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T h e A u t o m a t ic A ge
CENSUS O F D IS T R IB U T IO N TO IN C L U D E
M A N Y ITEMS
By DR. ROBERT J. McFALL
Chief Statistician for Distribution, United States Bureau of the Census
Automobile merchants have long realized
the need for basic and comprehensive in
formation concerning the various agencies
and channels through which merchandise
travels from producers to the final sale to
consumers. The lack of such knowledge
has placed wholesalers and retailers gen
erally at a great disadvantage in the
planning of their business. Production in
both manufacturing and agriculture has
been greatly benefited for many years by
the availability of statistical facts con
cerning production. There seems to be
little or no question but that distribution
will also receive enormous benefit as soon
as more comprehensive statistical informa
tion is available concerning marketing.
The average output per worker in pro
duction has increased 85 per cent since
the beginning of the century and 34 per
cent since the termination of the World
War. No comparable figures are available
to show the changes in efficiency in distri
bution, but the fact that production is
taking a smaller and distribution an in
creasingly larger share of the consumer’s
dollar than before the war would make it
appear that distribution has not increased
in efficiency so rapidly as production. In
justice to our distribution system, it must
be stated, however, that in many cases the
increased cost of distribution may be
attributed to better service which is now
being rendered. Nevertheless there must
be some relation between this situation
and the fact that, while abundant data are
available regarding production, there are
few dependable statistics covering the field
of distribution. Thus the big question con
fronting the business man is how the
be speedily and economically distributed to
supplies in all lines of merchandising can
be speedily and economically distributed to
the consumers, eliminating waste and un
necessary expense.
Until adequate information is ava'lable
it is wholly impossible to know the many
diverse elements of distribution, their
operations and deficiencies. There have
been some data gathered by governmental
and private agencies on distribution, but
the work has been restricted in scope which
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the result that there never has been a
complete picture presented.
For these reasons and many others the
first nation-wide Census of Distribution,
now being taken, has created wide-spread
interest in the business world through whose
demand Congress has provided for this
study by the Bureau of the Census, which
already has arrayed an army of workers
to gather the basic facts concerning the
vast field of distribution.
The work is confidently expected to
develop important and useful knowledge
affecting the economic life of the country.
Rough guesses concerning such elementals
as the number of merchants in operation,
and their total volume of business, will be
supplanted by “cold figures.” Since the
survey is being conducted by .the Bureau
of the Census, automobile dealers need
have no hesitancy in answering the ques
tions, because there is not the slighest
chance that the confidential information
they give will be disclosed. They are pro
tected thoroughly in this particular by the
law, which requires that such information
shall never be revealed by the Bureau of
the Census, not even to any other Govern
ment bureau or department. All employees
are sworn to keep secret the figures on the
individual returns.
Since the census is being taken at the
behest of the business world, and every
individual organization is merely a unit in
the whole structure which is being mea
sured, the Bureau of the Census is con
fident that generous co-operation will be
accorded it in the work, and hopes the
1930 census of distribution will present a
thorough picture of the subject and its
many parts. It is realized that one
difficulty may lie in the fact that the
information possessed by retailers, whole
salers, and others may be scant. However,
it is certain that the eensus will compile
valuable information and, moreover, will
prove a dependable basis for getting addi
tional and comparative material which will
prove helpful in the solving of the distri
bution problems.
To indicate the scope of the work, it
may be pointed out that the census of
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