it is possible to do so. Every statistical bureau, office, and division in all of the departments should be included in the Department of Commerce and Labor, in order that this great work may be conducted scientifically and in a businesslike manner. One general statistical bureau, with a competent chief and a sufficient number of statistical experts, with a trained corps of assistants and a sufficient number of ministerial officers, can more efficiently and economically gather and disseminate statistics than if the work shall be apportioned among ten or a dozen bureaus and offices scattered around among the various departments of the Government, each acting independent of the others. There are now nine different bureaus and offices for which appropriations are made expressly for the purpose of collecting and distributing statistical data, each one presided over by a high-salaried chief and an efficient and highly-trained corps of staff officers. One such organization ought to be sufficient for the entire work. I refer now to statistics for general use and those that may be used by the several departments of Government in administering their functions. I admit that statistical information respecting the administration of some of the subdivisions of the departments that is of peculiar value to those departments can better be collected by the departments themselves in some instances than by a general bureau, but in most instances there is no need for more than one bureau with a chief and staff of experts for the collection of statistics. Under existing conditions the work of collecting and distributing statistics is duplicated and reduplicated, as high as four times in some instances, and hundreds of thousands of dollars are wasted every year by such unnecessary work. It is the natural tendency of every department to enlarge, ramify, and extend its functions so as to make itself as nearly independent of all other departments as possible, and to this end a department which may require statistical information, instead of going to a statistical bureau for it, organizes a division of its own, and employs a corps of clerks to collect the information. If there were one statistical bureau, properly equipped to enter upon all general fields of statistical and scientific research and investigation, charged with the duty of supplying all the other departments with such information as may be necessary to enable them to administer their several functions, it would be a long step toward simplifying and putting upon a commonsense basis the administration of the Government. The pending bill proposes to include within the Department of Commerce and Labor the Census Office, the Bureau of Statistics, and several other offices whose duty is chiefly the collection and distribution of statistical information. It does not include the Bureau of Education. I am unable to understand why this Bureau was omitted. Its work is peculiarly statistical. That Bureau has no authority over the schools of the country. It has no power to regulate or control their work, but can only collect useful information to be distributed throughout the country for the information of those engaged in school work generally. There is no occasion for maintaining an independent bureau for that work under the control of a high-salaried chief with a corps of expert assistants. It could as well be included in the Census Office since that office has been made permanent-as a division, without in any respect impairing its usefulness, and a great saving would thus be accomplished. I would insist upon an amendment to the measure, including that Bureau, if it were not that authority is expressly conferred upon the President to transfer from other departments bureaus and offices engaged in statistical work, wherever he deems it for the public interest to do so. I sincerely hope and believe that at an early date the Educational Bureau will be transferred to the Department of Commerce and Labor. During the last session of Congress the Census Office was made permanent with the expectation that it should become the chief bureau for the collection and dissemination of statistical information for the entire Government. It was thought wise to make it a permanent institution, and from time to time charge it with the duty of making investigations relating to the activities of the country with this end in view. It was urged in support of the bill making that office a permanent bureau that in the course of time a suflicient force of trained experts and clerks would so systemize and perfect the methods of collecting statistics that more reliable and trustworthy information could be obtained. Mr. SHACKLEFORD. Could not that work be done now by referring it to the Census Bureau as established at the last session, leaving that Bureau just where it is? Mr. CRUMPACKER. The object of making the Census Office a permanent bureau was principally to create one bureau for the collection of statistics, with the expectation that all statistical work would ultimately be transferred to that office. Mr. SHACKLEFORD. Could not this business be all put in that Bureau? Mr. CRUMPACKER. It can all be put in control of that Bureau, provided the amendment to which I have referred shall be adopted. The bill as it now stands transfers the Bureau of Statistics, the Census Office, and several other statistical bureaus into the Department of Commerce and Labor with their functions and organization unimpaired, and it provides that these several bureaus shall continue to perform the duties respectively imposed upon them by existing law. There is no authority in the bill for the elimination of a single one of these statistical bureaus, but, on the other hand, the bill expressly makes them administrative units in the new Department and continues them in existence as they are to-day. The effect of the pending amendment will be to authorize the Secretary of the Department of Commerce and Labor to reorganize that branch of the service and to merge and consolidate all of the statistical bureaus into one and thus dispense with a number of unnecessary organizations. A Department of the magnitude of the one about to be created will necessarily be very imperfect at the beginning. It will require time and experience to coordinate the several administrative units that are included in it, and to reduce its work to a business basis. It is necessary that the pending amendment be passed in order that the methods of administration may be perfected and cheapened. But to recur to the question of reduplication, the Geological Survey and the Census Office are engaged at this time in securing statistics in relation to mines and mining of identically the same character. Under the law the Census Office is charged with collecting and distributing ese statistics. A like duty is imposed upon the Geological Survey. So each of these bureaus is sending special agents into the country to the same localities for the purpose of securing identically the same information to transmit to their respective offices, which will be classified, tabulated, and published in independent reports by these two bureaus. There is duplication of work between the Census Office and the Commissioner of Navigation and the Bureau of Statistics in the Treasury Department, the Chief of Engineers of the United States Army, the Division of Statistics in the Agricultural Department, the Department of Labor, the Bureau of Education, and the Bureau of Public Health and Marine-Hospital Service. There is duplication in the work of these several bureaus to such an extent that the same information is collected, published, and disseminated in some instances by four separate offices, each operated independently of the others. In many respects the methods of collecting and tabulating the information are different, and it leads to confusion and uncertainty. In other instances there are vast discrepancies in the statistics collected by these several agencies, acting independently as they do. The whole situation illustrates the utter want of business methods in this branch of administration. The Census Office, under the law of 1899, was required to collect and report the crop statistics of the country for the year 1899, which it did. The Statistical Division of the Department of Agriculture is engaged in collecting and distributing crop statistics every year. For the year 1899 there were vast discrepancies in the reports of those two bureaus. For instance, the Statistical Division of the Agricultural Department showed 588,296,276 bushels of corn less than the quantity shown by the Census Office, 147,211,375 less bushels of oats than were shown by the reports of the Census Office, 111,230,252 bushels of wheat less than the amount shown by the Census Office, 27,355,543 less tons of hay and forage than were shown by the reports of the Census Office. These are a few of the most glaring discrepancies in the reports of the statistical offices. They are such as to discredit in a large degree the result of the whole system. The idea that a difference of nearly 600,000,000 bushels of corn produced in the country in a single year shown by the official reports of two statistical bureaus is certainly not to be reconciled with anything like respectable administration. These discrepancies give rise to controversies and friction among the several statistical offices. The Census Office, having been made permanent, is naturally the agency by which statistics can best be collected and distributed for the whole Government. It is one of the very best organized Bureaus connected with the Government. The work of that office in taking the Twelfth Census, in relation to all that goes to make a census valuable, has never been equaled in the history of the country. It was organized by one whose capacity for executive work is acknowledged by all, and it is now composed of trained and skilled statisticians and experts, and with but little, if any, addition to its force, it can easily collect, classify, and distribute all of the statistics that may be required. The other offices, in my judgment, should be merged into the Census Office. This is the logical thing to do, and it will dispense with a number of Bureaus with highsalaried chiefs, avoid a duplication of work and the publication of numerous reports containing the same matter, and thereby save hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Government and greatly simplify and facilitate the statistical methods of the Government. I will append to my remarks tables and documents showing the number of statistical bureaus and offices now engaged in that work, extracts from laws showing in part duplications of the work, the duplication of reports, and a table showing discrepancies between the Statistical Division of the Agricultural Department and the Census Office in relation to their crop reports for the year 1899. Estimate of appropriations for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1904. Public Health and Marine-Hospital Service, statistical branch (Treasury Total.. 970 1,733, 810 a Includes $11,000 for the collection of facts relative to internal and foreign commerce of the United States and the collection and compilation of statistics of the foreign commerce and productions of Porto Rico and the Philippine Islands prior to 1898. b A total of 75 employees and $156,160 for statistics of the Agricultural Department. DUPLICATION AS SHOWN BY THE LAWS. As shown by the following quotations from the laws establishing these bureaus, there is necessarily a duplication in their work if the provisions of the law are complied with. "Procuring of statistics in relation to mines and mining other than gold and silver." "For the collection of statistics relative to the annual production and consumption of the precious metals of the United States." AGRICULTURAL STATISTICS. Division of Statistics, Agricultural Department "Collecting domestic and foreign agricultural statistics." Census Office. "A census of the agricultural products." "Collect the statistics of the cotton production of the country." "Any additional special collection of statistics relating to agriculture required by Congress." MANUFACTURES. Department of Labor. "To compile * * an abstract of the main features of the official statistics of cities of the United States having over 30,000 population." "To establish a system of reports by which * * * he can report the general condition, so far as production is concerned, of the leading industries of the country." "And such other facts as may be deemed of value to the industrial interests of the country." Census Office. "To collect statistics of manufactures" at five-year periods. "Social statistics of cities." Bureau of Statistics, Treasury Department. "And such other statistics relative to the trade and industry of the country." "And arrange for the use of Congress the statistics of the manufactures of the United States, their localities, sources of raw material, markets, exchanges with the producing regions of the country, transportation of products, wages." Census Office. Collects and publishes statistics concerning wages, manufactures, agricultural products, and arranges them in a convenient form for publication. FREIGHT RATES. Interstate Commerce Commission. "Such reports shall also contain information in relation to rates or regulations concerning fares or freights." "Schedules furnished by common carriers shall show rates, fares, and charges.” Division of Statistics, Agricultural Department; "The freight charges for the chief agricultural products upon the principal lines of railroads.” Transportation by water—Comparisons, United States census and publications of Commissioner of Navigation, Bureau of Statistics, Treasury Department, and Chief of Engineers, United States Army. Agriculture-Comparison of United States census and publications of the Division of Statistics, Department of Agriculture. United States census. Number, location, size, and value of farms. Farms classified by area, income, value of products, tenure, and color and race of farmer. Value of all kinds of farm products; number and i value of all kinds of farm animals. Farm labor and wages. Farm machinery. Series of reports of cotton production from returns of ginners. Division of Statistics, Department of Agriculture. No important change in the crop-reporting system will be recommended until the approaching Federal census shall have furnished the Department with a new and definite statistical basis as to the distribution of crop areas." (P. 54, Yearbook, 1899.) ** "Such a statistical basis as is furnished by the census being "Information as to the condition, prospects, and harvests of the prin- "It issues a monthly crop report." *** (P. 668, Yearbook, 1899; Acreage, production, value, and distribution of farm crops, by States. Monthly report of estimated condition of growing cotton crop. year. Publications of different bureaus containing a reproduction or partial reproduction of other reports. Division of Statistics, Department of Agriculture. United States Census. ment. Director of the Mint. Bureau of Foreign Commerce, |