The budget estimate provides for a census of governments in accordance with statutory authority specifying that such a census be taken for the year 1957. This census also has had endorsement by the distinguished group of private citizens who at the Secretary's request undertook an intensive review of all Census Bureau programs about 2 years ago. This committee urged that a new census of governments be taken at an early date in order to provide vital information that has not been available since 1942. The reports of the President's Commission on Intergovernmental Relations which completed its two years of study last June pointed out that the lack of a recent census of governments was a serious handicap for sound policy formation with regard to Federal payments to State and local governments. With respect to the proposal for a national inventory of housing, the primary point is that the needs for information of this kind should not wait for data from the next census, which will not be available until 1961. The current proposal, I think, is significantly more useful than the program proposed a year ago. The proposal of $150,000 to begin preparation of the next scheduled census of business, manufacturers, mineral industries and transportation in 1958 will provide for a relatively small but highly essential amount of work that must be done before the next census is taken. I am assured that adequate preparation will permit even further improvements in timeliness and cost of the next such censuses. Finally, in the current statistical programs of the Bureau covered by the appropriation "Salaries and expenses," I would like to point out that our backs are to the wall insofar as meeting the urgent demands from current statistics within the limits of existing budgets. In connection with the foreign trade statistics program we cannot maintain a reasonable schedule of timeliness on release of the monthly reports without additional funds to cope with the large increase in the number of documents to be handled. The other items, monthly estimates of changes in retail inventories, resumption of the county business patterns report, and a survey of advance public works planning of State and local governments will provide basic economic facts that are not presently available and which are considered in many quarters as vital information to help assure the proper functioning of our national economy. BUREAU OF THE CENSUS WITNESSES ROBERT W. BURGESS, DIRECTOR, BUREAU OF THE CENSUS HOWARD C. GRIEVES, ASSISTANT DIRECTOR CONRAD TAEUBER, ASSISTANT DIRECTOR MORRIS H. HANSEN, ASSISTANT DIRECTOR FOR STATISTICAL STANDARDS CHARLES H. ALEXANDER, BUDGET OFFICER SUMMARY JUSTIFICATION DATA Mr. PRESTON. The first item is the Bureau of the Census and is found on page 8 of the committee print and on page 100 of the justifications. We will insert in the record pages 104 through 109 of the justifications at this time: (The pages referred to are as follows:) |