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Show Answering Census Questions Will Help Out Farm Profits Full and Fair Replies When the Enumerator Calls Are Likely to Aid the Farmer to Success Every Question That Will Be Asked Is an Essential Question Not Too Early to Get Facts Ready for Census Man. (Prepared by the United States Department Depart-ment of Agriculture.) Washington. When the census enumerator enu-merator comes around to the farm shortly after January 1 next year, he will ask some questions that may sound like prying Into the purely personal per-sonal affairs of the farmer. Now, the farmer, like every other self-respecting man, dislikes having his private affairs peeped into and, unless he thinks about this thing in advance, may have a disposition to be unresponsive unrespon-sive if not actually resistant. In actual fact, every question that the enumerator will ask is an essential question and has a direct bearing on the personal welfare and prosperity of the individual farmer as well as upon the advancement of the agriculture agricul-ture of the nation as a whole. When the bureau of the census decided de-cided to take the farm census in January Jan-uary instead of in April, It did so upon the advice of the United States department of agriculture. The farm-e farm-e Is less likely tjO be very busy in January than at the" spring platTting and breeding season, and his products tinU live stock are in better shape for statistical treatment. Also, every new question and there are a number of them inserted in the agricultural schedule was placed there after consultation con-sultation with the department of 'agriculture ami for the purpose 61' clearing up some specific situation in vjjch the department of agriculture is trying to aid the farmer."' ,. Here are jiome questions that will be" askedT "Do you own all of this arm?" "Do you rent from others part but not all of this fnrm?" "Do child is grown the farm paid for and the money that used to go to pay off the mortgage available for sending the children to college. Now to the department of agriculture agricul-ture that looks like a thoroughly normal, nor-mal, healthy and beneficial process. To just the extent that tenancy leads to farm ownership, It is a good thing for the country and for the individual. Full Answers Essential. But It has not been possible to get a complete, nation-wide survey of the situation. The forthcoming census offers the opportunity for doing that. If every farmer will answer the enumerator's questions fully and fairly fair-ly the' department of agriculture will have the data from which to analyze the situation accurately and to determine deter-mine what things can be done to best advantage to help the tenant in his aspiration to become a farm owner. One of the directions that aid may take is encouragement of rural credits cred-its finding all of the ways possible of helping the young farmer to get theTnoney that he needs to borrow'. It is necessary, therefore, to know what proportion of farmers who advance from tenants to owners have to borrow bor-row money to make the change, and how much, In proportion to total value of the farms bought, they have to borrow. Tiie road toward ownership does not necessarily start with tenancy. A great many farm owners were first farm hands, then tenants, then owners with a mortgage, then owners debt free. The census will show, if the questions are answered fairly, how many years, If any, every farmer Ing to do in aid of thu farm popul tion of this country. In order to do the work Intelligently, the department depart-ment needs as full Information nS possible as to how the farm homes of the country are equipped for comfort com-fort and convenience. Another Way to Help. Every farmer will be asked how many acres of drained land he has and how many other acres of land there are on his farm that could be made suitable for cultivation if they were tile-drained or ditch-drained, i When these questions are asked you, remember that they are asked every one of your neighbors. Possibly you have a tract of land that would be the most productive field on your farm If you could get the surplus water wa-ter out of It, but you can not do It because, to be effective, the drainage ditch would have to go far beyond the borders of your own farm, would have to be a county enterprise, and the county has not seen fit to do anything any-thing about It. If that be true, several of your neighbors have land that should be drained. If all of you tell the census enumerator how many acres you have that need drainage, the department of agriculture will have the facts to show what is needed In vour community. When the onnor- pljJI If You Aim to Climb This Ladder, Tell the Census Enumerator All the Facts About Yourself So That the Government Can Help You. tunity offers, it will be in position to do what It may to secure for you what you need. Those things are fairly typical of the questions that will be asked In taking the agricultural census. In order to answer all of the questions intelligenlly, the farmer will have to think about the matter a little before the enumerator calls on him. lie ought to give the enumerator the most accurate accur-ate information he can. Wliat the individual indi-vidual farmer tells the enumerator is likely to benefit any number of other farmers. It Is not 'too early now to get the facts straight In your mind. you rent from others all of this farm?" "If you rent all of this farm, what do you pay as rent?" "If you own all or part of this farm, was there any mortgage debt or other encumbrance en-cumbrance on the land so owned on January 1, 1920?" "What was the total to-tal amount of debt or Incumbrance on land on this farm owned by you, January Jan-uary 1, 1920?' Pertinent Not Impertinent. "What the Sam Hill," you may inquire, in-quire, "has the government got to do with how much money I owe on my land?" Well, two of the things to which tiie department of ngrlculture has been giving deepest thought during dur-ing the past several years are farm tenancy and rural credits. The past three censuses have shown an Increase In-crease in the number of tenants. Alarmists have felt and said that the country Is going to the bow-wows by the' landlord route. The department of agriculture, however, looked Into the matter as well as It was able, und refused to lie alarmed. Where It was able to make surveys it discovered that while the number of tenants 25 years old was greater in 1910 or 1890, the number of tenants 45 years old was considerably smaller In 1910 than In 1900 or 1890. The Inference Is that tenancy Is a step toward ownership, that the young fellow who becomes a tenant farmer when he marries, say, Is likely '.to Ik.' a farm owner before his first worked for wages ; how many years he was a tenant; and bow many years he has been an owner. The department depart-ment of agriculture will have the basic Information it needs to help men to success in farm ownership. Other Important Queries. Here are some other questions that will be asked: "Has this farm a telephone?" tele-phone?" "Is water piped into the operator's house?" "Has the operator's opera-tor's house gas or electric light?" Now that looks like an effort to find out whether or not the farm family fam-ily has the modern comforts and it is just that, but It means something more than mere lnquisltiveness. Several Sev-eral months ago, when the bureau of farm management was in process or reorganization. the secretary of agriculture called a conference of heads of schools, social workers and others from all over the country. When the people were assembled In Washington, ho asked their opinion as to the most useful thing that could be done by the office of farm management. manage-ment. For a whole day those people discussed the matter. Just before night, with a score of items on the ballot, they took a vote. The work of promoting the comfort and convenience con-venience of the farm home received an overwhelming majority of the vol es. That, then, Is one of the Ihings that the depart nt of agriculture Is try- A |
