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of agriculture, and equally obviously it can scarcely base any sound conclusions on the work in the field if some superintendents are going to report everyone who does the least agricultural work a farmer while others use a radically different standard. The solution here, however, is not to establish an arbitrary definition of what constitutes a farmer, but to get uniformly and accurately fairly complete data covering the work of the Indians in the field of agriculture so that those responsible for directing the Indian Service may know what progress is actually being made. What is required is not a single figure as to the number of farmers, but a body of figures, which, analyzed and compared with those for previous years, will give a sound basis for judging the efficiency of the work which the government is doing in this field.

Planning Tabulations. The statistician should design the statistical tables which are to be developed from the records and reports, again in cooperation with the administrative officers and other specialists in the Washington office, so that they will constitute an effective accounting control over the activities of the Service. These tabulations need not necessarily be published, although many of them will be of genuine interest to the public, but they are necessary for the Indian Service in directing its own work for the consideration of the Budget Bureau and of Congress in making appropriations. At present too much reliance has to be placed on opinions as to facts and not upon facts themselves, and this is especially true with respect to matters that relate to the Indian himself, his health, his economic condition, and his family and community life as distinguished from his property interests.

In connection with the designing of the record forms and the table forms the statistician should perfect the plans for tabulating the data through the use of labor saving devices. This part of the work is important not only because it affects the cost but also because it affects the promptness with which the results are made available for administrative use. The whole tone of the Service will be raised if field workers know that the records of their work are thoroughly examined in detail and find their way quickly to the desk of the Commissioner in the form of summary statistics to be used in the direction of the organization. At present the feeling is too general that the reports and statistics are for the files and not