Excerpt from The Mineral Industry, Its Statistics, Technology and Trade During 1909, Vol. 18: Supplementing Volumes I to XVII

In the preparation of the statistics for this volume, the figures previ ously reported for 1908, and in some cases for earlier years, have been revised in the light of later and more minute investigation, in accordance with our regular practice; therefore it is important for all who have occasion to refer to them to observe the caution to use always the figures in the latest volume of the mineral industry. There are no statistical reports of this nature that are absolutely correct, owing to the practical impossibility of obtaining accurate data from all the producers in some extensive and greatly subdivided industries, the absence of records on the part of many producers, which prevents them from making returns, the unwillingness of a few to give their figures, and the confusion as to the stage in which many products are to be reported. The last diffi culty is especially likely to lead to errors in values, some producers esti mating the worth of their product at the pit 's mouth, and others report ing it in a more or less advanced state of completion, including thus not only the cost of carriage, but also the cost of manipulation. These difii culties appear not only in our statistics, but also. In those reported by various governments. In our own work we make a practice of going backward and correcting figures previously reported, whenever mistakes are discovered by subsequent investigation. In estimating values, we are disposed to use actual market prices rather than the prices reported by the producers themselves, which are apt to be misleading for the reasons mentioned above.

For many of the statistics relating to the mineral production of the United States in 1909 and previous years, we are indebted to the U. S. Geological Survey; for the production of gold and silver in the United States to A. P. Andrew, director of the mint, and for the statistics of American imports and exports to O. P. Austin, chief of the bureau of statistics of the Department of Commerce and Labor. Acknowledgment is due also to various State geological surveys and statistical bureaus for information incorporated in this volume. In the text and footnotes to the various tables, we have generally credited such information to the proper sources, but this acknowledgment may stand for any uninten tional oversight. The same acknowledgment is due with respect to the foreign statistics, which we state generally as officially reported by the respective governments, when such reports are available.

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