Page 5 - Annuaire Statistique Québec - 1949

PREFACE

The 1949 edition of the Statistica! Year Book is the thirty-fourth issued by
the Province of Quebec Bureau of Statistics. It contains the latest figures
available at the time each chapter was drafted. More recent data may possibly
be in circulation when the volume is distributed, since the printing takes several
months. However, this does not detract from the usefulness of the Year Book
for it constîtutes a synthesis of the Province's economy thal cannat be found
elsewhere. Apa,rt from bringing together a quantity of numerical data scattered
through various provincial and federal government reports, it provides historiea1
series, covering periods of twenty years and upwards, that show the trend in
the different spheres of activity.
Fundamental tendencies stand out from the general survey. Having
previously given the principal data resulting from the decennial censuses from
1871 ta 1941 and the demographic statistics from 1926, the latter date being the
year in which the new system for the registration of deeds of civil status went
into effect, the different branches of production are now taken up. This year
it has been possible ta publish the following series:

The cash incarne from the sale of farm products, 1926-48; the fann value of
dairy products, 1920-48; the gross value of production in the forest industry,
1920-47; the chief statistics of manufactures, 1917-47 and, in an appendix, the
personal iucome of the population, 1926-48. The Year Book already contained
tables showing the value of mineral production since 1898; the value of fisheries
from 1900 and the principal statistics of central electric stations from 1919 ta
1947. The present edition, therefore, contains statistics pertaining ta the more
important fields of production from 1926 onwn.rd. The work is being carried on
and the next edition of the Year Book will caver the remaining spheres of produc-
tion and a general survey of the economic production of the Province from 1926
will be included. Such a compilation is an arduous task but it is indispensable
ta a serious economic study; with comparable data extending over periods of
at least twenty years, it will be possible ta trace really significant trends and ta
establish trustworthy correlations.

As in previous years, special attention has been g,iven ta the graphs. The
curves have aU been dra\vn from a cornmon starting-point and consequently
are comparable. Besides, a semi-logarithmic chart shows the trend of each
kind of production from 1938 ta 1947. This particular graph has the advantage
of providing a condensed illustration of fluctuations in the war yeaTs and during
the industrial reconversion period which followed.
For the past few years, specialized training in the Frovince has expanded ta
an extraordinary degree. Mr. Fernand Dostie, Assistant Deputy Minister of
Social Welfare and Youth, describes this development in an article entitled:
"The Department of Social Welfare and Youth".