(Witnesses: Olmsted, Ferguson.)

The CHAIRMAN. Exactly in what way did the combination of these two sections increase the work?

Mr. OLMSTED. It simplified the work; it made it more harmonious and rendered the sections capable of doing more work.

The CHAIRMAN. Before that time was there duplication of work? Mr. OLMSTED. Not at all; but they worked independently of each other; and yet they were all working along the same line-that is, toward the getting of the reports regarding crops.

The CHAIRMAN. When you organized into a division, what change did that make in the personnel?

Mr. OLMSTED. Not any in the personnel.

The CHAIRMAN. Did they continue to get the same kind of information?

Mr. OLMSTED. They did.

The CHAIRMAN. In each instance?

Mr. OLMSTED. In each instance, except that in the computations we had them change from one side to the other, from the county to the township, and vice versa. I did not let it run into a rut, as it had before.

The CHAIRMAN. Were the results that were obtained by the township men turned over to the county men for their revision or addition? Mr. OLMSTED. Yes, sir; the final sheets were frequently taken from the county section and the computations finished up in the township section, and vice versa.

Another change that was brought into operation was the method of handling these tabulations. I explained that the other day.

The CHAIRMAN. That was for verification, so as to prevent any opportunity of collusion?

Mr. OLMSTED. Yes. That was during my administration of that division.

The CHAIRMAN. That was more particularly, as I understood, in relation to the cotton proposition?

Mr. OLMSTED. No; that was in relation to all speculative crops. The CHAIRMAN. Does that affect this township section and the county section?

Mr. OLMSTED. Yes; it affects them both.

The CHAIRMAN. But that system was not invented until after Mr. Hyde and Mr. Holmes succeeded in fomenting some trouble?

Mr. OLMSTED. Yes; it was invented before that. I put that system into operation before thè cotton scandal was developed.

STATEMENT OF MR. GEORGE R. FERGUSON, AN EMPLOYEE OF THE BUREAU OF STATISTICS, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE.

Mr. Ferguson was sworn by the chairman.

The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Ferguson, in what capacity are you employed in the Bureau of Statistics of the Department of Agriculture? Mr. FERGUSON. I am a fourth-grade clerk.

The CHAIRMAN. A fourth-grade clerk?

Mr. FERGUSON. Yes.

The CHAIRMAN. In what room?

Mr. FERGUSON. In the county tabulating room.

The CHAIRMAN. On county tabulation?

(Witness: Ferguson.)

Mr. FERGUSON. Yes.

The CHAIRMAN. You are in the same room that Mr. Stone has been occupying?

Mr. FERGUSON. Yes.

The CHAIRMAN. How long have you been there?

Mr. FERGUSON. I have been there about twenty years.

The CHAIRMAN. So that you were there when Mr. Olmsted came to the Bureau for the last time?

Mr. FERGUSON. Yes.

The CHAIRMAN. State in your own way what changes, if any, were made in the method of doing business in that office at that time or immediately afterwards.

Mr. FERGUSON. I do not know how to express it. The method of the work was changed slightly in that we were not allowed to finish up our sheets as we had formerly done.

The CHAIRMAN. That is, you did not complete your tabulation in the county section?

Mr. FERGUSON. No, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. They were carried where? Over to what section? Mr. FERGUSON. They were carried to the chief and he turned them over to other parties. I do not know much about that.

The CHAIRMAN. Were other tabulations brought into your office from other sections?

Mr. FERGUSON. Yes; from the township work. We did the computing of the results largely on our side.

The CHAIRMAN. When was that change made?

Mr. FERGUSON. It was after Mr. Olmsted came. I can not say as to the exact time.

The CHAIRMAN. About how long after, or was it practically contemporaneous?

Mr. FERGUSON. He was the originator of it.

The CHAIRMAN. That may be; but about when, according to your recollection?

Mr. FERGUSON. Three or four months after he came in he commenced those changes, gradually. They were not all made at once; but slowly worked in.

The CHAIRMAN. Was there any other change?

Mr. FERGUSON. Our list was greatly enlarged.

The CHAIRMAN. To what extent, so far as you can tell?

Mr. FERGUSON. As to the county work that I am on, that has not been very much enlarged, because there is one man from every county. That has remained pretty much the same.

The CHAIRMAN. Yes.

Mr. FERGUSON. There were State agents who made their crop report, and the township work was largely increased, probably over half, at that time.

The CHAIRMAN. That is not in your office?

Mr. FERGUSON. It is across the hall. We did the adding up of the results on our side.

The CHAIRMAN. You did the final tabulation?

Mr. FERGUSON. Yes.

The CHAIRMAN. Have you any idea to what extent it was enlarged? Mr. FERGUSON. Fully one-half, I should judge.

(Witness: Ferguson.)

The CHAIRMAN. With that exception, was there any other additional work done in this room where you were, as compared with what was done before Mr. Olmsted came into the office; and if so, what?

Mr. FERGUSON. I think we did work for the Foreign Markets, the division of this statistical work, and also for the Chemistry Division, which we had not done very much before Mr. Olmsted came over. The CHAIRMAN. You were relieved of the work of making your computations when this change took place?

Mr. FERGUSON. The final computation?

The CHAIRMAN. Yes, the final computation, and giving the results? Mr. FERGUSON. But we had the results from Mr. Blodgett's side to finish up, and he had our county work to finish; about the same amount of work.

The CHAIRMAN. Did the work which came into your office which was now in addition to what you had done before exceed the amount of which you were relieved under this arrangement?

Mr. FERGUSON. It was about the same. We worked about the We work all the time, and the work has been increasing in the last few years considerably.

same.

The CHAIRMAN. Was there any increase within a few months after Mr. Olmsted came to the Bureau for the last time?

Mr. FERGUSON. Yes; there was considerable work done there that we had not done before. There was the revising of all our lists, and the making over again of the card system, which involved the rejection of the names of dead people and those that had dropped out from other causes-people to whom we had been sending mail for a good many years; that took lots of work.

The CHAIRMAN. Are you not continually revising those lists?
Mr. FERGUSON. We are now; we keep them up to date.

The CHAIRMAN. Had you not always done that?

Mr. FERGUSon. No.

The CHAIRMAN. How long did you let that list run without revising? Mr. FERGUSON. I could not say, because I was not in charge; but I know we only occasionally went through a case and revised the list; once in a year or two years.

The CHAIRMAN. How often have you done that since Mr. Olmsted came in?

Mr. FERGUSON. They have been revised and put in good shape, and since then we have kept them up. If a man was reported dead, or not working, we immediately took him from the case.

The CHAIRMAN. Did you not do that before?

Mr. FERGUSON. It is my understanding that that was not done. I did not have anything to do with it, but I understood that there was a good deal of dead timber until Mr. Olmsted took charge.

The CHAIRMAN. Prior to that time, as you understand it, they kept a man right on the list?

Mr. FERGUSON. They paid but little attention to it-just let the list go on. That was the condition, I think.

The CHAIRMAN. How long had this Bureau of Statistics been operated on that basis, of proceeding on a list without any reference whatever to the existence or nonexistence of the people on it?

Mr. FERGUSON. I could not tell you.

The CHAIRMAN. So far as you know?

(Witnesses: Ferguson, Miss Schmidt, Clark.)

Mr. FERGUSON. As I said before, I had not charge of that work. The CHAIRMAN. No; of course not. Have we anyone here who did have charge of that work? Miss SCHMIDT. I had; and just as soon as they would write telling us that a man was dead, I would take his name right off the list.

Mr. FERGUSON. This was only my idea which I am giving you that the cases were in bad shape.

The CHAIRMAN. This lady can tell all about it when she comes on the stand. You had not any personal knowledge about that?

Mr. FERGUSON. Only when we came to revising it, I threw out the cards, and lots of times we would often take 10 or 15 cards out of one county.

The CHAIRMAN. All that might be, and still they might have been thinned out years before.

Mr. FERGUSON. I could not say as to that.

The CHAIRMAN. Of course I do not know anything about what the fact was. Is there anybody else except this lady who knows about

that?

Miss SCHMIDT. Mr. Clark would know.

Mr. CLARK. I happen to know something about it.

The CHAIRMAN. As far as getting up a list is concerned, or the card catalogue, what did that involve or what is it?

Mr. FERGUSON. We would take a man's name and address and check him up in the township work or in the county work, and then when he reported or when the schedule came in we would check his name as having reported to us; in the county work it was done in the same way; in those two items it made a great deal of work. The CHAIRMAN. That is practically the list, is it not?

Mr. FERGUSON. Yes; that was our list.

The CHAIRMAN. You speak of revising the list; that involves going over this card catalogue?

Mr. FERGUSON. Yes.

The CHAIRMAN. So that that is practically the same thing, revising your list and bringing the card catalogue up to date?

Mr. FERGUSON. No, sir; revising the list is getting the cards into proper shape. For example, we get a schedule every month from Mr. Jones, and then we have to look up and check Mr. Jones in that month as having reported to us.

The CHAIRMAN. Yes.

Mr. FERGUSON. And at the end of a year if a man fails to report for several months, we send him a notice that he is delinquent in his reports, and we try to get another correspondent.

The CHAIRMAN. You try to get at the list through the card catalogue?

Mr. FERGUSON. Yes.

The CHAIRMAN. I suppose the card catalogue is the list, is it not? Mr. FERGUSON. No, sir; we have a letter that we send to the postmasters for new names.

The CHAIRMAN. You probably do not understand me, or I do not understand you. Let us see. This list that you revise is the list of your correspondents?

Mr. FERGUSON. In the county work.

(Witnesses: Olmsted, Ferguson.)

The CHAIRMAN. What list do you have of your correspondents unless it is this list of which the card catalogue is the basis?

Mr. FERGUSON. Yes; the card catalogue is the basis.

The CHAIRMAN. That is the list I mean.

Mr. FERGUSON. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. Is not that the only list you have?

Mr. FERGUSON. In my work-in the work that I am individually engaged on. That is the work I have on the cards.

The CHAIRMAN. The Department does not keep two lists of the same men?

Mr. FERGUSON. No, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. That is what I mean by the list.

Mr. FERGUSON. Oh!

The CHAIRMAN. And in that sense the list and the card catalogue are substantially one and the same thing, because the card catalogue is one which discloses the men to whom you write?

Mr. FERGUSON. Yes.

Mr. OLMSTED. We have in addition a list of cotton ginners, and so forth.

The CHAIRMAN. That is in addition?

Mr. OLMSTED. Yes.

The CHAIRMAN. But you do not keep two lists, one the card catalogue and the other an independent list?

Mr. OLMSTED. No; the card catalogue is the list.

The CHAIRMAN. That is understood, then?

Mr. FERGUSON. I want to make it plain that we have a card list; that we have a county list that we work on, and a township list; also that in the State reporting we have lists, and we have lists of millers and ginners. Each of those classes has a list.

The CHAIRMAN. And they are all card catalogued?

Mr. FERGUSON. Yes; they are now.

The CHAIRMAN. And these lists you have been speaking about are just exactly those which you refer to which you revised, and they are what were brought up to date?

Mr. FERGUSON. These lists, now; and under Mr. Olmsted they have increased fully one-half; that is, we get twice the amount of information that we formerly did and tabulate it.

The CHAIRMAN. Do you mean that it has been increased one-half up to date?

Mr. FERGUSON. Yes.

The CHAIRMAN. So that now, in 1907, you have 50 per cent more, or do you mean that in December, 1904, say, you had 50 per cent more?

Mr. FERGUSON. No, sir; it has been getting more all the time, and it commenced about the time Mr. Olmsted reorganized the division and sent out for new names, and we threw out the old names of those who did not report, and from that time on we have been keeping up that list and asking for new names, and it has been increasing every month and every year.

The CHAIRMAN. You say after the division was reorganized. What was there to the reorganization except the arrangement for the completion of the tabulations by the various bureaus of work done by other bureaus and the addition, so far as there were additions, to your list of correspondents?