more frequent compilations of data regarding the industries in which they are interested. Chambers of commerce and boards of trade call for statistics showing the amount and character of manufacturing done in small cities. Beginning with 1921 the census of manufactures, formerly a quinquennial inquiry, has been taken biennially. The Department of Agriculture and students of agricultural phenomena in general ask for detailed and comprehensive statistics in regard to farms, farm property, and farm operations. Organizations and individuals interested in social problems request further statistical information pertaining to such matters as immigration. child labor, crime, insanity, and pauperism. There is a demand for a population census at quinquennial instead of decennial intervals. in order to provide a proper basis for the calculation of birth and death rates and other per capita rates.

The bureau's current work is thus very considerably in excess of what is was 10 years ago. There has been only a small increase in its permanent force, an increase far from commensurate with the increase in work, and the appropriations made for payment of salarie and other expenses, including the cost of field work, are no longer adequate. It is probable that the time is near at hand when it will become impossible to meet the increased demands upon the bureau by further improvements in methods and processes. It may even be come necessary to reduce somewhat the amount of work now carried on, unless larger appropriations are made to defray its cost. I do not mean by this that I contemplate recommending the discontinuance of any important inquiry, but it may become necessary to simplify the collection and compilation of the data, with the result that the statistics will be presented in less detail and will not provide all the information which the bureau is called upon to supply. For example, at the biennial census of manufactures the canvass could be restricted to those establishments with an annual output valued at, say, $20,000, instead of $5,000, the present limit; or the annus! mortality statistics, which are now presented in great detail, could be reduced in scope. Such expedients as these would impair somewhat the value of the statistics, but the bureau's work is growing from year to year with the growth of the country and its industries and there is a limit to the amount of work that can be done at a given cost.

I fully realize and appreciate the need of economy along all lines of Government work and am ready and willing to do my share in this direction; but it is my desire also to maintain the census work at the highest possible standard of value and usefulness, and this can not be done under present conditions.

In particular, the bureau can not properly and completely discharge its functions as the central statistical agency of the Federal Government if it is to be handicapped indefinitely by a salary scal under which its statistical experts-its professional and scientific officials and employees-are paid smaller salaries than are given elsewhere for work requiring corresponding degrees of ability.

IMPROVEMENTS AND ECONOMIES

During the fiscal year 1924 a number of improvements and econo mies in the census work were put into effect and others already in

effect were further developed. Of these, the following are worthy of particular mention:

CENTRALIZATION OF FIELD WORK

The centralization of the field work under a single supervising head, inaugurated last year, has been perfected and has resulted in economies in conducting the various inquiries. Under the present plan there is no duplication of work, such as frequently occurred in former years when two field employees engaged on different inquiries were sent to the same locality.

ENLISTMENT OF AID FROM INDUSTRIAL AND COMMERCIAL ORGANIZATIONS

It has been the policy of the bureau for many years to secure the greatest possible measure of cooperation from such organizations as manufacturers' associations, chambers of commerce, and boards of trade. This cooperation has been productive of highly satisfactory results and was an important factor in reducing the cost of the canvass for the biennial census of manufactures.

COOPERATION OF MANUFACTURERS

The persistent efforts of the bureau to secure the cooperation of manufacturers in reporting data on production, stocks, and sales have met with a considerable degree of success and have resulted in a material saving in cost and in the advancement of the dates of publication of these important data.

COOPERATION OF STATE REGISTRARS OF VITAL STATISTICS

Closer cooperative arrangements have been entered into with State registrars in connection with the collection and compilation of data in regard to births and deaths.

COOPERATION OF STATE, COUNTY, AND CITY OFFICIALS

The cooperation of the officials of the States, counties, cities, and other tax-levying governmental units has resulted in increased economy in the collection of data for the census of wealth, public debt, and taxation, and has been a factor in expediting the publication of the statistics.

ENCOURAGEMENT OF STATE OFFICIALS TO COLLECT MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE DATA

The bureau has encouraged State officials to collect data in regard to marriages and divorces. The number of States which now furnish hese data has been increased, and more satisfactory arrangements have been made with county clerks to make their reports on a pieceprice basis, thus reducing the cost of the field work for this annual inquiry.

AVOIDANCE OF DUPLICATION

The bureau has kept in close touch with other Federal offices engaged in statistical work in the endeavor to avoid duplication, to

perfect methods, and to assist in the compilation of data needed in connection with the work of any branch of the Government.

REORGANIZATION OF TABULATION FOR INDUSTRIAL CENSUSES

The tabulation of the statistics for the industrial censuses, and particularly the biennial census of manufactures, has been reorganized and simplified, and as a result the publication of the statistics has been greatly expedited.

CENTRALIZATION OF MECHANICAL TABULATION

The work of mechanical tabulation, which prior to July 1. 192%, was scattered through several divisions of the bureau's organization, was on that date concentrated in one division under a single supervising officer. The force engaged on this work during the fiscal year ranged from 55 to 64. The work done was equivalent to the mechanical handling of nearly 73,000,000 cards. The extent of the saving in time and cost is indicated by the fact that the tabulation work was done with no increase of force, although it included new work equivalent to the handling of more than 12,500,000 cards (for the institutional population), or about one-sixth of the total for the year; in other words, a force averaging about the same as that employed during the preceding year took care of about 20 per cert more work.

PROMPTNESS OF PUBLICATION

Since I have been director, it has been my constant aim to publish the census statistics with a minimum of delay. It is now the in variable practice to give out preliminary reports, usually in the form of press summaries, as soon as the tabulation of the returns has reached such a stage as to make possible the preparation of exact or approximately correct summaries of the basic or fundamental data.

In this way the bureau makes public the more important and fundamental statistics in regard to its various inquiries at date ranging from six months to a year or more in advance of the publica tion of the final reports. It is obvious, therefore, that, despite the considerable time which necessarily elapses between the date to which a given inquiry relates and the publication of the complete and final reports, the public is not kept waiting unreasonably long for the more important results of the inquiry.

REDUCTION OF PRINTING COSTS

Not the least of the census economies has been the saving in printing costs. This saving has been brought about in three ways: (1) By reducing somewhat the number and size of the statistical tables and the amount of text in the reports; (2) by changing the form of the printed reports from quarto to octavo; (3) by reducing the size of the editions available for free distribution.

The change from the quarto to the octavo form has made possible greater compactness. Although the amount of space is only one-half as great on an octavo page as on one of quarto size, it has neverthe

less been possible to print the bureau's reports in bulletins or bound volumes containing considerably fewer than twice as many pages as were needed when the quarto form was in use. By the use of thinner paper, the thickness of the volumes has been kept within reasonable limits. Prior to the beginning of the fiscal year 1924 all the important printed reports and bulletins issued by the bureau were in quarto form. At present the octavo form is in use for all except the annual birth-statistics and mortality-statistics reports, which it will be more difficult to adapt to the smaller-sized page. Although the editions available for free distribution have been reduced in size, copies of nearly all the census publications may be obtained at moderate prices by purchase from the Superintendent of Documents.

EFFECT OF RECLASSIFICATION

The majority of the census positions do not carry definite and unchanging duties, and the value of the employees depends largely on their versatility and ability to take up one class of work after another, and for this reason the reclassification of the force was attended by special and peculiar difficulties.

The census work needs for its proper performance men and women skilled in statistical science and possessing as high a type of ability as those in other branches of the Government service. In former reports attention has been called again and again to the great handicap, due to its low salary scale, under which the bureau labors in performing the technical and difficult duties assigned to it by law. This handicap still exists, and until it is removed the bureau can not function at maximum efficiency.

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR CHANGES IN CENSUS LAWS

INDUSTRIAL AND BUSINESS STATISTICS

The monthly collection and publication of current industrial and business statistics, authorized under section 8 of the act establishing the department, was considerably extended during the year. The work has now assumed such proportions as to render desirable the enactment of specific legislation authorizing it. Such legislation would aid in the collection of the data, particularly from the comparatively small number of manufacturers and others who are unwilling or reluctant to supply the information requested by the bureau. I therefore recommend the enactment of a law authorizing and directing the Director of the Census to collect, compile, and publish statistics of current production, consumption, stocks, shipments, orders, receipts, and sales, for commodities used and produced in manufacturing.

COTTON

There is an insistent demand for information as to the several grades of cotton held in the United States. As stated in my report for 1922, it is impossible under present conditions to secure reliable nformation of this character, since much of the cotton is not accuately graded until it reaches the more important cotton markets