should discontinue the compilation of the report known as the commercial movement of the crop, which had for several years been prepared by that Bureau, and agreed that the necessary statistics of this report be compiled and published in connection with the report of the Census Bureau. Under this agreement, dated July 29, 1905, practically all duplication in the work of the two Bureaus was eliminated.

The CHAIRMAN. That was the ginning proposition, was it not?

Mr. STEUART. No; the new series of reports of the Census Bureau related to the consumption of cotton, while the ginning reports relate to the quantity of cotton produced.

The CHAIRMAN. You are taking statistics with reference to the ginning now?

Mr. STEUART. Yes.

The CHAIRMAN. That is, you do that annually?

Mr. STEUART. Ten reports of cotton ginned to specified dates are collected during the season, and these are summarized in an annual report.

The CHAIRMAN. And the cotton consumption was in addition to that?

Mr. STEUART. Yes; and complementary to it.

The CHAIRMAN. And you are still doing that?

Mr. STEUART. We are still doing that, and the Department of Agriculture has discontinued publishing their report on "The commercial cotton crop.'

Mr. OLMSTED. Yes.

The CHAIRMAN. How long ago was that?

Mr. STEUART. About eighteen months ago.

The CHAIRMAN. With that exception, there is no duplication? Mr. STEUART. No, I do not think that there is any duplication. The CHAIRMAN. That is, that you know of?

Mr. STEUART. Not that I can recall.

The CHAIRMAN. Is there anything that they are doing in their statistical work that could be more profitably and appropriately done under your Bureau, or is there anything that you are doing that could be more profitably and economically dore by them?

Mr. STEUART. That is rather a broad question. There are some persons who think that certain phases of the statistical data of the Department of Agriculture could be collected to advantage by the field force of the Census Bureau.

The CHAIRMAN. What are those phases that could be com bired? Mr. STEUART. I am not satisfied that such a con bination could be made, but it has been contended that the agents employed by the Bureau of the Census to collect statistics of cotton girred, could report the acreage of cotton and furnish information cor cerning the conditions of the crop required by the Bureau of Statistics of the