THIRTEENTH CENSUS

HEARINGS ^

BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON THE CENSUS OF

THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

1ST SESSION, 60TH CONGRESS

MEMBERS OF COMMITTEB ON THE CENSUS

SIXTIETH CONGRESS

EDGAR D. CRL'MI'ACKER, Onirman

EDWIN C. BURI.EIOH CHARLES F. BARCLAY

JAMES A. HUGHES JAMES HAY

CHARLES T. DUNWELL JOSEPH T. ROBINSON

HIRAM R. BURTON WILLIAM B. WILSON

NATHAN W. HALE HANNIBAL L. GODWIN

WILLIAM M. CALDER WILLIAM E. COX

HOWARD M. 8NAPP COURTNEY W. HAMLIN

JOHN W. LANGLEY

NELSON R. JACOBSOS, Cltrk

f VflW

WASHINGTON

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE

1908
a o: C.
o

THIRTEENTH CENSUS.

ROOM OF THE COMMITTEE ON CENSUS,

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,

Washington, D. C, January 22, 1908.

The Committee met at 10 o'clock a. m., Hon. E. D. Crumpacker in

the chair.

STATEMENT OF MR. S. N. D. NORTH, DIRECTOR OF THE CENSUS.

Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the Committee, the sections of the

pending bill are on the left-hand side of the document which has

been printed, and the corresponding sections of the Twelfth Census

act, or the permanent Census act, as' the case may be, are on the righthand side.

The changes in the language which are suggested by this bill are

all indicatedby the italics, so that it will be possible for any member

of the Committee to refer to the corresponding sections of the bill and

the law and note without any difficulty any change that is suggested

in the drafted bill.

These changes are not numerous. The lines of the Twelfth Census

net, in accordance with the instructions received from the House

Census Committee and the Senate Census Committee, are followed

literally, or with mere verbal changes, wherever it was possible to do

so, taking cognizance of the establishment of the permanent Census

Office in the interval, and wherever it was desirable for purposes of

greater efficiency and greater economy to introduce more marked

changes.

The great problem in connection with the drafting of this bill was

to fit the temporary decennial period into the permanent Census

Office, and it is believed that that has been successfully accomplished

by section 2 of the bill, which is the string upon which the whole

thing hangs; that is the section which describes the three years beginning one year before and continuing two years after the decennial

census as " the decennial census period." The bill provides that during that period the whole Office, including the permanent Census as

well as the temporary clerks, shall go on to a lump-sum appropriation, abandoning for that interval the annual appropriations in the

legislative, executive, and judicial appropriation bill which are nowmade for the permanent Office, that situation to continue during this

three-year period, at the end of which time employment of temporary

clerks then on the roll would terminate, the annual appropriations

would begin again as they now are made, and the Office would fall

back automatically into the situation which now exists.

3
4 THIRTEENTH CENSUS.

Under the provisions of the bill,' no permanent Census Office clerk

would lose his status in that way although it might be necessary, as

this bill provides, to transfer him during that period from his permanent position into a position on the temporary roll. On the other

hand, no temporary clerk, although the bill provides that such clerks

may be put temporarily into permanent positions, would retain his

position at the end of the decennial census period.

I believe that with one or two slight changes the bill is so drawn as

to effect that automatic transformation from the permanent into a

temporary office and back again without the necessity of any legislation in addition, and without the possibility of any friction.

Mr. HALE. Pardon me, but with your knowledge of the situation,

would there legally be many transferred from permanent into this

temporary; and if so, where?

Mr. Noimi. Well, to positions drawing higher salaries and involving greater responsibility.

Mr. HALE. In the Office here?

Mr. NORTH. In the Office here. The number of permanent positions

provided for by the permanent Census act is not sufficient to properly

equip the Office with supervisory places during the decennial period,

and yet the people who are best qualified to perform those supervisory

duties are undoubtedly those who have been trained in the Office

and who are now there. But if they are to have greater duties

and greater responsibilities, it is proper and right that they should,

during that teniporarv period, receive higher pay.

Mr. HALE. Does this temporary employment referred to here, include work here•it does not include the field work ?

Mr. NORTH. Not the force that I am referring to, because it makes

no reference to that.

The CHAIRMAN. Mr. North, I understand that this bill would

transfer the Office here in Washington into what might be called a

temporary office, beginning July 1, 1009; that is, an office whose chief

function would be to provide for the Thirteenth Census, and the. temporary office is to exist for a period not to exceed three years, and

during that period the Director will have such control over the clerks

and employees in the Office that he may assign them to duty according

to their experience and aptitudes and capabilities, without regard to

whether they are temporary clerks or permanent clerks; but when

the decennial period ceases, then the temporary clerks

Mr. NORTH. Disappear.

The CHAIRMAN. Disappear, yes; their employment ceases, and

those that are in the permanent service are assigned back to their

several positions?

Mr. NORTH. Yes, at reduced salaries, which will probably follow.

That is an exact statement of the purpose and the provisions of the

bill.

Mr. ROBINSON. Has this three-year decennial period ever been provided for before?

Mr. NORTH. It never has. It was never necessary, because there

never existed a permanent census until after the last census. That is

therefore an absolutely new feature in the law.

Mr. ROBINSON. This new feature provides at one place a sufficient

appropriation in this bill to carry it for three years, does it?

Mr. NORTH. Yes; for three years.
THIBTEENTH CENSUS. 6

Mr. ROBINSON. And you think it pays to do that, because an annual

interruption by an annual appropriation might impede the work, or

might stop the work right in the middle of it?_

Mr. NORTH. Yes.

The CHAIRMAN. I believe it would be proper, Mr. North, for the

Committee to hear something about the general work of the permanent Census Office and some reasons for its existence; if you are inclined to make a statement upon that question, we will be glad to

hear it.

-Mr. NORTH. The permanent Census Office has been very busy ever

since it was created; it has never seen the time when it did not have

plenty of work ahead of it, and it will just about be able, as near as

I can figure it, to finish all the work assigned to it before the time

when it must begin work upon the Thirteenth Census.

We have all sorts of experiences, however, to encounter, and I may

be disappointed in that. We first, had the Philippine census assigned

to us, and we compiled that census. We then had the census of Oklahoma given to us last summer, and within the last week we have

received orders from the President to compile and tabulate the census

of Cuba, which has just been finished by the War Department. The

governor of Cuba, Governor Magoon, who sent the director of the

Cuban census to Washington last week, stated to the President in

his letter that they had no facilities in Cuba for the tabulation of

that census, and therefore proposed that the work of tabulation be

given to the United States Census Office, but with the understanding

that all of the expenses connected with the tabulation of the census

should be paid by the Cuban treasury. In order to accomplish that,

it will be necessary to have an additional force, not paid out of our

own appropriation, and to transfer temporarily to the Cuban rolls

certain of our best people to supervise the work.

The CHAIRMAN. HOW long do you think that will take?

Mr. NORTH. We figure it will take about three months to. do it.

That will not interrupt our regular work except in a very slight

degree.

Mr. ROBINSON. In what division of this bill we are now considering is the Cuban census?

Mr. NORTH. It is not in it at all.

Mr. ROBINSON. You now refer to that to show the additional work

that is required of the Bureau ?

Mr. NORTH. Yes; the unexpected work.

The CHAIRMAN. The increase of force made necessary by the tabulation of the Cuban census will have to be provided for by temporary

appointments?

Mr. NORTH. Yes, sir. We anticipate that it will require about 100

clerks to do that work in three months; and in view of the fact that

the schedules are all in Spanish, it is quite probable that the great

majority of thase 100 clerks will be drawn from those former clerks

of the Twelfth Census living here in the city of Washington who

tabulated the Philippine census, which was also in Spanish; they

will possess the great advantage of having had some training in a

census taken in that language.

The CHAIRMAN. HOW did you come to take the Oklahoma census?

Mr. NORTH. It was taken under an order of the President, and that

order was based on a provision in the law for the establishment of
6 THIETEENTH CENSUS.

the Department of Commerce and Labor, section 8, I believe, it is

of the act, which gives to the Secretary of Commerce and Labor the

authority to make such special investigations and reports as he may

be required to do by the President, or by either House of Congress,

or which he himself may deem necessary or urgent.

I think that is almost the exact phraseology of the provision of

the law. Under that provision the President issued this order to

the Secretary. He passed it on to me, as it were. The President

having first ascertained that the money required to make the enumeration could be taken from our appropriation for the current fiscal year,

provided we postponed or delayed some of the work for which that

money was appropriated, and the Attornej'-General as well as the

Comptroller of the Treasury having decided that the terms of the appropriation act were such as to make it proper for the President to

order that some of that money should be used in making one of these

reports or investigations, which he was authorized to order under

the departmental act.

• We therefore postponed the census of fisheries, which the law authorizes and directs the Census Office to take, and which we had intended to take during the present fiscal year. It cost about $70,000

to take the Oklahoma census, and that was about the figure that we

estimated it would cost to take the fisheries census.

We shall ask the Appropriations Committee to give us that $70,000

again for the next year, in order that we may do that work, which

was simply postponed, the question as to the order in which the reports authorized and directed by law shall be taken up being left to

the discretion of the Director under the terms of the law.

The CHAIRMAN. I understand the Oklahoma census was ordered by

the President, to enlighten him in his consideration of the Oklahoma

constitution, and it was a piece of emergency work?

Mr. NORTH. Tt was alleged in regard to the Oklahoma constitution,

which carried an apportionment for the legislative districts, that

there had been a gerrymander of those distrfcts in the constitution,

and it was alleged if that was the case it would constitute a valid

ground upon which the President might decline to sign the constitution: I think the census was primarily deemed desirable in order to

ascertain whether that objection to the constitution was a valid one.

Mr. ROBINSON. I take it, then, that the census discloses the fact

that that objection was not a valid one: that that state of affairs did

not exist?

Mr. NORTH. It did not exist. I think most people were surprised

to find out how evenly the districts were apportioned, in view of the

fact that they had no census by which to be guided.

Of course, apart from that reason for taking the census of Oklahoma, it was an extremely desirable thing to do, because they had no

knowledge whatever in that State what was the population of the

minor civil divisions which they had established lor the several

counties and towns; the census has proved of enormous value to the

people of the State, and particularly to the local, county, and other

officers in establishing their offices.

The demand for the census has been unprecedented. I think we

have had a larger call for that publication than for any of our recent

publications. We have been obliged to get out a new edition to meet

the demand, and I expect that there will have to be a third edition.
THIBTEENTH CENSUS. 7

The CHAIRMAN. What about the general improvement in methods

of making inquiries, and tabulating and systematizing statistics and

facts?

Mr. NORTH, I think the improvement is very much greater than it

is possible to adequately express in words. The work is done with

more care and more knowledge and more discrimination than it was

ever possible to exercise on corresponding work during the rush and

turmoil work of decennial censuses. The basis of the reform in that

direction appeared in the Twelfth Census act, which provided that

that census should be confined to the four inquiries of population,

agriculture, manufactures, and vital statistics, and that all the other

inquiries and investigations which the law provided for should be

postponed and not taken up until after the work upon these four

great reports was completed and published; and that was the procedure followed.

The Twelfth Census act, by containing that provision, practically

provided for a permanent Census Office without realization of the

fact by Congress, because it made it necessary for the Office to continue in existence after the completion of the Twelfth Census,

However, Congress .has in the meanwhile put a number of additional duties upon the Office not contemplated by the Twelfth Census act or the permanent Census act, the most important and expensive of which was the report on marrjage and divorce, which was

authorized by Congress as the result of a special message from the

President, and which made it necessary for us to send an agent to

every county in the United States, 2,800 of them, to ransack their .

court records for a period of twenty years. We have just recently

completed the field work on that report and are now engaged in its

compilation and tabulation, and we hope and believe that we shall

be able to publish it before the end of the present fiscal year.

Still another duty placed upon the Census Office unexpectedly,

that was not contemplated in the original law, was the compilation

of the biennial Official Register. Our first biennial register was published on the day Congress came into session. That is the first time

in a great many 3'ears that it has been published on December 1,

the day the law requires that it shall be published. It has usually

appeared in February or March.

We put a great deal of study on the Official Eegister, wluch had

become an impossible book. The two volumes of the Register together

made a pile of paper that high [indicating] and the weight of it

nearly 30 pounds. We have succeeded by various devices in cutting

the two volumes down to two books about that thick [indicating],

and about one-fourth of the number of pages that there were in the

old Official Register, and the bill for printing it was approximately

$50,000 less than the cost of the last Official Register.

I believe that is a good practical illustration of the general benefits

which come from having a permanent Census Office. It shows what

can be done by an office which devotes its entire attention to the doing

of just such things.

The CHAIRMAN. In relation to its usefulness, what have yon to say?

Mr. NORTH. The usefulness of the Register?

The CHAIRMAN, The Official Register, yes, as compared with the

usefulness of the old Register,
8 THIBTEENTH CENSUS.

Mr. NORTH. I believe it is far more convenient and useful than the

old Register. The old Register contained an index, which represented about one-third of its contents, and in order to find the

data regarding any person you had to first turn to this index and

there you learnecTthe page upon which you would find the name of

the person, and you would have to turn to that Our register is what

you might call a directory. We have abandoned the index and we

have arranged the names alphabetically, like a city directory, and

you can turn to a man's name and you have right there the information that you want to find, and all which the register furnishes.

The CHAIRMAN. I have examined the new Register and I think you

are right about it, and I suppose each member of the committee will

have occasion before long, when we get them in the Office here, to

compare the old Register with the new one.

Now, Mr. North, to what extent has there been an increased demand on your Office for special reports, and for statistical information by the public?

Mr. NORTH. Well, it has been very extraordinary, Mr. Chairman.

The volume of correspondence which comes into the Office from all

parts of the country in the way of inquiry for statistical information

is beyond all expectition that I ever supposed it would reach, and it

is increasing all the time. We make it a point in our Office to answer

every letter of inquiry, whether it relates strictly to census work or

to the work of some other Bureau or Department of the Government.

We feel that it is a part of our duty to be a sort of general information bureau of the Government. Any letter which relates to the

statistical work of any other Department which we can answer just

as well as that Department we answer ourselves, instead of referring

it to that Department.

We have quite a little division in our Office whose sole duty it is

to prepare answers to letters of inquiry.

In the winter time we are obliged to very materially increase the

size of that division, in order to answer iaqmres that come to us from

Members of Congress.

The number and character of these inquiries that come to us from

Members of Congress are extremely gratifying, and of course we

always make it a point to supply them with all the information they

desire if we possibly can.

The CHAIRMAN. In the employment of special agents to make these

various inquiries in the field, what do you do•what class of people

do you employ ?'

Mr. NORTH. Well, except at intervals like that during which we

were taking the quinquennial census of manufactures, which the

permanent census provides for, we have employed very few. The law

establishing the permanent census permitted the detail of the permanent clerks of the Office to field work, and, as a rule, since the manufacturing census was completed, we have confined our field work to

the official force, and that is the way in which we have been able to

keep the force busy, without incurring expenditure for temporary

service.

The CHAIRMAN. While clerks of the Office are in the field their

salary is the same?
THIRTEENTH CENSUS. 9

Mr. NORTH. The same: yes, sir.

The CIIAIKMAN. As they receive in the Office^

Mr. NORTH. Except that they have a per diem of $3 for expenses.

The CHAIRMAN. About how much a force have you in the Office?

Mr. NORTH. The clerical force is 636 at the present time.

The CHAIRMAN. And what has been the average appropriation for

your Office, including appropriations for the work?

Mr. NORTH. Since the Twelfth Census, you mean?

The CHAIRMAN. Yes.

Mr. NORTH. It has been something over $1,200,000, or about that, a

year. I expected to bring with me to-day a complete financial statement of the appropriation for the Census Office since it was organized. The disbursing officer is preparing that statement, and he told

me this morning that he doubted if it would be done this morning,

but I will submit it to the committee at the next session, or hand it

to the clerk of the committee and have it included in this hearing, if

you desire. It is a very complete and a very well differentiated and

detailed statement of all these expenditures.

Mr. ROBINSON. This bill under consideration contemplates the

carrying of the regular expenses of the Bureau and of those incidental to the Thirteenth Census all in one?

Mr. NORTH. In one appropriation, yes sir.

Mr. ROBINSON. Let me ask j'ou this. What length of time did it

take to complete the Twelfth Census?

Mr. NORTH. It took exactly this length of time which this section

2 provides.

Mr. ROBINSON. DO you figure that the work can again be done

within the same length of time?

Mr. NORTH. Yes.

Mr. ROBINSON. The efficiency of the office force has been kept up to

that degree and while other work is required you still think yon will

be able to do it within that period of time?

Mr. NORTH. I do, sir; and I think the bill was intended to require

that it should be done. If that is not clear in the bill, it ought to be

put there. That clause did appetfr in the Twelfth Census act.

The CHAIRMAN. I think it ought to be made clear.

Mr. ROBINSON. That is the reason I asked that question.

The CHAIRMAN. I think it ought to be made imperative.

Mr. NORTH. I think so, too.

The CHAIRMAN. What annual investigations are you required to

make by law ?

Mr. NORTH. Three. In the first place, the bimonthly report of the

amount of cotton ginned, which goes on through the ginning season.

The second report required by the permanent Census act is the annual

report on mortality, the vital statistics of the registration areas* which

cover now very nearly one-half of the total population of the country.

The third report is one not provided for in the permanent census act

but transferred to the Census Office by the Secretary from the Bureau

of Labor, and that is the annual reports on the financial and other

statistics of cities, covering 157 cities which have a population of

30,000 or more, and which is made annually.

The CHAIRMAN. What other periodical investigations does the law

require you to make?
10 THIRTEENTH CENSUS.

Mr. NORTH. Those, are the three annual reports required, to these

should be added the Official Register, which is biennial.

The CHAIKMAN. Those are the only ones?

Mr. NORTH. All the other investigations we are required to make

are decennial, with two exceptions at present. One exception is the

quinquennial census of manufactures and the other exception is the

quinquennial census of the electrical industries. All the rest of them

are annual or decennial.

The CHAIRMAN. Aside from these annual inquiries required by law,

the other investigations can be made in what is known as the interdecennial interim.

Mr. NORTH. Both the animal and the two quinquennial investigations which this bill provides for.

The CHAIRMAN. Of course you contemplate the continuation of

these annual inquiries during the decennial census period?

Mr. NORTH. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. That is included in the appropriation?

Mr. NORTH. That is covered by the bill. This $14,000,000 appropriation which is named in the bill is intended to include the cost of

carrying on those three annual reports for three years, as well as for

the expenses of the Thirteenth Census. It will probably cost to make

those three annual reports for three years about $1,000,000. The

cotton report alone costs us about $'220,000 a year.

Mr. HAY. What was the cost, Mr. North, of the three years of the

Twelfth Census?

Mr. NORTH. It was about $12,000,000.

Mr. HAY. So that $14,000,000 is a very conservative estimate?

Mr. NORTH. The $14,000,000 contemplates a decennial census,

which, in my judgment, ought to cost at least $1,000,000 less than the

Twelfth Census did, which will not be wholly due to the fact that

there exists a permanent Census Office, but will be largely due to that

fact and to certain changes which are indicated in this bill, if they are

enacted in the legislation.

One of those changes is the omission of the fourth of the great decennial reports, that on vital statistics, and it is believed in the Office,

and all of the statisticians whom I have consulted agree to the proposition, that the annual report on vital statistics which we are now

making is sufficient to justify the omission of that report from the decennial census. The experts in the study of mortality statistics have

long been of the opinion that the returns of mortality obtained by

enumerators in their rounds of the people are so inaccurate that theA'

are really not worth what they cost. And that is the reason why

in section 1 of this bill the words " of deaths," which are in brackets

on the right hand side, have been omitted.

Of cburse, the omission of that inquiry from the field work and

from the tabulation will result in a large saving of money. Just how

much, I am not prepared to sav. I have, however, a memorandum

covering the reasons why it is deemed wise to omit them, which has

been prepared by the chief statistician in charge of vital statistics,

and which I would like to have included in my statement.

The CHAIRMAN. Giving the reasons for it?

Mr. NORTH. Yes.
THIBTEENTH CENSUS. 11

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE AND LABOR,

BUREAU OF THE CENSUS,

Washington, May /,, 1907.

Hon. S. N. D. NORTH,

• Director of the Census.

Sis: In accordance with your direction, I have carefully considered the (juestion of necessary legislation relative to vital statistics for the approaching

census, and submit herewith certain data in connection therewith. The subject

assumes a somewhat different aspect from that existing prior to any previous

census, from the fact that the permanent census law now in force provides for

annual returns from the entire registration area. This law Is fairly satisfactory

and should on no account be Interfered with by any legislation under the Thirteenth Census act: some minor amendments in this section might be made If

perfectly convenient to do so, but no risk of any serious modification in this law

should be incurred.

As to provisions in the Thirteenth Census act proper, I believe that the time

has come to finally cease the necessarily futile effort to secure births and

deaths by enumeration. The registration area should comprise nearly twothirds of the total population of the country in 1010. To collect from one-half

to two-thirds of the deaths that occur in the nonregistration area once in ten

years, and for an odd year (census year) having no convenient relation to the

calendar years employed In the census and Slate annual reports, is largely

labor thrown away. The results are worthless for comparison with accurate

returns based upon proper registration of deaths, and are apt to be used for

misleading comparisons. Owing to the extremely variable degree of inaccuracy

attaching to enumerators' returns of deaths in different localities, they are not

even trustworthy as a check upon the accuracy of registration records. They

should not be used to supplement registration records. The method of enumerating vital statistics is wrong, and serves as a bad example to the States

that are now considering the adoption of registration laws.

From now on the chief efforts of the census should be devoted to the extension of the registration area ; the Improvement of the quality of the returns of

deaths therefrom, especially with reference to statement of cause of death and

occupation of decedents; the promotion of uniformity and comparability between the census. State, and niunlcipal reports; and the maintenance of the

annual mortality reports as a useful means for th&e purposes, in addition to

their usefulness In the prompt presentation of the mortality statistics,

I would accordingly recommend:

1. That no change be made in the permanent census act relating to vital

statistics unless a general revision of this act is to be made, in which case I

would recommend some modification of section S,

2, That all reference to vital statistics be left out of the draft of the bill for

the taking of the Thirteenth Census,

Very respectfully,

CRESSY L. WlI.BfR.

Chief Statistician.

Mr. NORTH. Another great saving which this bill proposes comes

from the omission of the household or neighborhood industries from

the manufacturing census, in accordance with the provision of the

permanent Census act, confining the manufacturing canvass to factories practically.

The collection of the statistics of these minor household industries,

like dressmaking and horseshoeing, and little repair tailor shops,

and that sort or thing, is very expensive, and it is utterly valueless,

and it was therefore omitted from the quinquennial census of manufactures; and to the best of my knowledge and belief there lias not

been a complaint received by the office by reason of their omission.

It is therefore proposed tliat the law should be modified in that

direction also, and there will be another very large saving there.

The CHAIRMAN. What are the reasons for the enactment of legislation for the 13th decennial census at this session of Congress?
12 THIRTEENTH CENSUS.

Mr. NORTH. I have covered that in this memorandum I have

brought with me, to a degree of elaboration which it is not necessary

for me to put upon the Committee now, but which I would like to

have in the printed report.

The CHAIKMAN. It is in your memorandum there; you can put it in

the report of the hearing to be printed.

Mr. NORTH. Yes.

The CHAIRMAN. YOU might briefly state the reasons.

Mr. HAY. If there is no objection, I wish Mr. North would summarize it.

Mr. NORTH. I will summarize it in a few words.

The legislation for the previous census has always been delayed by

one cause or another until the very end of the short session of Congress, and it has had a narrow call on at least two occasions. The bill

for the Twelfth' Census, I think, passed finally on the night of the 3d

of March, the Congress adjourning the next day. Another bill•I

think the bill for the census of 1880•passed on the night of the 3d

of March, and that allowed the Director of the Census only a year

and two months to make all the preparations required for that census, and it was not time enough, of course.

The force of the argument for early legislation would perhaps

seem to be somewhat impaired by the fact that there now exists a

permanent Census Office; but I do not think it is. Instead of being

impaired, I think it is strengthened; because while we have begun

already preparations for the Thirteenth Census, by reason of the fact

that there is a permanent census office, we ought to have every facility

necessary to enable us to take all the advantage possible of that fact.

That is. every possible advajtage ought to be given us, and if we

know by the time this.session of Congress has adjourned, ex&ctly

the provisions of the law under which the Thirteenth Census is to

be taken, we can make our plans and preparations and arrangements

far more intelligently and systematically and satisfactorily than

if we have to wait until another year to know what the minor details

of the bill are to be.

Mr. HALE. And there is no reason for putting it off?

Mr. NORTH. NO reason whatever. The passage of this bill- at this

session of Congress does not involve the expenditure of a dollar of

money, as compared with waiting for another session.

Mr. HALE. In other words, it might save money ?

Mr. NORTH. Undoubtedly it will save money.

The bill contains a provision for the appropriation of $14,000,000,

but that appropriation does not become available until the 1st day of

July, next preceding the Census, 1909, and it is not necessary, of

course, that the appropriation itself shall be voted at this session of

Congress.

Mr. GODWIN. It will take three years from the 1st of July, 1909 ?

Mr. NORTH. Yes, and that is the* time when the $14,000,000 will become available under the provisions of this bill. As I say, it is not

necessary that that section shall be enacted with the rest of the bill.

There will probably be some objection to it.

Mr. ROBINSON. YOU mean the appropriation section ?

Mr. NORTH. Yes. But it was put in there so that it might be enacted if Congress saw fit to do so, and secondly, for the purpose of
THrBTEENTH CENSUS. 13

indicating in a definite way about how much money will be required,

merely as a matter of information.

The CHAIRMAN. Now, under the provisions of this bill, you would

not be authorized to make any temporary appointments preparatory

for the Thirteenth Census, until after July 1,1909, anyway?

Mr. NORTH. NO ; and there is no necessity for it.

The CHAIRMAN. Among the general features of this bill, Mr.

North, is one making it a permanent law, so that legislation will not

be required for the decennial censuses in the future. Do you think

that is a wise and prudent provision ?

Mr. NORTH. That is what has always been done, Mr. Chairman.

Every census bill that has ever been passed in this country, and I

think there is no exception to it, has been a law to provide for the

taking of such and such a census, " and subsequent censuses." That

was the title of the Twelfth Census act, and it is undoubtedly a fact

that the Thirteenth Census can be taken under the Twelfth Census

act, if for any reason legislation should fail•unless it was the appropriation that failed.

The only reasons there are, in my mind, for a complete oew act

have been, first, in order to fit the permanent and the temporary organizations into each other; and second, to make changes like the

two I have just indicated in the law, so the census itself may be somewhat cheapened and somewhat improved.

The CHAIRMAN. If this bill should become a law, in the future,

when a decennial period, as defined in the bill, should arrive, the

Office would resolve itself into a temporary concern to take the decennial census and then after three j'ears it would resolve itself back into

a permanent Census Office and continue to work automatically in that

manner under this law, unless, of course, in the future Congress

should make changes in matter of detail and administration in relation to the subjects of inquiry?

Mr. NORTH. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. It would work automatically in that way?

Mr. NORTH. Yes.

The CHAIRMAN. Now, respecting the

Mr. NORTH. There are certain of these changes which I can continue to enumerate if the committee desires it.

Mr. HAY. Referring to the question of appropriation, which is

one that will probably cause some conflict of opinion, I wanted to ask

why you had this lump sum appropriation provided for. You know

there is a prejudice in Congress now against appropriations of that

kind, and if you could give some reasons why the appropriation

should be provided for in that way, we would be glad to hear them.

Mr. NORTH. Mr. Hay, I deem it practically impossible to conduct

the Census Office during the decennial period with two distinct appropriations. There has always to be the lump sum appropriation

for the decennial census, it is the only way you can do it. If in addition to that lump sum appropriation there continue to be annual

appropriations for the permanent census proper, we should be in all

sorts of difficulties to segregate the expenses as between those two

appropriations.

Mr. HAY. That is what I wanted to bring out.
14 THIRTEENTH CENSUS.

Mr. NORTH. I think it would drive the disbursing officer mad to try

to do that.

Mr. RORINSON. The work would overlap, would it not?

Mr. NORTH. All the time.

Mr. ROBINSON. And the expenses would overlap?

Mr. NOHTIE. All the time. It would be almost a bookkeeping impossibility, I think. I think that reason appeals to you all.

Mr. HAY. 1 know that; but 1 wanted to have you bring it out.

Mr. RORINSON. Have you prepared, or will you submit to the committee, a somewhat itemized statement of this appropriation of

$14,000,000?

Mr. NOKTH. Of what it will be used for?

Mr. KOIUNSON. Yes.

Mr. NORTH. I will be glad to do so; yes. 1 think we can divide it

up pretty completely. At least we have in our Office the cost of every

single branch of the work on the Twelfth Census; but I can submit

that statement, which will perhaps answer your purpose.

The CHAIRMAN. The bill provides for an investigation of mines

and quarries•an investigation that was not required bv the census

actoflWK)?

Mr. NORTH. NO; it was a supplementary investigation.

The CHAIRMAN. And you omit vital statistics. You have explained the reason for that. What are the reasons for the investigation of mines and quarries, as one of the four inquiries to be made

during the decennial census period?

Mr. NORTH. The mines and quarries were taken by the Twelfth

Census act out of the decennial census period and put into the subseauent period. The report we made on mines and quarries bore the

ate of 1902. We took that work up immediately after the completion of the four great inquiries.

While we were engaged in that work, and since, while we have

been engaged in the 1905 manufacturing census, we discovered that

by reason of changed conditions in industry and changed processes

in manufacture, the business of mining and the business of manufacture had become so interwoven that it is practically impossible to

separate them. The United States Steel Corporation is not only a

great manufacturing corporation, but it is also a great mining corporation, and all their accounts are interwoven as between the mining

and the manufacturing. All these great copper corporations not

only mine their copper, but they manufacture it right at the mouth

of "the mine, if not in the mine itself. That is, they apply manufacturing processes to it. The division of that industry between

the mining and the manufacturing processes, requiring one report

to be of a different date from the other, will very seriously affect the

value of the report.

That, in a word, Mr. Chairman, is the reason why mining is put

back into a decennial period by this bill and linked up with manufacturing, so that they can be taken together.

The CHAIRMAN. Then mining and manufacturing will be

taken

Mr. NORTH. Simultaneously.

The CHAIRMAN. And at periods of five years?

Mr. NORTH. No; not necessarily. The permanent census act would

have to be amended if it is to be done every five years for mining.
THIETEENTH CENSUS. 15

The ("HAIRMAN. This act might contain that provision?

Mr. NORTH. This act might contain that provision; yes.

The CHAIRMAN. We take a manufacturing census even' five years ?

Mr. NORTH. Yes.

The CHAIRMAN. If it is so intimately associated with mining,

would the additional expense be justified, of including mining and

quarries with the manufacturing census?

Mr. NORTH. I have no doubt it would; you mean in the five-jear

census ?

The CHAIRMAN. Yes.

Mr. NORTH. I have no doubt it would. I have here a memorandum

prepared at my request by Mr. Steuart. in charge of the division of

manufactures, which goes into that matter in further detail in answer

to your question, which 1 would like to have included in the hearing,

together with the other.

The CHAIRMAN. Without objection, that will go in, and that will

be quite valuable in our understanding of this question.

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE AND LABOR,

IU'UE.M' OF THE CENSUS,

WtMhlngtOH, November 1, 7907.

Hon. S. N. I). NORTH,

Director of the CetUUt,

SIR: In fompliance with your request, I resi)ectfully submit the following

suggestions and reconmiendations regarding the next decennial census:

1. That the census of the niiuing and quarryiuR Industries be taken at the

same time and in connection with the census of manufactures. Prior to 1880,

the census of mining and manufactures was made contemporaneously and it

seems to mo this practice should be resumed because it would enable the Office

to do this entire work at less cost and permits of a more definite segregation

of the statistics for the two branches of industry. The statistics for both

branches should be on uniform lines and cover the same year so they can be

combined in such a manner as to present a consistent total. At each of the last

three censuses when the census of mines has been separated from that of manufactures, there has been more or less duplication in the totals, the statistics for

establishments engaged In both milling and manufacturing being included in

both Industries. The combination of mining and manufacturing by the use of

the same capital, the same labor, etc., has been accentuated by the consolidation

of industrial enterprises and it frequently happens that the manipulation of the

ore and the smelting and refining processes are so Interwoven with the mining

business as to be inseparable.

2. The census of mauiifnctures should be confined to manufacturing establishments conducted under what Is known as the factory system, exclusive of

the so-called neighborhood anil mechanical industries, and of all establishments

with an annual production valued at less than $500. While, technically, the

work in all smull establishnu'iits is a part of the nianufactnres of the country,

it forms a very small proportion of the total, and their omission makes no appreciable difference. The statistics of capital Invested in such shops, cost of

materials consumed, or value of product, is of no economic Importance.

3. The building trades, such as masonry, painting, paper hanging, paving,

plastering, rooting, etc., which have heretofore been included in the decennial

census, are mechanical trades which should be excluded from any census of

manufactures. The building operatiooa are a very important factor In the

industTiul progress of the country. They give employment to an army of wageearners, probably a larger number than is employed in any single branch of

manufactures, and the value of the buildings erected or in course of erection

during a year. Is a good index to the business prosperity of the country. The

building trades can not be properly reported on the schedule used for the census

of manufactures, and if they are excluded from that census I recommend that

a separate census be made of them, either contemporaneous with the regular

census or immediately after the publication of the results of that census.

4. A penal provision of law for failure to answer the inquiries contained in

the schedule of manufactures is of great assistance in securing the reports;
16 THIRTEENTH CENSUS.

In many instances it is indispensable. Frequently the first inquiry asked of

the agent when lie requests the report is, " Does the law require that this

information shall be fnrnisheilV" The penal provision should be reenacted,

but so worded that It could be supported by legal opinion.

5. Section 7, of the act of March 3, ]8S)!>, makes definite provision for the

inquiries to be made in the schedule of manufactures. The act of March 6,

1902, gives the Director general authority to prepare such schedules as in hie

judgment may be necessary. I am of the opinion that it would be wise to

reenact tills feature of the law of 1809. At the census of 3905 there was concerted opposition among the manufacturers In some important industries to

making census reports. There seemed to be a general dlsixisition to furnish

some information, possibly enough to enable the Office to compile consistent

general totals, but qnlto uniform opposition was made to the detail information required In the general and some of the s]>eclal schedules. I suggest,

therefore, that the law siwcify that all manufacturers shall report the total

capital Invested: number of proprietors and firm members; number of salaried

employees and total annual salaries; average number of wage-earners and

total annual wages; total miscellaneous expenses; total cost of materials;

total value of products; number and horsepower of steam engines, water

wheels, and electric motors.

6. The employment of special agents on a per diem basis to make a canvass is

the most expensive, but It is the most accurate way to make an enumeration.

However, the amount of work (number of reports secured daily), by the temporary employees engaged in field work at the last three censuses has been very

unsatisfactory. The agent knows that his term of service depends upon the

time it will take to make the canvass, and the tendency will be to prolong

rather than hasten the completion of the work. If the Director has authority

to employ special agents on a piece-price basis in localities where such a method

of employment would be to the advantage of the work, the canvass for the

census of manufactures could be made much more rapidly and at much less expense than heretofore. If the work was properly supervised by the regular

employees of the Office there would be very little. If any, sacrifice in accuracy.

An arrangement for payment according to quantity of work would also be of

great service in making the canvass of cotton ginneries and in other branches

of field work. The present method of payment for the cotton-ginning work on a

per diem basis is very unsatisfactory.

7. There should be some provision of law to the effect that the information

furnished the Bureau of the Census must be considered as strictly confidential

by every offlciai of that Bureau ; that it must be used only for the statistical

purposes for which it was furnished; that no one other than the sworn employees of the Bureau shall be allowed to examine the reports; that no publication must be made whereby the report of any establishment can be Identified.

There should also be a i)eualty for any employee of the Bureau to make known

to the public, or to give to any person not a sworn employee of the pfflce, any

Information obtained In his official capacity otherwise than in the regular

official manner which shall be approved by the Director.

8. The census of manufacturing and mining industries should cover the calendar year 1909. The office work should begin January 1, 19(XK and be completed so the schedules can be mailed during the fall of that year and the work

well organized for the canvass to start January 1, 1910. A serious mistake was

made In not giving sufficient time for the office work for the census of 1905.

The success of the census of manufactures depends upon the perfection of the

lists of manufactures, securing reports by mail and recording such reports so

agents will not call for duplicates, negotiations with manufacturers to furnish

the information to agents when they call, and a multitude of other detail that

it is not necessary to mention here. It Is useless to expect a satisfactory census

unless sufficient time is given for good organization. The office work is largely

a matter of correspondence and as no compensation can be given the manufacturers for furnishing the information they must be allowed ample time to

answer the circulars and letters, repeated calls must be made, arrangements

must be perfected for the plants controlled from central offices to make reports,

All of this work was crowded into two or three months at the census of 1905,

and, as a result, there was much time lost by agents In unnecessary visits to

establishments, and many complaints were made by manufacturers and others

concerning the unnecessary annoyance of receiving numerous circulars and calls

from agents, although they had furnished the desired information.
THIBTEENTH CENSUS. 17

9. The canvass for the census of manufactures should be practically finished

before the enumeration of the population and the collection of the statistics of

agriculture is started.

10. Very satisfactory results were obtained at the census of 1905 by having

regular employees supervise the work of the temporary agents and it seems to

me it would be of advantage to have them do similar work for other branches

at the next decennial census, performing the duties heretofore assigned to

supervisors.

11. It is probable that the average salary of the Office force will be somewhat

higher than in 1900 and it will be impossible to have a larger force than was

employed at the Twelfth Census without adding proportionately to the cost of

the work. It will be impossible to obtain a marked improvement in the amount

of work per clerk per day as compared with the average for the two years during which the work of the Twelfth Census was at its height unless the salaries

of the clerks engaged on certain branches of the work is fixed on a piece-price

basis and I recommend that such • provision be included in the census law.

Very respectfully,

W. M. STEUABT,

Chief Statisiicion for Manufactures.

The CHAIRMAN. The bill, too, in one of its chief features, provides

for agricultural statistics every five years, including live stock.

Mr. NORTH. Yes, sir; it does.

The CHAIRMAN. And is there any other subject of inquiry that we

make quinquennially aside from agriculture and live stock?

Mr. NORTH. Aside from manufactures and the electrical industries,

those are the only two at present.

The CHAIRMAN. Those are required by existing law?

Mr. NORTH. Yes.

The CHAIRMAN. And this bill includes now agriculture and live

stock?

Mr. NORTH. That is all.

The CHAIRMAN. What would be the cost of a five-year census in

agriculture and live stock taken independently of the census of population ?

Mr. NORTH. Well, Mr. Chairman, that is a pretty difficult question

to answer offhand. I would be glad to give the matter attention and

to submit an estimate of cost at a later meeting of the committee.

The CHAIRMAN. I would be glad to have you do that, because that

is an important provision of this bill.

Tliere have been bills before this committee for the last five or six

years providing f(jr a five-year census in agriculture and live stock,

and there is a great deal of sentiment for that investigation. The

Secretary of Agriculture, as you know, is very enthusiastic for it,

and we will probably be favored by him with a statement of the reasons why these investigations ought to be made every five years instead of every ten years, and it is important for us to know about what

the expense of that work would be; so that you can investigate and

report to us at a later date, if you will.

Mr. NORTH. Referring to the agricultural section of this bill, I

have also a statement here from Mr. Powers, the chief of our agricultural division, which explains that section (the agricultural section)

in the same way that these other memorandums extend••

Mr. HAY. Which is the agricultural section?

Mr. NORTH. There are two.

Mr. ROBINSON. Where is that found in the bill?

26629•08 2
18 THIRTEENTH CENSUS.

Mr. NORTH. Thai is the section providing for the five-yenr agricultural census.

Mr. KOBINSON. Section 12 seems to he one.

Mr. HAT. And section 32.

Mr. NORTH. Yes: it is section 32.

Mr. HAY. That provides for the quinquennial census?

Mr. NORTH. The agricultural schedule appears on page 3 of this

pamphlet, at the top of the page. May I submit this memorandum?

The CHAIRMAN. We will ne glad to have you submit it.

DKI'AHTMENT OF COMMERCE A.NB I.AIIOK,

BUREAU OF THE CENSUS,

Washington, July 10, 1907.

Memorandum for the Director concerning the Thirteenth Census of agriculture.

In compliauoe with your request of some months ago, I herewith suhmit a

general niomonimluni concerning the scope of the Thirteenth Census of agriculture.

1 will begin by saying that the scope of the census should be detennined at

an early date through a conference between this Otlloe and the Secretary of

Agriculture and the chiefs of his bureaus which are most vitally nffected by

or concerned in the data collected by the Census. In holding such a conference,

the Census Office should be guided by two general principles; it should not

permit the addition of new crops or other farm products to be enumerated

unless their addition to the already long line of articles on our schedule can

be justified by some pressing demand on the part of the Department of Agriculture. Further, if•consistent with the demands of the Department of Agriculture•any crops or animal products on the schedules for ISIOO can be omitted,

I should advocate its omission from the new schedule.

Under these circumstances, I would respectfully recommend a conference

betwemi this Office and the Department of Agriculture at an early date. As

preliminary to such conference, I would suggest that a letter be sent to the

Secretary of Agriculture asking him to notify his bureau chiefs of this pro|)osed

confereHce.

In this connection permit me to say that my reason for wishing a restriction

in the number of crops and animal products to be included In the new schedule

is that any great extension of the field of Inquiry in the census of agriculture

will inevitably tend to lessen accuracy in all data obtained by the Office; and,

by necessitating more editing, will delay the preparation of any preliminary or

final report for the principal crops and products.

The schedule should be arranged, plans should be made, and clerical assistance

should be secured, so as to enable the office to make a preliminary report of the

acreage and yield of the crops for which the Bureau of Statistics of the Department of Agriculture prepare annual estimates, and have such report ready for

the public by January 1,1911. This report should give not only the acreage and

yield of crops of 1909, but also the acreage of the same cropa planted for 1910.

The insertion of the Information relating to 1910 crops, I would urge for two

reasons: For the principal crops It would prove of great assistance In editing

schedules, and would lessen the labor of such editing one-half. Further, if the

information can be promptly tabulated by States and counties, it will, in connection with other data, permit the Department of Agriculture to issue its final estimates for 1910 crops not later thau January 1, 1911.

I recommend that the tabulation be made with electrical adding machines,

such as we now have In the Office, rather than by the old Hollerith machines,

provided some new device is not presented to the office which can demonstrate

greater efficiency and economy.

I recommend that the schedules In a given county be sorted by race, tenure,

size of farm, and value of farm, and that the principal crops and animals be

tabulated with reference to the same. This can be done, by the method suggested, with an added expense for tabulation of not to exceed ten or fifteen per

cent over tabulation by county alone. Classification of farms by value of products or character of farm may be omitted, provided the Department of Agriculture does not seriously object.
THIRTEENTH CENSUS. 19

I beg leave to submit a recommendation that the act for taking the census

give the Office authority to expend a limited amount in October, 1010, in securing exact census returns of crop acreage in a number of counties in different

states•these returns to be for the crops for which the Department of Agriculture prepares annual estimates. I would not seek to make this a complete census of all farms, but of the majority of farms in specified counties. The report

would show the acreage of all farms in the territory in 1909, the acreage of the

particular crops on such farms in 1909: and for 1910, the farm acreage and crop

acreage for the farms for which reports are received. This would be accompanied by porceutflges, and in all respects would make use of the methods employed in the annual statistics of manufacturers of Massachusetts, prepared by

its bureau of labor statistics. Such a report would give the percentage of

crop acreage as compared with 1910, and thus provides a basis for crop estimates lifted out of the domain of personal judgment, and one that can be ex-.

amirled at all times by any body of men : all steps verified and given to the public from time to time.

I would expend the appropriation for testing the expediency and economy

of such statistics by two methods of securing this information•(1) by a township system, such as that employed for the ordinary census of population and

agriculture: and (2) by a county system, such as you suggested for the fiveyear census of agriculture. The experiment would settle which of these

methods would involve the least expenditure of money in securing the best

results for a five-year census, and is justified on that ground alone, further.

If this preliminary Investigation should prove that by either the county or

township organization the Bureau of the Census could secure annually fairly

complete returns on which percentage estimates of acreage could be computed,

and that with no great expenditure, the way would be open for obtaining what

is in effect an annual census of agriculture. I believe that the Importance of

the subject merits the conference with the Department of Agriculture, and If

It meets with their approval, the original draft of the Census act should contain

provisions for this investigation.

Of other recommendations, I would submit the following: I would suggest

that a number of special studies, such as those found in the 1880 Report on

Agriculture, be presented. I would call upon Mr. Roper for such a study of

cotton, and upon other experts of this office and the Department of AgrlcuUure

for similar studies relating to other subjects. These should all be prepared

and outlined in advance, so that the whole may be issued without delay upon

the completion of the census tabulation.

In like manner, preliminary text for State bulletins should be prepared so

soon as an outline of the scope of the census Is established.

As previously stated. I wish at some lime during the current year to visit the

South and study farm conditions, especially as the same relate to farm tenure.

I wish to make a personal study of that subject for the next census report. I

also feel that the office should have more detailed information upon a mnuber

of special subjects relating to agriculture In the South, If success is to be

made of the annual crop acreage reports to which I have alluded. At a little

later time some special study should be made of the conditions in the range

country of the West and Southwest, as precedent to an accurate census of

that region. With greater knowledge of special conditions, greater accuracy

can be given to the work of the census, and at less expense.

All of which Is respectfully submitted.

L. G. POWEBS,

Chief Staligtician.

Mr. NORTH. I also have a memorandum from Mr. Hunt, the chief

of the population division, in regard to the population schedule. I

would be pleased if the Committee would allow that also to be inserted in the hearings. I think it will be of value to the members

of the Committee.

The CHAIRMAN. I presume the Committee would like to have all

the information that can be.gotten together upon these questions, and

without objection that will go in the record, so it will be available

to all the members of the Committee, or accessible to them.
20 THIKTEENTH CENSUS.

DEPARTMENT OF COMMEBCE AND LABOR,

RUBEAU OF THE CENSUS,

Mitshlni/ton, January 15, 1908.

Hon. S. N. D. NORTH,

Director of the Census.

DEAR SIB : lu conuection with tlie preparation of the bill proposed for taking

the Thirteenth Census, I have the honor to sulmilt the following suggestions

and recoinmendations. having reference for the most part to those things which

affect the enunieratlon, and the necessary legislation relating yiereto.

Restriction of work at decennial period.

By the exclusion of the mortality statistics aud the elimination of the socalled neighborhood and niechauicai industries from the census of manufactures (as In the Interdecennial census of 1905) and, therefore, the possibility

of the entire withdrawal of the collection of the statistics of manufactures

from the general work, the census enumerators will have but. two subjects of

inquiry to deal with, namely, population and agriculture; and even though

there may be a schedule for the enumeration of live stock not on farms, as at

the Twelfth Census, no enumcralor would hi any event have more than three,

and in most cases but two, schedules•population and live Stock not on farms

In city districts, and population and agriculture in country districts. In other

words, the work of the general census emimerators will be confined to population aud agriculture, the statistics of which can only be properly secured by a

house-to-house canvass.

This restriction of work at the decennial period, if it can be so effected, will

greatly simplify the duties of the census enumerators, and with adequate provision for a close, or fairly close, supervision of the work In the field there

must be necessarily a very considerable gain in the accuracy, esi)edltion and

thoroughness with which the enumeration could be conducted.

Area of enumeration.

The area of enumeration at the Twelfth Census, under the terms of the

census act, comprehended all the States aud Territories on the mainland of the

United States, the District of Columbia, and the outlying Territories of Alaska

and Hawaii. No provision was made by the census act for the enumeration

of the inhabitants of Porto Rico, but a census of that island was taken as of

November 10, 1899, under the direction of the War Department. A similar

enumeration of the population of the Philippine Islands, under the direction

of the War Department, was taken as of March 2, 1903. No census of the

Islands of Guam aud Samoa has been taken since they have been in the

possession of the United States, but estimates of their population have been

received from official sources. The total population of the continental and

insular possessions of the United States in the year 1900 or thereabouts was

very nearly 80,000,000, distributed as follows:

Division. I Population.

Continenuil United Slutes I 7S,994,675

Military and navai stations abroad I 91,219

Alaska I 63,592

[Jawaii lM,m

Porto Rico..

Philippines.

Guam

Samoa

70.3<W, 3.S7

953,243

7,035,126

H, mm

6,100

84,907,156

Dale of

census.

Jimo 1,1900.

Nov. 10,1S9B.

Mar. 2,1903.

Kstlmate.

Do.

If, as now contemplated, the census work in 1910, outside of contlneutal

United States, Is limited to Alaska, Hawaii, and Porto Rico, the total population to be enumerated at the decennial period, on the basis of the figures of the
TH1BTEENTH CENSUS. 21

last two censuses, In each case, is likely to be somewhat more than 90,000,000,

as follows:

Division. 1890. 1900. 1910.

Continental (;nIted States 62,947,714 75,994,576

91,219

63,592

164,001

6953,243

89,223,874

Alaska 32,052

89,990

a 798,666

95,132

Hawaii 218,012

Porto Rico 1,096,033

m

a 1887. »uw

With this amount of population distributed over a wide area and the necessity for a reasonably quick but accurate enumeration, two Important considerations follow, namely, the date most acceptable for the actual work of eaumeratlon, all things considered, and the number and compensation of the necessary

supervisory force.

Dale of enumeration.

For the first four censuses the enumeration provided by the Constitution was

taken as of the.first Monday of August, but at the census of 1830 the date of

enumeration was changed to June 1, and has so remained to the present time.

Owing to the great increase in population, its concentration largely at urban

centers, and the changed conditions of living generally, it has become increasingly difficult at each census to secure a full enumeration as of that date, due

not alone to the considerable shifting of the population on or about the time of

the enumerator's visit but also to the absence from their usual places of abode

during the summer months of a constantly Increasing number of families concerning whom the necessary information can be obtained, if at all, only through

f-xtraordinary effort and the adoption of various expedients to reach them following the enumerator's failure to Include them in the ordinary course of his

work. These difficulties have been appreciated by the census officials, particularly at the period of the last two censuses, and in the preparation of bills looking to a permanent census service as well as in the preliminary drafts of bills

providing for the Twelfth Census work, an effort was made to have the date of

enumeration come either in the fall of the year or at a time sufficiently earlier

than the 1st of June as to practically obviate the objections to which that date

Is open in the light of present conditions.

October would be an ideal month In which to make the actual canvass as of

either the 1st or 15th, and it was so recommended by Su|)erintendent Porter In

his report of December 1, 1891, advocating a permanent Census Bureau; but, as

stated by Commissioner Wright in his report of December 7, 1S96, providing a

plan for a permanent census service, that time of year is open to the criticism

that tiie enumeration of every alternate decade would immediately precede a

Presidential election and that the presence in the field at such a time of a large

force of enumerators "might have an unhappy influence which it would be wise

to avoid." The date named by Commissioner Wright in said report was April

15, and this diite was again used in the draft of a bill for taking the Twelfth

Census submitted by him on March 1, 1898. A bill drafted by the late William

A. King at the same time and for the same purpose named May 1, but the latter

date is. in many respects, as objectionable as June 1. It is true, as stated by

Mr. King in his letter of March 14, 1898, to Senator Carter, that May would find

the country roads In much better condition (than in April), but this objection

is met In the proposed Thirteenth Census act by the discrelionary power given

the Director of the Census to postpone work in any district In which climatic or

other conditions are likely to materially interfere with Its proper conduct at

that time. All things considered, I am satisfied that April 15 is the best date

that can be selected and, under the proviso that the enumeration shall be commenced on that date and be completed within two weeks in all cities having at

least 5,000 inhabitants at the preceding census•and In many other sections as

well In which the work can safely be commenced on that date•It Is evident

that the enumeration of a very considerable part of the population can be undertaken on April 15 and brought to a completion by May 1, or the very early part

of that month at the most.
22 THIBTEENTH CENSUS.

Number of tupeniton.

The number of supervisors in 1000 under the terms of the census act was limited to 300, and judging from the experience of that census the total number of

supervisors at the Thirteenth Census need not exceed 330, the number provided

by the proposed act. Of this number at least 4 should be set aside for the outlying Territories of Alaska, Hawaii, and Porto Rico, and, similarly, at least 3

will be required for the work in Arizona, New Mexico, and the District of Columbia. Although the proposed Thirteenth Census act provides, as In 1900,

•' that so far as practicable and desirable the boundaries of the supervisors' districts shall conform to the boundaries of the Congressional disteicts," there would

be no reason or necessity for observing this stipulation either in States of comparatively small area or in counties representiug large centers of population,

even though they contain two or more Congressional districts, or parts thereof.

There are 5 States and 15 counties which readily fall into these two groups, and

for each of which but a single supervisor would possibly be required. These

States and counties comprise in effect 85 Congressional districts and, on the

basis of a single supervisor for each of these States and counties (20 in all) and

by a further allowance for 1 Congressman at large each in Colorado, Kansas,

and Washington, It would be possible to have the boundaries of the remaining

303 supervisors' districts substantially conform to the boundaries of Congressional districts, if deemed practicable and desirable so to do, and not exceed the

total number of supervisors' districts provided for in the proposed census act.

The distribution of these districts, as herein suggested simply for the purpose

of indicating the sufficiency of the total number named, is summarized as follows :

' Super- I CongresArens. | visors' sional

districts, i districts.

Territories not on muinland (Alaska, 2; Hawaii and Porto Rico. ] each)

Territories on uiuinland not States (Arizona, Sew Mexico, and the District ot

Columbia, 1 each) ,

Stales of comparatively small area (Connecticut, Massachusetts, Xew Hampshire,

Rhode Island, and Verniont. 1 each) ;

Counties representing large centers of population {New York, 3 counties; Xew

Jersey, Ohio, and rennsylvania, 2 counlicji each; and California, Illinois,

Louisiana, Maryland, Missouri, and Wisconsin, 1 county each)

Stales having Congressmen at large for which no equivalent supervbors' diatrlcis

are provided (Colorado, Kansas, and Washington, I eneh)

Slates in whole or in part not previously covered

Total districts j 330

26

391

The State of Washington has three Congressmen elected at large, but In the

tentative plan herein outlined it has been given two supervisors, as in 1000.

The fifteen counties representing large centers of population, and the cities

contained in them, are as follows:

Slate. County. City.

California Ran Francisco i San Francisco.

Illinois Cook Chicago.

Louisiana Orleans (parish) New Orleans.

Maryland Baltimore.

Missouri St. Louis.

New Jersey ! Essex Newark.

Hudson Jersey City.

New York Erie I Buffalo.

Kings Brooklyn borough.a

Xew York Manhattan ond Bronx boroughs,

Ohio Cuyahoga ' Cleveland,

UamUton Cincinnati,

Pennsvlvania Allegheny Pitlsburg and Allegheny.

Philadelphia Philadelphia.

Wisconsin , Milwaukee , Milwaukee.

• To which would probably be added, for enumernllon purposes, Queens and Richmond

boroughs and Nassau and Suffolk counties.

The above-named centers represent the largest seventeen cities of the country,

with three exceptions•Boston, Detroit, and Washington. The city of Boston
THIKTEENTH CEKSUS. 23

is omitted beonuse, under the tentative plan of division herein oullined, but one

supervisor Is allotted to the entire State of Massachusetts following the precedent of former censuses. The city of Detroit does not appear because Wayne

County, of which it forms a considerable [tart, coustltutes parts of four Congressional districts, aud, while It would undoubtedly be desirable to have a

single supervisor for that county, as in 1900, there would probably be required

for the State of Michigan, as a whole, as many supervisors as there are Congressional districts, and there would be, therefore, no curtailment In the number

of supervisors' districts as compared with that of Congressional districts. The

city of Washington is not considered, as it is coextensive with the District of

Columbia, for which a single supervisor is provided.

Compensation of supervisors.

Under the rates of compensation provided by section 11 of the Twelfth Census act, all but 6 of the 207 supervisors (for continental United States) would

have received the minimum compensation therein provided ($1,000), the per

capita rates established by the Director of the Twelfth Census lu accordance

with the terms of that section (In thickly settled districts $1, mid In sparsely

settled districts $1.40, for each thousand or majority fraction of a thousand of

population enumerated) added to the lump sum of $125, giving, with these six

exceptions, a sum less than the minimuiu amount named. By the amendatory

act of May 10, 1900 (sec. 4), further compensation to supervisors was provided

In " a sura equal to 2 per cent of the amount paid to the enumerators for taking

the census in said supervisor's district: Provided, That the amount of such additional or further compensation to be paid to each supervisor shall in no case be

less than $250." Even under this added stipulation there were only 00 supervisors, or less than one-fourth of the whole number, who received more than the

sum of the ininimum amounts provided lu the original and amendatory acts,

namely, $1,250. Of the 69 districts 6 were paid on the per capita basis as originally provided In section 11 plus 2 per cent of the amount paid to the enumerators In their respective districts. These 6 districts aud the amounts paid to

the supervisors thereof in lOUO were as follows:

Pistrict.

Compviimtion

l under secI tlon 11.

Massachusetts

l8t N. Y. (Manhattan and Bronx)

Irtlll. (Chicago, etc.)

2d N. Y. (Brooltlyn, etc.)

l«t Pa. (Philadelphia)

Connecticut

Total

Additional Total

eonipou. , compensation, satiun.

8-2.930 $1,587.43 J4,M7.4S

2.176

1,964 i

I,64,r> ; 1.4111 i

1.033 {

1,024.12

989.71

816.05

681.01

920.25

ll,lt;7

3,200.12

2,963.71

2.461.66

2,100.04

1,953.26

6,019.20 17,186.20

1 The average compensation per thousand of population in these 6 per capita

districts, considered separately and as a whole, was as follows:

District.

Popula- I Total Average

tlon In | rompensa- per

thousands.! lion. ' 1,000.

MassachnsetLs

Ist N. Y. (Manhattan and Bronx)

Irt 111. (Chicago, etc.)

2d N. Y. (Brooklyn, etc.)

1st Pa. (Philadelphia)

Connecticut

Total

2,806 $4,517.43 i tl.61

2,061 3,200.12 1.56

1,839 2.953.71 1.61

1,520 2.461.65 1.62

1.294 2,100.04 1.62

908 1,963.26 2.15

10.417 , 17,186.20 I 1.65

The 63 other districts in which the compensation paid to supervisors in 1900

constituted more than the minimum amounts provided by law represented a

combined population of 17,424,069, while the total compensation of the supervisors thereof amounted to $85,103.25, or an average compensation per thousand of population of $4.88.
24 THIRTEENTH CENSUS.

Comparing tbe results for these two classes of districts with similar results

for the 228 " minimum " districts, under the original and amended bases of

compensation, the figures are as follows:

f:l«ss ol district.

Per capita

Above minimum

Minimum '..

All districts

Number of i

districts. ,

Populntlon.

6

6S

228

I0,41fi.-I30

17.424,669

48,153,476

297 | 75,991,575

Compensa-1 Additional T , ,

tion under comnensa- ^".'^

section 11. tion.

811,167

63.000

228,000

86,019

22,103

55,360

302,167 83,482

»17,186

85,103

283,360

385.649

NOTE.•Cents omitted.

The amounts of compensation paid in these three classes of districts, when

applied to population, give very unequal rates per thousand of population, as

follows:

AveraRe

Under terms of section 11: peri.ooo.

Per capita $1.07

Above minimum 3.62

Minimum

All districts 3. 98

Including additional compensation:

Per capita 1.65

Above minimum 4.88

Minimum ,_ 5.88

All districts 1 5.07

It seems to be clear, therefore, that the method of payment under the Twelfth

Census acts was most unsatisfactory and inequitable when viewed generally,

but, on the other hand, a per diem compensation for supervisors, at a fixed rate,

would not be equitable in any sense, because under such an arrangement no

cognizance could be taken of differences in the conditions governing the work

in the several districts. The only way that a different amount of compensation coujd be paid, for example. In a " city " as against a " country " district,

would be by regulating tbe period of service for which payment is made,

but It would be. In practice, a difficult matter to control the date of the beginning and the end of the service, having reference only to the real needs of the

work. Similarly, If a maximum and mlulmum rate per diem should be proposed, or If there should be a very high maximum to be reached only In special

districts, the result would be that the maximum rate, or a rate very closely

approaching it, would be established In the majority of cases, and the effort to

provide a compensation in keeping with the character and extent of the service

to be rendered would become largely Inoperative.

The only fair basis of eomi)ens;itloii, therefore, it seems to me, is to provide

n lump sum, which may be paid in one or more installments before the final

completion of the work; a series of rates per thousand of population, to fit

differing conditions In the various sections of the country, and a minimum

amount to be paid in any case where the lump sum added to the amount derived

from the rate per thousand falls below an amount which it Is assumed each

and every supervisor should at least receive. This system of compensation is

provided for in section 11 of the proposed Thirteenth Census act. and Its application to the figures shown by the Twelfth Census may be illustruted as follows:

Limit of population. Rate per Number of

1,000. districts.

750,000 and over .

500,000 to 750,000 .

400,000 to 500,000 .

300,000 to 400.000 .

200.000 to 300,000 .

Under 200,000....

All district)).

81.50

2.00

2.50

8.00

3.50

4.00

2

8

111

115

119

a3.59 297

Total com-i^vem^

pensation. ij'*,

S20,2<K1

;i. li.-

12,540

21,425

190,903

146.832_L

8-2.899

1,584

1,568

1,527

1,807

1.2S4

398, 158 1,341

a Average rate per 1.000 of population.
THIRTEENTH CENSUS. 25

The total compensation of supervisors on this basis would have been $398,158,

or an amount but slightly larger than that actually paid to supervisors in HKX),

namely, $385.6r)0. The latter amount should be somewhat reduced, however,

on account of the slightly larger minimum of compensation ($1,250) actually

paid to n very large proportion of the supervisors In 1900 as compared with

that ($1,200) proposed for the Thirteenth Census•an equivalent In amount of

$11,400, but partially offset by the sum of $1,290 which would have been required to bring the amount actually paid up to the proposed minimum amount

($1,200) for each of seven districts in which the work was completed by a

special agent following the death or resignation of the supervisor originally

commissioned for the work•bringing the actual compensation, for comparative

purposes, to $375,540, or a final difference of $22,618. It should also be noted

that under the proposed system of compensation only 39 supervisors, or 13.1

per cent of the whole number, would have received the "minimum" compensation, as compared with 228. or 76.7 per cent, who were actually paid that

amount under the provisions of the Twelfth Census acts. As a matter of course,

under any system of compensation which may be devised where the amount of

the population enumerat«J is made a factor, there will always be a small proportion of districts to which the minimum compensation must apply, but it Is

believed that In the scheme now proposed the number of such districts has been

very nearly brought to its lowest point, as is further Illustrated by the following table:

Limit of population.

170,000 to 17S.O0O

166,000 to 170,000

160.000 to 165.000

150,000 to 160.000

100.000 to 150.000

Less t han 100,000

Total •

Compensation Ht S4

per 1.000.

8)1,920

11,688

8,0M

4,464

5,124

2.280

Added to

make

"minimum"

n mount.

880

312

356

336

876

43,520 3,280

By estimating the population in ]010, on the basis of the results shown by

the last two censuses (whether Federal or State), for each of 320 districts in

continental United States, as explained in the preceding section (number of

Supervisors), it is possible to test the adequacy of the proposed system of compensation with respect to the population as it is likely to appear in general at

the Thirteenth Census. A table for 1910. based upon these estimates, follows:

Limit of population. Rale per ' Number of I Total oom Average

1,000. I dlstricta. , pensation. ''""[inn"^'

"SO.OOOand over ' 81.50

500.00010 750,000 2.00

400.000 to 500.000 2.50

100,000 to 400.000 8.00

200.000 to 300.000 8.50

Under 200,000 4.00

Total ' as. 52

7 824,564 83.609

6 9,820 1,637

6 8,051 1,610

24 36,162 ; 1,507

189 251, (MS 1,331

95 117,256 1.234

326 447,490 | 1,370

• Average rate per 1,000 of population.

The compensation of supervisors in 1910, under the system proposed, is not

likely therefore to exceed $450,000, or an increase over the amount actually

paid in 1900 ($385,650) of 16.7 per cent, a figure which is probably less, rather

than more, than the rate of Increase in the population Itself. There would

also be only 26 districts, or 8 per cent of the whole number, In which the compensation, as above estimated, would fall below $1,200 and the total amount

that would be needed to raise the compensation in these districts to at least that

" minimum " is but $2,024,

The series of rates per thousand of population provided for In the promised

Thirteenth Census act are predicated upon a minimum compensation of $1,200/
26 THIBTEENTH CENSUS.

and any cliuuge in the minininni amount which each and every supervisor

must at least receive, whether higher or lower, will affect necessarily the several rates to be paid for each thousand of population enumerated.

Clerks and other asuislatits to supervisors.

In connection with the work of the supervisors there is another Important

feature to be considered, and that is, the number of clerks and other assistants

that is necessary to the, as nearly as may be, Immediate supervision of the

work of the enumerators. These requirements in general are provided for In

sections 11 and 18 of the proposed census act and are very essential needs of

the work; and tills was clearly demonstrated by the experience of the Twelfth

Census, at which nearly 1960,000 wfi

s

expended for the necessary office and

field requirements of the supervisory work. Kvery supervisor should have one

or more clerks for practically the entire period of service, with additional help

at the time of the enumeration in many cases; and if it is the purpose, as it certainly should be, to bring the work of the enumerators under much closer and

more direct supervision than has heretofore been possible under a temporary

census organization, then the number of persons (special agents or detailed

employees) designated to assist the supervisors in this work must be increased

materially. Of the total amount actually disbursed In 1300 for these two

classes of service, practically $200,000, in round numbers, was for clerk hire

and not quite $60,000 for the employment of S|ieclal agents to assist the supervisors In the enumeration work.

This latter sum was largely expended In providing supervisor's assistants

In each of the larger cities which constituted a single supervisor's district in

Itself, or largely so, and In such of the smaller cities (not the place of residence

of a supervisor) as contained at least 25 enumeration districts. This represented the employment of upward of 400 special agents, and by this means

something more than 10,000 enumerators, or about one-fifth of the whole number, were brought under personal and substantially daily supervision during the

progress of their work. This principle of direct and constant supervision should

be extended to cover practically the entire body ofJjnumerators, by dividing not

alone the cities into small subdlstricts, as heretofore, but by making in rural

districts the county (one or more, as the case may be) the basis of division to

meet the demands of this closer supervision work. This will, of course, increase

the cost of the supervisory work, but if properly administered It need not go

beyond reasonable limits, all things considered, and the added cost over that

Incurred at former censuses will be reflected in tiie better quality of the returns

themselves, and must result, under proper conditions, in the saving of both time

and money in their examination and compilation. The entire cost of the supervisory work in 1900 was, in round numbers, $728,000, and, on the basis of a

general increase of 25 iier cent, the total amount needed for this purpose In 1910

would be $910,000, distributed as follows:

_ _ ^ -. -

1900. 1910.

Compensation mul expenses of supervisors , S^ffJ,000

Clerks mid special agents as, 000

Interprelere I 40,000

Miscellaneous expenses 2!<,000

Total 728,000 910,000

Interpreters.

From the foregoing statement it appears that $40,000 was expended at the

last census In the employment of Interpreters, at a compenaatkm as then provided of $4 for each day actually and necessarily employed. As a matter of

experience, two difficulties have been encountered In this respect, first, in preventing their employment unnecessarily, and, second, in securing for the price

named competent iiersons to act as interpreters where such service, uixm due

Investigation, was found to be essential to the proper enumeration of certain

classes of the iiopulatlon. The tendency at the ix/rlod of a general census,

naturally perhaps, is to provide employment for the greatest number of persons

possible, but not always with reference solely to the real needs of the service,
THIKTEENTH CENSUS. 27

and it Is with the pnri>08e of sooking to prevent the tuidue employment of this

class of persons that section 15 of the proposed act provides that " no anthorIzntion shall he given for such employment in any district until due and proper

effort has been made to secure an enumerator who can speak the latiKiiage or

laninuipces for which the services of an interpreter would otherwise be required." Trovlsion is also made in the same section for the payment of $5 for

each day of actual and necessary service, and tills increase in compensation

over that formerly paid should result in securing the services of thoroughly

competent persons to act as Interpreters, particularly in the larger cities where

their services can be utilized from day to day in different sections, and thus

give them a somewhat longer tenure and at the same time obviate the necessity

of the employment in all cases of a separate interpreter in eacli euumerntlon

district where such employment becomes necessary, often for a very limited

period only.

Compensation of enumerators.

In section l(i of the proposed act somewhat higher rates of compensation for

enumerators, as compared with 1900. are provided, and it is hoped by a proper

application of these higher rates, in the light of previous experience, to make

the compensation of enumerators as nearly equitable as the actual conditions

of the work will permit. The changes in the proposed rates from those of the

last census are summarized as follows:

191U. 1900.

For each inhnliitnnt centa.. 2 to 4

For oiwh (arm centn.. 20 to 30

For each enclosure of livestock cents... 10 , For each establishment of productive Industry cent-.. 20to30 20to30 Per diem rates dollars.. Sto6l 3 to 6

2 to 3

15 to 20 5 to 10

I

The total amount paid to enumerators at the Twelfth Census was $;i.540,095,

the total number of enumerators being 53,321 and the average payment to each

enumerator, $C(i.39. If each enumerator in 1!)10 should receive, on the average,

§65, the total cost for 60,000 enumerators (an increase over 1900 of 12.5 per

cent) would be $3,900,000, and for 65,000 enumerators (an increase over 1900

of 21.9 per cent) it would be $4,225,000; and if it is assumed that each enumerator is likely to receive an average compensation of $70 these two figures

would be raised to $4,200,000 and $4,550,000, respectively. In other words,

with the increase in populalion, the somewhat higher rates of compensation

now provided, and the proiwsed reduction of the maximum population of an

enumeration district from 4,000 to 2,000, as provided in section 13, the total

amount that will be required for the compensation of the enumerators In 1910

will certainly be at least $4,000,000, and It may go as high as $4,500,000.

In this connection, too, reference may be made very properly to the fact that

under the terms of the proposed act (see section 10) the enumerator at the

Thirteenth Census will not be required to swear to his account, as has heretofore been the case. It has been found in practice that the enumerator, particularly In country districts, has frequently been put to very considerable inconvenience In reaching an ottlcer with a seal before whom he could swear to

his account, and this trouble, and the confusion and delay oftentimes resulting therefrom, does not seem to be warranted Inasmuch as, under the law, the

accounts of the enumerators must be carefully checked and, if found correct,

duly certified to by the supervisors before they are forwarded to the Director

of the Census for payment. These accounts must be made in accordance with

the rates of compensation duly established beforehand and all claims for services rendered thereunder must be borne out by the returns themselves, and it is

not believed, therefore, that there Is much likelihood of an enumerator rendering a false account simply because he Is no longer required to swear (but only

to certify) as to its correctness.

Penalties for refusal to pive information.

Section 23 of the proposed act has been broadened in two very Important

particulars In respect to the enumeration of population, first, in making all adult

persons amenable not only for refusal or neglect to answer questions when

properly requested, but also for willfully furnishing answers that are false;
28 THIRTEENTH CEKSUB.

and, second, In providing a penalty for the refusal to furnish the names of

occupants of, or to give to enumerators free ingress to or egress from, hotels,

apartment houses, and other similar buildings. The first of these two requirements is intended to cover cases where individuals, acting singly or in combination, seek to swell unduly the population of a city or town through furnishing

enumerators with false statements, by lists or otherwise, as to the inhabitants

of buildings (dwellings, hotels, or other abodes, as the case may be) over

which they are supposed to have the necessary jurisdiction; In other words,

to prevent the " faking " of the population of boom towns and the like. The

second requirement is of special application iu the larger cities where great

difficulty has been experienced in former censuses in securing a full enumeration of the hotel and apartment-house population, partly through the objections of managers and agents to furnish information or to render any assistance to enumerators, even to the extent oftentimes of denying them entrance

to the buildings themselves. The correct enumeration of city population is

difficult enough under the'best of conditions, and it is hoped that the latter

requirement will be helpful iu a direction in which there has been increasing

opposition in recent emimerations.

Inquiries on population schedule.

The inquiries relating to population to be made in 1910 should comprehend

those mentioned in the Twelfth Census act, with these possible exceptions and

additions:

• (a) Omission of inquiries (columns 20 and 21 of population schedule) calling

for a return of months not employed and attendance at school (in months).

Botli of these inquiries relate to parts of two calendar years (last seven mouths

of one and first five months of the other) and, from the nature of the inquiries

and the conditions under which they are obtained, the accuracy of the returns

in both cases is a matter of grave doubt.

An inquiry was made on the population schedule in 1880 as to the " number of

months • • • employed during the census year," but no si)eciflc reference

to this inquiry is contained in the book of instructions to enumerators, and,

furthermore, no attempt was made at that census to tabulate the returns in

this respect. A similar inquiry was made in 1890 and again in 1900, and the

results derived therefrom were duly tabulated and presented in the reports of

those censuses, but largely because the inquiry was siMscifically required by the

law and not because the census officials believed that the results were at all

accurate or reflected in any sense the real situation as to nonemployment for

the periods named. It is not, from its very nature, a general census inquiry

and the work of the census enumerators should not be thus hampered and delayed, particularly when it is known beforehand that the results obtained

offhand, and without special care or interest, by a large body of teuii>orary

employees are not likely to produce data possessing much, if any, statistical

significance.

Similarly, the fact as to school attendance can be readily ascertained, if

deemed advisable, but the amount of school attendance (in months), obtained

by means of such an inquiry on the population schedule, is of doubtful value,

because, as before Stated, of the very great probability, if not certainty, of its

Inaccuracy.

(b) The addition of an inquiry as to relationship to head of family. This

Inquiry is necessary in order to define each person's status in the family to

which he may be assigned by the enumerator, and its use acts as a deterrent, in

some respects at least, against possible "padding" of the population returns:

that Is, In an attempt to pad the population of a given district by means of

fictitious roturns. the onumenitor must enter not alone the name and other facts

called for by the schedule, but must state, in addition, the relation which each

of such persons bears to the head of the family to which he or she may be

falsely assigned: or, if fictitious entries shall have been made by an enumerator

and such persons shall have been returned either as constituting separate families of a single person each, or as groups of persons having no real relationship

to one another, or as "boarders" or "lodgers" in families having a positive

relationship (blood or legal) between its remaining members, the undue number of such entries, or the excessive size of families due to such cause, in an

ordinary residential district would be likely. In the course of a detailed Inspection of the returns, to lead an investigation as to their validity and thus

prevent error and fraud, both as affecting the number of inhabitants and the
THIRTEEKIH CENSUS. 29

amount of eompenaatton to be paid to the emmiemtor. FurtUenuore, the inquiry as to the relationship has additional value in testing the accuracy of the

return as to other items, as, for example, age, nativity, and occupation, and

with respect to occupation is of statlsticnl value as indicating what proportion

of the family membership nitiy be possibly self-supporting through having a

gainful occupation, or for gainful workers in different occupation groups what

their status may be in the families in which they reside, as he;id, wife, children,

boarders, or the like.

(c) In connection with the return of occupation, provision should be made

for ascertaining the class of worker and, if possible, by whom employed. Under the first category an inquiry was made at the New York State ennuieration

of 1905 as to whether the person was an employer (Kmp), working for salary

or wage (W), or working on own account (O A), and with an apparently successful result, although the returns have not been tabulated, so far as iny present knowledge goes. Under the second category a return would be required for

each salary or wage worker of the name of the corporation, firm, or person by

whom employeJ, so that, to the extent that the inquiry was successful, the

means would be at hand for the better classification of the occupation data.

The consideration of occupation with reference to the place of employment will

thus aid materially.In determining the proper classification, particularly in Industry, and their tabulation with respect to class of worker and family relationship will furnish data not heretofore secured or presented as a part of the

United States census.

The subdivision of the return with respect to occupation herein proposed will

not neccessitate any addition to the law relative to the inquiries on the population schedule but is comprehended under the general term of "occupation" as

now provided.

Permanent and temporary office force.

Ko consideration has been given in this communication to the detailed work

In the OtHce after the completed schedules shall have been received, partly for

lack of time and partly because no new legislation is likely to be needed concerning these matters except in one particular, namely, the selection, organization,

and compensation of the regular and temporary Office force. This seems to be

very fully provided for in sections 3 to 7, inclusive, of the proposed act, and.

If fairly adequate compensation Is ultimately provided for the official force during the decennial census period, as contemplated by section 5, and transfers between the permanent and temporary forces are permitted in the discretion of

the Director of the Census, there seems to be nothing In the law as now proposed to prevent the possibility of securing readily a skilled and efficient organization for the Thirteenth Census work.

Very respectfully,

WM. C. HUNT,

Chief Statistician for Population.

Mr. CALDER. HOW many clerks are necessary to be employed in the

city of Washington, here?

Mr. NORTH. There were about 3,600 clerks in the Twelfth Census

at the maximum. It would be necessary, I think, to employ about

between 2,300 and 2,400 additional to the present force of the Office.

Mr. GODWIN. For what period of time !

Mr. NORTH. For about two years. The period in which that maximum force would be required would be about two years. It would not

be required in the beginning, except a small number, and as the work

develops we will need more clerks.

Mr. CALDER. Were these clerks appointed last time in the same way

as is proposed in this bill ?

Mr. NORTH. Not precisely the same, no sir; they were employed in

the last census by the Director of the Census under an examination of

his own.

Mr. GODWIN. How will they be appointed this time, under the provisions of this bill ?
30 THIRTEENTH CENSUS.

Mr. NORTH. Under Section 7.

Mr. HAY. In the same way, except the Civil Service Commission,

as I understand it, will join with the Director of the Census in prescribing the kind of examination to be held?

Mr. NORTH. That is the content of that section.

Mi". Cox. Section 7 contemplates a noncompetitive examination,

does it not?

Mr. HAY. HOW did the employees do who are employed?

Mr. NORTH. I was in charge of the division of manufactures of the

last census.

Mr. HAY. What kind of work did they do, was it satisfactory?

Mr. NORTH. They did all sorts of work. So far as I am personally concerned, I am glad of an opportunity to say to the Committee

that I believe that better results will be secured by making this examination a competitive examination, even though the service is to be

temporary in character. I believe that a competitive examination

would secure for the Office on the whole a better all around grade of

clerks.

Mr. GODWIN. Where would vou suggest that the examination be

held?

Mr. NORTH. I should think they ought all to be held here. I think

every eifort ought to be made to prevent drawing temporary clerks to

Washington from far distant sections of the country. People will

come here for this temporary service, change their homes, and then

find themselves in all probability stranded at the end of the maximum three-year period, or sooner. For that reason I think that the

provisions of this bill which provide for waiving the apportionment in the appointment of these temporary clerks is of vital importance. Otherwise, if the apportionmont is not waived, it will be impossible for us to obtain any clerks from the District of Columbia

or nearby sections of Virginfa or Maryland, because they are already

under the apportionment rule, excluded now. They are not available

because the number in the service from those sections is beyond the

allotment under the civil service law.

Mr. ROBINSON. Why is it not fair that these clerks should not

come in according to the apportionment rule, why should they all be

taken from the District of Columbia and nearby sections?

Mr. NORTH. Because they come to a temporary service. The District of Columbia is full of people who were in the Eleventh and

Twelfth censuses, good clerks, we know^ we have their efficiency

records in the office. They came into the office out of their homes

here, they did not have to make new homes, and when the work was

done they went back to their homes and suffered no hardships. Of

course this bill permits clerks to come here and take the examination,

to come from Arkansas and Texas or from Alaska, but they come at

their own risk.

Mr. GODWIN. That is why I asked the question where the examinations were to be held.

Mr. ROBINSON. A temporary clerk, however, who proves to be very

efficient, can he transferred into the permanent force, can he not?

Mr. NORTH. By passing another examination and being certified

by the Civil Service Commission; he would then become eligible for

permanent service, but not under this act.

Mr. ROBINSON. HOW are the field agents selected I
THIBTEENTH CENSUS. 31

Mr. NORTH. Under this bill, by the Director of the Census, without reference to an examination. That is a provision of the Twelfth

Census act.

Mr. Cox. Is it your idea that this bill be passed with this provision

in section 7 in it, so that you can <ret a more efficient clerical force

under the bill than if the bill did not set out the provisions contained

therein ?

Mr. NORTH. More efficient than if the bill did not set that out?

Mr. Cox. Tes.

Mr. NORTH. Well. 1 think so.

Mr. ROBINSON. It is manifest that the provisions to retjuire the examination to be held in Washington would practically limit the appointment of these clerks to tins immediate vicinity, and it would

naturally follow that no person would come from Arizona or from

Arkansas and take the chance of passing the examination, having

to pay his expenses here and back again if he failed. So we had

just as well consider that proposition now. If it is the desire to appoint the clerks from the District of Columbia and Virginia and

Maryland only. I want to say that I am squarely against that. T think

the doctrine of apportionment should to some extent apply. I can

not see why it should not apply. If the chief object is to get good

service, I do not see why the act should be so framed as to limit appointees to the District of Columbia and nearby points in Virginia

and Maryland.

Mr. GODWIN. Why not hold an examination in each State sometime about the 1st of July?

Mr. ROBINSON. It is the Director's idea to virtually limit the clerks

to those from the District of Columbia and Virginia and Maryland,

because he does not want to draw in a lot of people who will be

thrown out of employment when the census is over and then be seeking clerical jobs here?

The CHAIRMAN. The examinations held by the Director for appointment in the Twelfth Census were held at Washington, were

they not?

Mr. NORTH. NO. not all of them. There were examinations held

also in Boston and New York and Chicago and some, I think, in St.

Louis. I can give you that information definitely if you would like

to have it.

Mr. ROBINSON. I would like to have it.

Mr. CALDER. I would also.

Mr. NORTH. I will get that.

The CHAIRMAN. Those examinations were noncompetitive. I

think we ought to get Mr. North's views on the subject to-day, and

then when we go into executive session we will determine what we

think ought to be done.

Mr. Cox. Is it a very expensive matter for the Government to hold

examinations in the various States?

Mr. NORTH. I think not.

Mr. Cox. It strikes me we ought to have one in each State.

Mr. NORTH. There is nothing in this bill, as it is worded at present,

to prevent having examinations in all parts of the country. There is

nothing to prevent that as it reads now.

Mr. Cox. But there is nothing that provides that it shall lie done.
32 THIRTEENTH CENSUS.

Mr. NORTH. XO; there was nothing of that kind in the Twelfth

Census act.

Mr. Cox. Of course the reasons you urge might be true, substantial

reasons; first, that you get a better clerical force. But here are a

great many people in this vast western territory who probably would

like to have an opportunity to come here and work in the Department

or in the Census Office.

Mr. NORTH. They could come and take the regular civil-service

examination.

Mr. Cox. Suppose they only want to come here temporarily, two

or three years, and then go back home. It seems to me they ought to

be given the opportunity to stand the examination without traveling

all the way here to take it.

The CHAIRMAN. Of course it is understood that all these temporary

clerks have no classified status, and when the temporary work is over

they have to retire from the public service. They are not eligible to

transfer or anything of that kind.

Mr. GODWIN. They understand that.

Mr. HAY. I have found that they do not understand it.

Mr. GODWIN. MV people understand it.

The CHAIRMAN. Unless they stand the civil-service examination and

secure a place on the eligible list they are only a temporary force,

very mucn in the sense that the volunteer force in the Army is a

temporary force.

Mr. NORTH. I would like to answer one question: You asked me

in regard to the force in the Twelfth Census. I would like to answer

that a little more definitely.

The CHAIRMAN. We will be glad to have you do so.

Mr. NORTH. Of course there were inefficient and poorly educated

clerks in the Twelfth Census. Nevertheless I think it is only fair to

say that, considering the conditions under which that force was

fotten together, it was, as a whole, a remarkably efficient force, and

believe that it averaged up with the force in any Executive Department of the Government to-day.

Mr. HAY. Although the force in the other Departments went in

under the competitive system ?

Mr. NORTH. Yes. One more word in elucidation of that. When

the temporary office was made permanent the aim was to retain of

the 3.500 clerks the most efficient of those clerks, and as a rule that

was successfully accomplished, and as a result of that I believe that

I can truly say, and I believe that I am in duty bound to say, that

at the present moment, in my judgment, the clerical force of the

Census Office is the most efficient clerical force in existence anywhere

in the city of Washington. In justice to them I want to say that.

Mr. HAY. Do you think it would be a practical thing to get 3,500

clerks if you apportioned those clerks to the States and Territories

and adhered strictly to the rule?

Mr. NORTH. NO; I do not think it would.

Mr. ROBINSON. Would it be your idea to limit them?

Mr. NORTH. Oh, no; not at all.

Mr. IIAY. Anybody could take the examination from any part of

the country?

Mr. NORTH. Yes.

Mr. ROBINSON. But you would require them to come here ?
THIRTEENTH CENSUS. 33

Mr. NORTH. NO; there is nothing in the bill that requires it, sir.

Mr. ROBINSON. The bill does not require an examination to be held

anywhere?

Mr. NORTH. NO place is specified.

Mr. ROBINSON. Ir the examination is to be held under the direction

of the Civil Service Commission, unless we know the Commission is

going to hold them all here, we might just as well provide in the bill

where the examinations are to be held.

Mr. NORTH. I think the Civil Service Commission's uniform practice is to hold their examinations in all parts of the country.

Mr. HAY. SO far as the political part of it is concerned, I want to

say that my experience has been that the political lines were not

drawn in the Twelfth Census.

Mr. ROBINSON. I am sure that so far as the present Director of the

Census is concerned, they would not be.

The CHAIRMAN. The objection I have to having these clerks appointed from the eligible list, of those who have taken a regular civilservice examination, is that 3,500 clerks would come here principally

from remote parts of the country, thev would have to come from parts

of the country far distant from the District of Columbia because the

District and the neighboring States now exceed their quota of clerks

in the classified service. These clerks would come here for this temporary service and they would all be classified, all eligible to transfer,

and when the temporary work was at an end, the clamor for transfers

and for provision for them to remain in the service, would be beyond

anything we can imagine. We want these people to understand, when

they get through with this work, that their connection with the Federal service ceases and they are to go back to their several homes.

Mr. HAY. They no sooner get in than they want a promotion, and

then as soon as they get a promotion the}' want a transfer.

Mr. ROBINSON. Under the law what has a Member of Congress

got to do with their appointment or their transfer; do not the civilservice rules provide for that?

The CHAIRMAN, Yes.

(Thereupon at 11.45 a. m. the committee adjourned.)

(The following is the written memorandum referred to by the

Director of the Census in the course of his testimony:)

THE ADVANTAGES OF EARLY CENSUS LEGISLATION.

It is most important that a census law should be enacted at the

present session of Congress, because heretofore delay in enactment

has seriously interfered with the best results in connection with all

recent census laws.

The censuses of 1850, 1860, and 1870 were taken under the act of

May 23, 1850, which was fatally defective at the crucial point of

field supervision. The attempt to enact a new law, for taking the

Ninth Census, of 1870, failed between the two Houses, for lack of

time for its full consideration. The act under which the census of

1880 was taken passed March 3, 1879; the act for the census of 1890

passed March 1, 1889; the act for the census of 1900 passed March

3,1899•in each case a day or two days before the adjournment of the

short session of Congress.

26629•08 3
34 THIBTEENTH CENSUS.

Neither one of these acts, therefore, allowed more than a year and

three months of preparation for this stupendous piece of work•the

greatest single piece of work, (short of the Panama Canal, or actual

war) which the Government undertakes. The marvel is that past

censuses have been so good, indeed, that they have not broken down

in the taking, in view of the limited period allowed for preparation.

The establishment of a permanent Census Office does not reduce

the force of the argument in favor of earlier legislation, but increases

it. Preparation for the Thirteenth Census is already well under way

in the Office•has in fact been going on, in one way and another, ever

since the Twelfth Census was finished. The establishment of the

permanent Census Office accomplished more for the orderly, accurate,

and economical enumeration, at decennial periods, of our population

and resources, than Congress or the country can yet fully realize. It

is impossible to exaggerate the advantage we now possess over any

previous census, in the way of the necessary preliminary data upon

which to base the Thirteenth Census. AVe can take that census, under

existing law, far more efficiently and economically than it was taken

in 1900. But we can do the work far better and far more economicall}' if a new law is promptly enacted. The main purpose of this

statement is to convince you that the sooner the law is passed, the

better and the more economical the Thirteenth Census will be.

Since the conditions now existing are more favorable for a satisfactory census than ever existed before, why not, by promptly enacting this bill, make them the most favorable conditions possible, and

thus insure the best possible census? It will not add a dollar to the

cost; on the contrary, it will certainly make it possible to save many

thousands of dollars.

The Census Office is entitled to definite knowledge, at the earliest

practicable date, of the exact conditions under which it is to carry

on tins tremendous undertaking. It can then mature and perfect its

plans accordingly. If ample time is allowed the results should be

correspondingly satisfactory. This is so obvious that specifications

seem superfluous. Yet I venture one or two.

In all previous censuses weakness has developed in the field work

rather than in the office work of tabulation and compilation. This

has resulted principally from lack of efficient local supervision. The

provision of recent laws for local supervisors, in lieu of the United

States marshals, as under the Census act of 1860, was an immense step

in advance. The number of these supervisors must be increased, from

160 in 1880 to 330 in 1910. They must of necessity be men with no

previous knowledge or experience of census work. The first essentials, therefore, for the omcers of the census army in the field are

obviously training and education. They should all be brought to

Washington for instruction which should extend over a period of six

months in order that each of these responsible officials may become

thoroughly in touch with his duties. This will not be possible, unless

the Thirteenth Census act is passed at the first session of the Sixtieth

Congress. It must be remembered that this small body of supervisors

designate approximately 60,000 subordinates as enumerators. I ask

yoir to consider what it means to the Census and to the Federal Government if the supervisor has been properly trained, disciplined and

made to realize his responsibility. Too often in the past the position
THIKTEENTH CEKSUS. . 35

has been regarded as a political perquisite and the serious duties disregarded.

The early designation of the supervisors will permit the early

designation of the 60.000 or 65,000 enumerators who will be required

under this bill. A successful enumerator must have ample time to

study and comprehend his instructions. He ought to have at least

three months. It will not be possible to give this great body of

enumerators the necessary time to qualify for their duties, unless

the Thirteenth Census act is passed at the present session. The advantage to be gained, at no additional cost, is so important, and its

effect upon the general accuracy of the Thirteenth and all subsequent

censuses, is so vital that I do not anticipate any objection to the plan.

THE COORDINATION OF THE PERMANENT AND TEMPORARY CENSUS OFFICE.

The important consideration in connection with the Thirteenth

Census bill is to harmonize the decennial legislation with that relating to the permanent Census Office. It will become necessary, every

ten 3

r

ears, to graft upon the permanent Office all the additional machinery which the temporary work requires. This should be done

in such a way that the permanent Office will slip naturally and automatically back under the code of law relating to it, when the decennial census is completed, and without the necessity for special legislation.

To accomplish this result, it is proposed, first, that the Twelfth

Census act shall be entirely repealed; and the bill as now drawn covers every essential provision of that act. Upon its enactment there

will be two separate and distinct codes of census law, one for the

decennial period, and one for the inter-decennial period•each complete in itself, in harmony with the other, and interchangeable with

the other at the recurring intervals.

The solution of the problem is believed to be contained in section

2 of the bill as drawn. This section creates and defines the " decennial census period " of three years, beginning with the commencement of the fiscal year next prior to the date or the enumeration, thus

allowing one year for preparation and two years for the enumeration

and compilation, as under the Twelfth Census act.

During the decennial census period the entire Office, permanent

and temporary, will pass out from the annual appropriation status

to the continuing lump sum appropriation, returning again to the

normal situation of a Government bureau at the end of the threevear period. It is a unique provision, it must be admitted, but there

is no other Government situation that calls for it, and in this case

it seems to be imperative. Moreover, it is the simple and commonsense adjustment, since all sorts of difficulties and complications would

arise if the decennial census work were to be carried on under two

separate appropriations.

It is therefore proposed that during this three-year period the

whole force shall be compensated from the lump sum appropriation;

and that in the appropriation act for the fiscal year 1913-1914 the

permanent Census force and the regular expenses of the Bureau, shall

again be annually provided for.

It is believed that this plan will work out without confusion or difficulty; that it will make it easy to graft the temporary force upon

the permanent Office, and at the same time not destroy the autonomy

of tne permanent Office.
36 THIBTEENTH CENSUS.

The bill divides the decennial work of the census into the same two

classes as were defined in section 8 of the Twelfth Census act, except

the report on mines and quarries.

THE TEMPORAKY CENSUS CLERICAL FORCE.

One of the perplexing problems in connection with the automatic

transformation or the permanent Census Office into a decennial office,

and back again, relates to the clerical force. During the decennial

census periods the clerks will be divided into two groups: the permanent and the temporary; but the duties of both groups will be

often the same.

It is obvious that to secure the best results, the permanent clerks

must be eligible to temporary positions at the higher grades, and that

temporary clerks must be eligible to permanent statutory positions

during the three-year decennial period. In other words, permanent

and temporary positions, and their occupants, must be interchangeable with perfect freedom in order to insure the highest efficiency.

No permanent clerk should lose his status in the classified service

by reason of the fact that he is transferred to a temporary position.

No temporary clerk should secure a classified service status hy reason of the fact that he may temporarily occupy a permanent statutory

position.

Once this general principle is recognized, there is no difficulty in

framing a provision of law to carry it out. I believe the bill as introduced accomplishes the purpose.

Much study has been given to the relation of the temporary clerical

force to the civil service law and regulations. Within certain limits

this law should apply to the 3,000 or more additional clerks required

to compile the Thirteenth Census. But it ought not to be applied

without some important modifications.

In the first place, Congress should take cognizance of the fact that

these positions are temporary, covering a period strictly limited to

three years. Those who accept service should do so on the full understanding that the Government does not undertake to provide them

with work at the end of this three-year period. Clerks ought not to

be tempted to come to Washington from long distances when they are

likely to be compelled to return to their homes at the end of three

years•certainly not without full knowledge of that fact. Therefore

the geographical apportionment required by the civil service law

ought to be absolutely waived, as this bill proposes.

The city of Washington and the near-by States are full of people

who have served in prior censuses and who at the end of their service

slipped quietly back into private life. We have probably 500 names

of such persons in our files, with their efficiency records. These are

the people from whom the most efficient service can be expected. If

the apportionment rule is not waived they will be excluded, and the

service will be encumbered with several thousand clerks, brought

hither by the Government, for whom there will be no subsequent

employment possible.

The Director of the Census ought not to be burdened with the

charge of the examinations upon which appointments depend. He

will nave too many other matters of more pressing importance to

attend to.
THIRTEENTH CENSUS. 37

COMMITTEE ON THE CENSUS,

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,

Washington, D. C, January 85,1908.

The committee met at 10 o'clock a. m., Hon. E. D. Crumpacker in

the chair, for the further consideration of the bill H. R. 7597, to provide for the Thirteenth and subsequent decennial censuses.

STATEMENT OF HON. S. N. D. NORTH, DIRECTOR OF THE

CENSUS•Continued.

Mr. NORTH. Mr. Chairman, I have a memorandum here which indicates all the changes of importance between this bill and the present

law, of which I was in the midst, the other day, when we adjourned.

The CHAIRMAN. I think that this morning we had better take this

bill up by sections, and have you explain the changes and some other

things, because there are a good many new people in the House and

new members on this committee. Take section 3, for instance. It

provides for the appointment of an Assistant Director. Will you explain the necessity for an Assistant Director and the other officers provided for in section 8 of this bill?

Mr. NORTH. The other officers, and all the officers that are provided

for in section 3, were provided for in the Twelfth Census act; and

this section is simply a recurrence to the official staff of the last decennial period.

The CHAIRMAN. And you regard those officers as all necessary?

Mr. NORTH. Yes, sir; I do not see how we can get along without

them.

The CHAIRMAN. Referring to section 4, what have you to say about

the chief clerk ?

Mr. NORTH. The chief clerk is now the Acting Director in the absence of the Director, and this is simply a provision against the possibility of the absence of both the Director and the Assistant Director.

The CHAIRMAN. The bill provides in section 4 that the appointment

clerk shall perform all the appointment duties assigned to the disbursing clerk in section 4 of the permanent census act.

Mr. NORTH. Yes. He is one of the hardest-worked men in the office.

The disbursing clerk and the appointment clerk are now one and the

same person, and this is a proposition to divide that office during the

decennial period, making two officials. During the census period it is

utterly impossible for one man to fill both positions. After the close

of the decennial period the permanent census act will again become

operative and the appointment clerk will cease to exist and the disbursing officer will again become the appointment clerk as well.

The CHAIRMAN. YOU think that during the decennial census period

there will be enough work for an appointment clerk in the matter of

making appointments ?

Mr. NORTH. Yes. He is one of the hardest-worked men in the

office.

The CHAIRMAN. Turning to section 5, what about those blanks after

the salaries ? What was the Director's salary in the Twelfth Census ?

Mr. NORTH. $7,500. It was cut down to $6,000 when the permanent

office was established.

The CHAIRMAN. What was the Assistant Director's salary ?
38 THIRTEENTH CENSUS.

Mr. NORTH. The Assistant Director's salary was $4,000,1 believe.

The CHAIRMAN. What were the chief statisticians' salaries?

Mr. NORTH. $3,000, as at present.

The CHAIRMAN. And the chief clerk?

Mr. NORTH. $2,500.

The CHAIRMAN. And the disbursing clerk ?

Mr. NORTH. $2,500.

The CHAIRMAN. And the appointment clerk?

Mr. NORTH. $2,500.

The CHAIRMAN. The geographer's?

Mr. NORTH. The geographer got $2,000.

The CHAIRMAN. And the chiefs of division?

Mr. NORTH. $2,000.

Mr. ROBINSON. What is the geographer? *

Mr. NORTH. He is the man that plats the work; he defines the enumeration districts of the whole country.

Mr. Cox. lie plats the fieldwork?

Mr. NORTH. He plats the fieldwork, indicates the lines of division

between each district in the country.

The CHAIRMAN. What did the private secretary to the director get?

Mr. NORTH. $2,000.

The CHAIRMAN. And the stenographers 1

Mr. NORTH. $2,000.

Mr. HAY. HOW many stenographers were there?

Mr. NORTH. There were 2 at that salary, and this bill also provides

for 2 at that salary.

The CHAIRMAN. YOU have how many stenographers?

Mr. NORTH. We have a great many; but of course most of them

are $1,000 and $1,200 clerks. These'two referred to here are staff

officers.

Mr. HALE. Are those to be employed temporarily ?

Mr. NORTH. Yes, sir.

Mr. ROUINSON. It occurs to me there might possibly be some ambiguity there. It does not say what stenographers.

The CHAIRMAN. If necessar}- we can amend it so as to make it absolutely certain so there will be no question about the tenure of office.

Mr. NORTH. I do not think myself that these officers provided for

in section 3 are to be the 2 temporary stenographers, according to

this language, although that was the intention when this was drawn.

The CHAIRMAN. Section 6 provides for the appointment of a large

temporary force. That is substantially the same power that was conferred upon the Director in the Twelfth Census, is it not?

Mr. NORTH. It is not exactly the same, no. The power conferred

upon the Dii'.ctor in the Twelfth Census was absolute. This provision is copied •iTom the permanent census act.

Mr. RoBiNrr «. What laborers are included within the term " skilled

labor?"

Mr. NORTH. It is a very indefinite phrase. They are people who do

work that is not clerical exactly, but a step below that. Is that sufficiently definite?

Mr. ROBINSON. NO. I do not quite understand what that means.

I would like an illustration of such work.
THIBTEENTH CENSUS. 39

Mr. NORTH. There are a great many skilled laborers, we have 2

carpenters, an electrician, a painter, men of that class are included in

this group.

The CHAIRMAN. Would not that term be construed in accordance

with the classification made by the civil-service law?

Mr. NORTH. That is very vague, as I have just remarked. People

who do a great variety of things are included under the title, " skilled

laborers."

The GnAiRiMAN. You have a roll of skilled laborers at one salary

and a roll of unskilled laborers at another salary, and a man's pay

does not depend upon what work he does, but upon what roll he

gets on?

Mr. NORTH. Yes; the skilled laborer is supposed to perform a

higher grade of labor than the unskilled.

The CHAIRMAN. The great bulk of temporary work will l)e what

kind of work?

Mr. NORTH. Most of those clerks will be card punchers. They will

punch the cards for the tabulating machines. That will be the duty

of two-thirds of the temporary clerks.

The CHAIRMAN. HOW Avould you reach this basis of paying them

by the piece?

Mr. NORTH. We would pay so much per thousand cards punched.

I think there is an opportunity, with that provision in the law, to

save somewhere over half a million dollars in the cost of the Thirteenth Census, that is, to do that work for somewhere near half a

million dollars less than it cost to do it in the Twelfth Census. T

can illustrate what I mean. There were 76,000.000 population cards

punched in the Twelfth Census, and it cost to punch them $475,000

or $476,000. After they were punched and that part of the work

was completed, the office took up the punching of the family cards,

of which there were 16.000,000, and it- cost practically the same

sum of money to punch those 16,000,000 cards that it did to punch

the 76,000,000 individual population cards. That was due, in some

degree at least, to the fact that the clerks who punched the population cards had been promoted on their records, and had gotten up

where promotion was no longer possible when they punched the

family cards; and while their compensation had been verv greatly

increased the amount of work which they did correspondingly decreased. The point is, that under this provision it will be possible

to pay these temporary punching clerks in accordance with the

actual quantity of service they perform.

The CHAIRMAN. The punching is hand work?

Mr. NORTH. It is hand work.

The CHAIRMAN. What kind of a punch is it? Is it like a conductor's punch ?

Mr. NORTH. NO, it is a mechanical punch, which moves about a

keyboard from point to point according to the location of the items.

The CHAIRMAN. I understand.

Mr. HAMLIN. What is the purpose of punching the cards?

Mr. NORTH. TO indicate the facts in a very compact form, so they

can be run through a tabulating machine and drawn off upon the

registers of that machine.

The CHAIRMAN. I suppose that is a necessary work?
40 THIRTEENTH CENSUS.

Mr. NORTH. It would be impossible to bring out tbe facts of population in combination without resort to that mechanical device.

The CHAIRMAN. Section 7 provides for appointment of clerks by

noncompetitive examination; that the temporary force shall be apEointed by the Director with the approval of the Secretary of the

•epartment. Under the Twelfth Census those appointments were

made by the Director, were they?

Mr. NORTH. Yes, by the Director.

The CHAIRMAN. Without anybody's sanction being necessary?

Mr. NORTH. Yes.

The CHAIRMAN. The Secretary suggested in one of his criticisms

of the bill that they be made by him on the recommendation of the

Director.

Mr. NORTH. I do not think that there is any substantial difference

between the two methods of appointment.

Mr. ROBINSON. Why not make those appointments by the Director

on the recommendation of the ifembers of Congress?

The CHAIRMAN. The civil-service people say the bill already provides for that. Maybe we had better leave that section for a time

and take it up later.

Coming to section 8. that provides for the character of the

schedules.

Mr. NORTH. Section 8 is practically the corresponding section of

the Twelfth Census Act.

The CHAIRMAN. It is substantiallj' like it?

Mr. NORTH. Substantially like it, yes. Mines and quarries come in

there, as explained at the last hearing. -

The CHAIRMAN. You change the time for the enumeration from

June 1 to April 15?

Mr. NORTH. Yes.

The CHAIRMAN. Why? -

Mr. NORTH. That is the most important change in the whole bill,

perhaps. Would you like to have me say a word about that now?

The CHAIRMAN. Yes; we would be glad to have you explain the

reasons for that change.

Mr. NORTH. The habits of the people of this country are changing

so rapidly that actual experience shows that a census as of June 1 is

impossible of accuracy in the large cities. There are many, many

houses in the cities that are closed and barred on the 1st day of June;

the people have left for their summer homes, and the difficulties that

the enumerators encounter in getting the facts in regard to these

absentees are very trying; and as a matter of fact they do hot begin

to get them all. and those which they do get they are liable to get very

inaccurately.

That difficulty, you all know, is increasing from decade to decade.

There are whole streets in the city of Boston with which I am familiar, where every other house will be closed and boarded up by the 1st

day of June, and often much earlier. If the change to an earlier

date is ever to be made, the sooner it is made the better, because the

necessity for it apparently is going to continue to grow.

Mr. SNAPP. I do not see that in that section.

The CHAIRMAN. It is in a later section.

Mr. NORTH. Yes, sir; it is in section 20.
THIBTEENTH CENSUS. 41

Mr. HAY. May I ask about this change of dates? June 1 is just an

arbitrary date. I suppose ?

Mr. NORTH. Yes, sir; it has been the date ever since 1850.

Mr. HAT. And there is no special reason for having it June 1?

Mr. NORTH. No; there is no special reason. Of course, an ideal

date for a census of the population and of agriculture would be

October, because that is a time when the crops are being harvested,

and when the farmer can preaomablj make a more accurate statement.

Mr. HAY. Is there any reason why in agricultural communities the

date should be the 16th of April rather than June?

Mr. NORTH. Well, the dates must correspond. This bill provides

that in certain sections of the country where the weather conditions

and road conditions are apt to be bad in April, the enumeration need

not begin until the 1st of May.

The CHAIRMAN. But the population must be counted as of the 15th

of April?

Mr. NORTH. Yes, sir. The objection to October as a census date is

the fact that every other census would come in a presidential year,

and I think that it would be most unfortunate to have 65,000 enumerators engaged in taking a census in the October before the presidential election. But the quinquennial census of agriculture, which is

provided for in section 32 of this bill, is to be taken as of October,

because that could not come in a presidential year, and it would permit a record of the crops just being harvested.

Mr. SNAPP. Let me ask you why do you think it would be unfortunate to have 65,000 enumerators engaged in taking a census in the

October of a presidential year?

Mr. NORTH. Well. I think there would be great danger of a misunderstanding of what it all meant.

Mr. ROBINSON. It also might conflict with the election returns.

Mr. HAY. It would arouse criticism of the office?

Mr. NORTH. Yes; I think it would increase the difficulties and embarrassments of the enumeration.

Mr. SNAPP. Then it is not for political reasons that you object to it?

Mr NORTH. It is to avoid any possibility of conflicting the census

with politics that a date near the presidential election ought to be

avoided.

The CHAIRMAN. YOU make provision, as you stated a moment ago,

for the taking of the census after the period fixed in the bill, where

climatic conditions make it impracticable to do the work then; but of

course the population must relate to the loth of April, &nd if there

has been any actual increase after that date•if there have been children born after the 15th of April•of course they would not be

counted ?

Mr. NORTH. NO.

Mr. SNAPP. HOW long do you calculate enumerators would be at

work ?

Mr. NORTH. This bill limits them to two weeks in the cities and one

month in the rural districts. That was the provision of the Twelfth

Census law, and also the Eleventh Census.

The CHAIRMAN. Mines and quarries relate to the 31st day of December preceding?

Mr. ^ORTH. "ies; to the calendar year preceding, and also the

census of manufactures.
42 THIBTEENTH CENSUS.

The CHAIRMAN. What reasons are there for fixing that date?

Mr. NORTH. We found in our nianu fact wring census, at all recent

censuses, that the best we could do was to get returns for the last

business year of the corporations or companies or individuals reporting, and in an overwhelming majority of cases the last business year

ends with the calendar year.

The CHAIRMAN. And large concerns, I suppose

Mr. NORTH. They balance their books at the end of the year.

The CHAIRMAN. And are prepared to show what the year's work

has been?

Mr. NORTH. Yes j it is the most convenient date of course, for them,

and it makes far much more accurate statistics, I think.

The CHAIRMAN. About the supervisors, the bill authorizes the appointment of not exceeding 330.

Mr. Cox. What section is that ?

Mr. NORTH. Section 9, page 11.

The CHAIRMAN. The duties of supervisors are fairly explained in

the bill. There is an increase in the maximum number of 30 over the

number authorized in the law for the Twelfth Census. Does this bill

provide for a larger territorial census than the Twelfth?

Mr. NORTH. It covers practically the same geographical area, with

the exception of Porto liico. which was not taken in the Twelfth Census, but was taken in 1899 by the War Department.

The CHAIRMAN. But there are more Congressional districts now

than there were ten j'ears ago?

Mr. NORTH. Yes, there are now 386 districts, as compared with

357 in 1900. The increase in the number of supervisors is nearly the

same as the increase in the number of Congressional districts.

The CHAIRMAN. The 330, of course that would not authorize the

appointment of a supervisor for each district ?

Mr. NORTH. Not for each Congressional district.

The CHAIRMAN. T understand that in large cities there probably

will be but one ?

Mr. NORTH. One only.

The CHAIRMAN. One supervisor only.

Mr. NORTH. Yes. Take the city oi New York. It is impossible

to properly canvass that city, except under the supervision of one

man. It is the same way in Chicago; and all large cities must be

canvassed in that way. Some of the smaller States are canvassed

that way. The State of Massachusetts had but one supervisor in the

last two censuses, for the reason that the office was able to command

the services of the chief of the bureau of statistics of the State of

Massachusetts, which takes the State census. States like Connecticut

and Rhode Island .require but one supervisor.

Mr. Cox. In States like Indiana. Will they have one supervisor

for each Congressional district?

Mr. NORTH. Yes, except it may be they will have but one in a city

like Indianapolis.

Mr. SNAPP. Take for instance a city like Chicago.

Mr. NORTH. One district. I do not remember how manj^ Congressmen there are there.

Mr. SNAPP. There are 10.

Mr. HAY. And New York City has 11 Congressmen.

Mr. SNAPP. There will be one supervisor only in New York ?
THIRTEENTH CENStTS. 43

•

Mr. NORTH. Yes, and one in Brooklyn.

The CHAIRMAN. The bill provides for the appointment of the

supervisors by the President.

Mr. NORTH. The provisions of the bill in that regard are identical

•with all census acts since supervisors have been employed.

Mr. HAY. The Director has practically made those appointments,

however, has he not?

Mr. NORTH. Well, I have never had any experience; and I am not

able to answer that question for that reason.

Mr. ROBINSON. Why could not the Director make them instead of

the President; why not let the Director make them and take the

responsibility?

Mr. HAY. "Possibly it is an office that comes under the Constitution.

Mr. ROBINSON. There may be some point in that.

The CHAIRMAN. I was a member of this committee during the last

census. I had just gone on the committee when the bill was taken up

for consideration, and it was said that the office of supervisor is in a

^ense honorary; that it pays fairly well for the time, but it is made

more important by reason of the fact that it is made a Presidential

office; that the President making the appointment, and the Senate

confirming it, lends dignity to the office. To send out a man armed

with a commission signed by the President adds to the dignity of the

position. The appointments were all made before, as a matter of fact,

upon the recommendation of the Director, and I presume the President will make them that way this time. The bill is just as it was

before.

Mr. ROBINSON. They were not made, then, by the Senators?

The CHAIRMAN. NO ; the Senate did not control the appointments.

Section 10 is almost identically the sa"me as the corresponding section of the last census act ?

Mr. NORTH. Yes.

The CHAIRMAN. The pay of supervisors is provided for in section

11. Is that substantially what was authorized in the act of March,

189!V

Mr. NORTH. NO, sir; it is materially different.

The CHAIRMAN. In what respect does it differ?

Mr. NORTH. It fixes a minimum pav for the supervisor of $1,200,

and then it provides that his pay shall increase automatically in

graded steps in accordance with the size of the population that he has

to enumerate.

The CHAIRMAN. What section is that in ?

Mr. NORTH. Section 11, page 13. The effect of it would be to give

to certain of the supervisors a salary for one vear commensurate with

their enormous duties and responsibilities. That would obtain in the

case of the supervisor for Massachusetts, for instance, assuming that

the State is to be one district again. It would bring his salary up to

about $5,000.

Mr. ROBIXSON. What would it be for the supervisor in the city of

Chicago ?

Mr. NORTH. About $4,000, as I recollect it. The exact operation of

this provision is shown in the memorandum I submitted at the last

hearing•the exact working out of this section.

The CHAIRMAN. Let us refer to section 12, the duties of the enumerators. That is substantiallv what it was under the law of 1899 ?
44 THIETEENTH CENSUS.

Mr. NORTH. It is identical, with the single change of the date.

That refers to the duties of the enumerators.

The CHAIRMAN. Section 13 has to do with the division of the territory into enumeration districts. That is to be done by the Director?

Mr. NORTH. Yes. It reduces the maximum population of a district

from 4,000 to 2,000; but as a matter of fact it will not have that effect,

because in the last census, where the provision was that the district

population should not exceed 4,000, the districts, very few of them,

exceeded 2,000, and a majority of them were less than 2,000. Some

of them were as low as 1,500.

The CHAIRMAN. It is provided in that section that the Director

may utilize the services or substitute post-office letter carriers in cities

and towns where they reside. That is new, is it not?

Mr. NORTH. That is a new provision; yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. What use can you make of them?

Mr. NORTH. They are in the Government service, and they are presumed to have certain qualifications, so far as character and standing

are concerned, or they would not be in the service. They are at

leisure, or practically at leisure, and they are presumed to know the

district better than would ordinarily be the case, having ridden the

district more or less while acting as letter carriers. Of course, all that

could be done without any such provision of law, if it is legal for a

substitute letter carrier to hold the two places at the same time. The

purpose of putting this provision into the bill is to resolve any doubt

as to whether it would be legal or not.

The CHAIRMAN. Your idea is that under some circumstances they

may be made enumerators?

Mr. NORTH. Yes; where they are the best qualified.

Mr. HAY. AS regards the rural carriers, have you considered that

rural routes, particularly in agricultural communities, run through a

large section of country?

Mr. NORTH. Yes, I have.

Mr. HAY. And they would probably run into three or four enumeration districts?

Mr. NORTH. They might; but of course you would have one district

blocked out for each enumerator.

Mr. HAY. And it might take in territory that he was not familiar

with.

Mr. NORTH. It might, but it would be contiguous.

Mr. SNAPP. A carrier, as a rule, only knows his immediate route,

and he might know nothing at all about the country off of his route,

and as a matter of fact a good many of them know none too much

about their own route.

Mr. NORTH. There is nothing compulsory about this provision.

Mr. HAY. Well, is there any particular reason for it; is there any

trouble in getting efficient enumerators?

Mr. NORTH. There were many inefficient enumerators in the last

census, and, of course, there will always be some inefficient ones. This

is a little venture in the hope that it may tend to improve the qualifications of the enumerators.

Mr. SNAPP. But am I wrong in understanding that if this bill is

passed at this session it will give your bureau more time, and theretore you will be able to select your enumerators with more care than

at the last census?
THIRTEENTH CENSUS, 45

Mr. XORTH. It will give us the time to compel each man selected as

an enumerator to submit a trial schedule, by which we will be able to

judge of his qualifications.

Mr. HAMLIN. IS there a competitive examination held for these

places?

Mr. NOKTH. No, not a competitive examination; but we require

them to submit a schedule, a trial schedule, from which we can judge

as to their qualifications.

Mr. HAMLIN. Are you familiar with the examination of rural

carriers ?

Mr. NORTH. NO, I am not.

Mr. HAMLIN. If you were, I think you would agree with me that

for the position of enumerator it will require a man of better education than the education required of a man to pass the examination for

rural carriers; and, another thing, a good many of these substitutes

live in the towns out of which these free-delivery routes run, and they

have no practical knowledge of the surrounding country, except on

the immediate line of their routes, as Mr. Snapp says,

Mr. NORTH. The question is, whether they could accept the position; that was one point, whether under the law they would be able

to be appointed without this provision.

Mr. Cox, I see the bill in the proviso speaks of the enumeration

of institutions,

Mr. NORTH. Yes, sir.

Mr. Cox. To what does that refer?

Mr, NORTH. A great insane asylum, for instance, or a large prison.

There may be 1,000 people in one of those institutions, and there

could be a separate enumeration of that institution, according to this

provision, instead of the institution being included in that district.

The CHAIRMAN. There is the soldiers^ home, in my district, and

the Marion Home with 2,000 members, probably 2,500 members.

That would come under that?

Mr, NORTH. Yes, sir.

Mr. SNAPP, That has been the provision in previous acts?

Mr. NORTH, Yes, that is copied from the present law.

The CHAIRMAN, We can talk that over, perhaps, later.

Section 14 provides for removals.

Mr. NORTH, That is identical with the like provision of the last

Census Act,

The CHAIRMAN, And section 15 provides for interpreters. That

is substantially the same as the last law?

Mr. NORTH, Yes, except it is tightened up a little so as to prevent

abuse,

Mr, SNAPP. On the subject of the enumeration of persons not

speaking the English language, I am familiar with the fact that

in taking the last census in our own manufacturing communities

there was a great deal of difficulty•almost insurmountable. There

was in my home town, I remember. You think you have provided

carefully against that this time?

Mr. NORTH. We have provided for interpreters where the supervisor indicates that it is necessary.

Mr. HALE, It is very necessary in some communities.

The CHAIRMAN, It would be necessary in some towns in my district.
46 THIBTEEKTH CENSUS.

Mr. SXAPP. I have enumeration districts where they would need

three or four interpreters.

Mr. Cox. Where the enumerator speaks the prevailing language

an interpreter would not be needed.

Mr. NORTH. If he speaks the prevailing foreign language in his district he ought to be able to get along without an interpreter. I have

been told that in the last census of Massachusetts (1905). in Boston,

in one district eight interpreters were needed.

Mr. HAY. In my district you would not need any interpreters.

Mr. LANGLEY. And the same is true of my district.

Mr. NORTH. These eight interpreters were sent from district to district in Boston. Where there was a Greek colony they would send the

Greek interpreter, but it is not necessary to have a Greek interpreter

for every Greek colony.

The CHAIRMAN. In section 15, in the provision for appointment of

enumerators, you increase the maximum pay.

Mr. NORTH. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. Why is that necessary? What are the reasons for

that change?

Mr. NORTH. The increase is made on the judgment of the geographer, and of the men in charge of the population work and of the

agricultural work, as the result of their conclusion that the compensation in cortoin exceptional districts was not sufficient at the last

census.

Mr. ROBINSON. Where is it?

Mr. NORTH. It is in the opposite column there, you will see it.

The CHAIRMAN. It must be borne in mind, too, that the cost of living is somewhat greater than it was ten years ago.

Mr. NORTH. That is one of the elements to Ije taken into consideration.

The CHAIRMAN. And the standard of compensation is generally

higher for labor than it was then.

Mr. IIAY. YOU can get more efficient enumerators, I suppose, if you

pay them more; is not that true?

Mr. NORTH. That is true, undoubtedlv. Some of the enumerators in

the last census worked very hard for compensation which would seem

to you pretty small.

Mr. SNAPP. Let me call your attention to this:

The compensatlou allowed to enumerators In any certain district should not

be less than $3 or more than $6 per day of ten hours actual field work.

Ten hours' actual fieldwork means in taking the enumeration, as I

understand it. It would require several hours after the fieldwork

was, over to make up the reports, would it not?

Mr. NORTH. Well, not necessarily. The enumerator is supposed to

fill out his schedules as he goes along.

Mr. SNAPP. Leaving nothing to complete after his fieldwork is performed ?

Mr. NORTH. Well, he would have to write the name of his district

and the county and township.

The CHAIRMAN. That was the provision in the last law?

Mr. NORTH. Yes, that is the same. There has been no change in

that respect.

The CHAIRMAN. We might strike out the word " field?"
THIBTEENTH CENSUS. 47

Mr. NORTH. There would be no objection to that at all.

Mr. SNAPP. Most of the Departments of the Government work only

eight hours, and a good man}' much less than that. Would you not

think that eight hours' actual fieldwork would be a pretty good day's

work for a man?

Mr. NOKTH. That is a question for the committee to decide.

Mr. LANGLEY. Would not the eight-hour law conflict with that

provision ?

Mr. NORTH. Of course if this bill passes in this form it does away

with the eight-hour law so far as the fieldwork of the Census Office

is concerned.

Mr. HAY. HOW much time have the enumerators to complete this

work?

Mr. NORTH. They have one month in the country districts and two

weeks in the cities.

Mr. HAY. Could they do the work in eight hours a day, could they

complete the work in that time if they worked only eight hours a day?

Mr. NORTH. Well, it might involve a still further reduction of the

size of the districts.

Mr. SNAPP. DO you contemplate that all your city work must be

completed within the two weeks mentioned, and the reports made?

Mr. NORTH. Substantially so. Of course an additional day here

and there, the supervisors-would not object to.

Mr. HAMIJN. May I inquire what you regard the necessity for this:

" Ten cents for each barn and inclosure for live stock not on farm."

Mr. NORTH. That is a repetition of an amendment to the Twelfth

Census law. the necessity for which is somewhat in doubt.

Mr. HAMLIN. That is the way it impressed me.

Mr. NORTH. There was a census of " live stock not on farms " taken

at the Twelfth Census as the result of supplementary legislation, and

the report was made, and we have got a good many copies of the report still in stock. I have never been satisfied that the results warranted the inquiry, and I think it would be proper for the committee

to get the judgment of Secretary Wilson before including it in the

bill. I believe, however, it was added to the last census law at the

request of the Department of Agriculture.

Mr. HAMLIN. DO you not think, Mr. Director, that it opens the way

to.the reporting of a great many so-called barns, for which the enumerator would get 10 cents each, that would be no earthly good to the

Government? Nearly every house in town, for instance, would have

some kind of a barn with nothing in it, perhaps, but pigeons, and perhaps only 10 feet by 12. Do you not think the enumerators would be

tempted to report such " bams " if they could receive 10 cents each

for them I

Mr. NORTH. Yes; that is true.

Mr. HAMLIN. I think that is a mistake. There are probably several

million barns of that kind in the United States.

Mr. HAY. That is provided for in section 8 of the bill, page 6, line

18. If you are going to leave it there

Mr. NORTH. Of course if you are going to leave it there you will

have to provide for it here. As I said before, the question is one

which should be referred to the Secretary of Agriculture.
48 THIRTEENTH CENSUS.

Mr. SNAPP. I would like to call your attention to section 16:

(Reading:) "The compensation allowed to an enumerator in any

such district shall he not less than three nor more than six dollars

per day of ten hours' actual field work." To what do the words " in

any such district " refer to? There seem to be two classes of districts

referred to there.

Mr. NORTH. It means enumeration districts.

Mr. SNAPP. Then would it not be well to strike out the word

" such," so it would read " compensation allowed to an enumerator in

any district?"

Mr. NORTH. " In any such district." it reads in the Twelfth Census

law, you will notice.

Mr. SNAPP. But that section seems to provide for two kinds of

districts.

Mr. NORTH. It refers distinctly to the enumerator, and there is only

one kind of an enumeration district.

Mr. SNAPP. I think it would be well to strike that word " such "

out then.

Mr. Cox. I would like to call attention to section 16, beginning with

line 3. " In subdivisions where he >hall deem such remuneration sufficient, an allowance of not less than two nor more than four cents for

each inhabitant." That gives the Director discretionary power, does

it not?

Mr. NORTIT. That is the way the bill reads; yes.

Mr. Cox. Am I putting a proper interpretation upon that?

Mr. NORTH. Yes; the theory «f that provision is, that the enumeration districts will vary very greatly in different parts of the country.

Mr. Cox. In that connection, how is the Director of the Census

going to be informed of the situation?

Mr. NORTH. He knows the characteristics of every district in the

United States, by reason of having possession of the returns of the

last census.

Mr. Cox. In other words, he takes judicial notice of that?

Mr. NORTH. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. There are districts in the West where a man might

travel with a team all day and not make 30 cents under this provision?

Mr. NORTH. Yes; that is why the Director must have some discretion.

Mr. ROBINSON. He could not get anyone to do the work otherwise?

Mr. NORTH. No.

The CHAIRMAN. Section 17 is a matter of no vital importance.

Section 18 deals with the appointment of special agents. What are

these special agents and how do you use them ?

Mr. NORTH. Special agents for the decennial period are almost

wholly used in the manufacturing census. The schedule for manufactures is generally withdrawn from the enumerator, and these

special agents are appointed. They are supposed to be a little higher

grade of men than the enumerators. The works lasts for a longer

time; the compensation is higher than the enumerator gets, and the

work is more technical and difficult.

The CHAIRMAN. They make the original investigation?

Mr. NORTH. Yes.

The CHAIRMAN. The practice before, I think, was that a man would

be appointed for 2 or 3 counties to investigate manufactures in a

group of counties?
THIRTEENTH CENSUS. 49

Mr. NORTH. Yes; if it is not a large manufacturing district.

The CHAIRMAN. And sometimes 2 or 3 in one county?

Mr. NORTH. Yes.

The CHAIRMAN. Depending upon the amount of work he would

have to do?

Mr. NORTH. Yes; in the city of New York we have had one supervising special agent, and he had under him over a hundred subordinates, all special agents.

The CHAIRMAN. I believe that section authorizes you to send

special agents into districts where you deem it necessary?

Mr. NORTH. Yes, sir.

Mr. Cox. Are they permanent?

Mr. NORTH. NO, sir; they are dropped from the rolls at the end of

their work.

Mr. Cox. At the end of three years?

Mr. NORTH. They are usually in service only a few months.

Mr. SNAPP. When would they be likelv to be appointed under this

bill?

Mr. NORTH. They would likely be appointed quite early in 1910.

This bill permits the census of manufactures to be taken as of the year

prior to the census year.

Mr. SNAPP. Did you not find in the last census the work of the

special agents was very much delayed•they had difficulties in taking

it that were unexpected, did they not?

Mr. NORTH. Not that were unexpected; we knew all about the difficulties before we began it. There are a great, many troublesome

cases that arise. There are many people who refuse to give the information that the manufacturing schedule calls for, and they have

to be persuaded and written to irom the office, and sometimes they

have to be threatened. On the other hand, there are many manufacturers who will cheerfully fill out their own schedules and hand

them to the special agent, or transmit them to the office.

Mr. Cox. I see in section 18 it is provided " and an allowance in

lieu of subsistence not exceeding four dollars per day during necessary absence from their usual place of residence," whereas in the

Twelfth Census act it was provided that they should only receive

$3 per day. There is a change in that respect.

Mr. NORTH. Yes; that change has been made in the bill for two

reasons. One is the increased cost of living, to which the chairman

has alluded, and the other is that $4 per diem is the more generally

prevailing rate in the different Departments and Bureaus of the Government. We have felt that the employees in the Census Office are

entitled to just as much compensation in the way of an allowance for

subsistence as clerks in the other branches of the Government.

Mr. HAMLIN. And you would be more apt to get competent men?

Mr. NORTH. Yes; I think so.

The CHAIRMAN. Section 20 relates to the date when the census shall

be taken, and the time when it shall be finished, and so on, and we

have discussed that. Section 21 is a penal provision.

Mr. NORTH. That is identical with the last law.

The CHAIRMAN. And a very useful provision, is it not?

Mr. NORTH. Yes.

|~~ The CHAIRMAN. Section 22.

Mr. NORTH. That is also a penal provision.

26629•08 4
50 THIRTEENTH CENSUS.

The CHAIRMAN. In relation to giving out information f

Mr. NORTH. That is a new provision, beginning at line 22. We

feel that the Census Office should be protected in its work, by putting

every one of its employees under oath to respect the confidential

character of the work of the Office.

The CHAIRMAN. It protects the people, too.

Mr. NORTH. It protects the people and protects the Office. I am

surprised that such a provision has never been included in the former

census acts.

The CHAIRMAN. Could section 23 make it compulsory for people

who possess certain information to give that information?

Mr. NORTH. Yes; referring to section 22, the corresponding section

in the last act was defective, in that it did not make it the duty of

these people to give these replies. The same is true in regard to the

Jatter clause in section 23, in the case of manufacturers.

The CHAIRMAN. And then corporations. Section 24 relates to the

answers of corporations.

Mr. NORTH. At the bottom of page 21, this provision in regard to

apartment houses is new. It grows out of the fact that Mr. Hunt,

who took the New York State census, in 1905. found the greatest

difficulty in New York City in enumerating the inhabitants of these

apartment houses. The enumerators would receive discourtesy and

refusal from proprietors and managers, and it ought to be made a

penal offense for anyone to interrupt the orderly work of the census

in that way. That is section 23. ,

Mr. SNAPP. Are these enumerators provided with a badge of office?

Mr. NORTH. They are; yes.

The CHAIRMAN. Section 24 is quite an important one, relating to

corporations. In the discussion in this House a year or two ago I

think I made the statement that it was doubtful if Congress hadthe

power to compel individuals or corporations to give information concerning their private business for statistical purposes, excepting those

that are mentioned in the Constitution; but on reflection I have the

impression that Congress has that power Congress has the right to

know the resources of the nation for purposes of legislation and the

levying an excise tax. and I believe Congress has inherently the power

to collect this information and to compel, with the proper safeguards,

officers of corporation to give infbrmation, provided the information

is duly safeguarded. It is for statistical purposes and for the information of the Federal Government in administration and legislation.

Mr. ROBINSON. Under what provision, if any, of the. Constitution,

would that be embraced; that would not come under the general welfare clause?

The CHAIRMAN. I do not attach any special importance to the general welfare clause. I never regarded that as adding anything to the

constitutional power of the Federal Government, but it is an implied

power. Our power to regulate interstate commerce, our power to

impose taxes, customs duties, and internal-revenue taxes, and to legislate generally, it would seem to me would cany with it general authority to investigate and know the resources of the Government, the

character and extent of its industries, and so on.

Mr. LANGLEY. That question has been passed on by some of the

inferior Federal courts.
THIRTEENTH CENSUS. 51

Mr. NORTH. An inferior court in Ohio decided in 1890 that the

penalties imposed in section 24 could not be imposed, because it was

not made a duty to do so, and therefore that provision has been

amended so as to make it, read: " It shall be the duty," etc. My recollection is that that Ohio case in 1890 turned on the absence of that

provision in the law.

Mr. LANOLEY. I know there have been decisions with reference to

the absence of such a provision in other laws, from which it has been

argued that this section in the census law was dpfectivc because of the

failure to make it a duty to give the information required by the

schedules.

Mr. NORTH. Yes; I know that.

Mr. LANGLEY. I had overlooked the fact, if it is a fact, that this

point had been passed on by any court in construing the census law.

f Mr. SNAPP. Section 24 provides " And it shall be the dutj' of every

owner, president, secretary, director, agent, or other officer of other

manufacturing establishment * * * to answer completely and

correctly to the best of his knowledge all questions on any census

schedule applying to such establishment." That would make it the

duty of every employee to give information.

Mr. NORTH. NO; not every employee. It says "owner, president,

treasurer, secretary, director, agent, or other officer."

Mr, SNAPP. Every employee of a corporation is an agent of that

corporation.

Mr. HAY. Would a brakeman on a railroad be an agent of the

corporation ?

Mr. SNAPP. Certainly.

Mr. LANGLEY. Not in the sense contemplated here.

The CHAIRMAN. He is an agent only to set brakes on the trains.

Mr. SNAPP. He is an agent of that corporation in every legal sense

you can think of, and he would be compelled under this section to

give us any information he might have or think he had.

The CHAIRMAN. Only to the best of- his knowledge.

Mr. S^JAPP. The trouble is he might consider it was within his

knowledge, and he would give information that, perhaps, was not

really accurate. Suppose they had difficulty in obtaining the information required from the president or officers of the corporation; they

would seek it from any source they could get it.

Mr. LANGLEY. Not if they were properly instructed.

Mr. NORTH.' They never have done so.

Mr. ROBINSON. Suppose there is an effort on the part of the secretary, treasurer, and president to avoid giving this information, then

the information could be sought from anybody else connected with the

company. Suppose the treasurer and president and secretary secreted

themselves.

Mr. SNAPP. Or necessarily were absent.

Mr. ROBINSON. Then what would be the duty of the enumerator

except to go to the next person in authority?

Mr. SNAPP. That would simply be leading to information which

would be of no value.

The CHAIRMAN. The agent in that same sense I have no doubt

would be construed to mean the man who. stands for the company.

I do not agree with my friend Mr. Snapp that the brakeman on a

railroad would be considered the agent or the railroad corporation.
52 THIETBBKTH CENSUS.

Mr. SNAPP. In Illinois he would be, becmise in our State service or

summons can be made on any employee of a corporation.

The CHAIRMAN. Under a special act of course. I think that word

" agent " is a necessary word in the bill.

Mr. LANGLEY. I was just going to ask whether it is necessary to

leave the word " agent" in there. Would not the section be just as

effective without it ?

Mr. NORTH. I do not see any objection to striking it out.

Mr. LANOLEV. And leave it to read, " Director or other officer."

Mr. SNAPI*. The phraseology would cover everybody that would

properly have any information that the Census Office was seeking, by

striking out the word " agent."

The CiiAiKMAN. An agent in the sense of the law is one who stands

for the company or corporation in respect to the inquiry in hand.

The brakeman would not be an agent for the company to find out the

character of its business or anything of that kind, although he might

be an agent for some purpose. I think we ought to retain the word

" agent," because I have in mind a good many cases in which we could

not get the necessary information from others than agents. The

officers of a corporation may not know what the Census Office wants

to know. Mr. Rockefeller, when lie went before Judge Landis in

Chicago, and was asked for infonnation respecting his company, said

he did not have any. The agents knew. However, that is a detail

that we can take up later.

r• Mr. NORTH. Section 25 is absolutely new.

The CHAIRMAN. That is a very good section, too.

Mr. NORTH. I think it is. It gives these manufacturers assurance

that the law will protect them and intends to protect them.

The CHAIRMAN. That the information is being gotten for the purpose of statistics?

Mr. NORTH. Yes sir, and for no other purpose.

Mr. SNAPP. That section appears to be confined to the operators of

mines and quarries, manufacturing establishments and corporations

or individuals engaged in productive or other industry. Would that

include railroad corporations?

Mr. NORTH. It would. We do not take the railroads, however.

This act does not cover railroads in any way at all.

Mr. Cox. Would it include farmers^

Mr. NORTH. The law covers the farmers. I mean this section was

intended to cover the farmer, so that the man who reports his

crops

The CHAIRMAN. Individuals engaged in productive industry.

Mr. NORTH. Well, a farmer is engaged in productive industry.

The CHAIRMAN. Very much so.

Mr. NORTH. Yes.

Mr. SNAPP. Would it be more comprehensive if it provided that

no information contained in reports shall be used except for statistical purposes, without enumerating what information?

Mr. NORTH. We make use of a great deal of this information. That

is, we use a great deal of it for a great many purposes, which are

legitimate, and I am trying to find the section of the act which

covers it.
THIRTEENTH CENSUS. 53

The CHAIRMAN. There is a section of the act which authorizes yon

to furnish governors of States and others with certain reports and

transcripts.

Mr. SNAPP. Would that mention individuals or corporations by

name?

Mr. NORTH. It is section 35.

The CHAIRMAN. Section 35 provides that the Director of the Census is further authorized, in his discretion, to furnish individuals such

data from the population schedule as may be desired for genealogical

or other proper purposes, upon payment of the actual cost of searching the records, and $1 for supplying a certificate.

Mr. SNAPP. That is nothing out population.

Mr. NORTH. The other information we never give out.

Mr. SNAPP. I was asking whether that should not be more comprehensive.

Mr. LANGLEY. Does not section 25 in effect preclude you from

giving Certified copies even of a manufacturer's report, or of any

other census report, even though it may be a transcript for use as

evidence in some litigation? It reads "shall be used only for the

statistical purposes for which it is supplied."

Mr. SNAPP. It seems to me that that would be better if it read

"the information furnished in pursuance of this act shall be used

only for statistical purposes."

Mr. LANGLEY. I think there should be added to that " except as

otherwise provided herein."

Mr. NORTH. This would cover every possible field of inquiry, if

there is any danger, such as vou suggest.

The CHAIRMAN. We can take that up when we go over the bill by

sections under the five minute rule in the committee. Section 27

provides for the actual and necessary traveling expenses of the officers

and clerks of the Census Office and an allowance of not exceeding $5

per day during their necessary absence from the office.' Section 28

is in reference to printing. Then comes the proposition for rental.

By the way, what rent does the Government pay for the present

Census Office?

Mr. NORTH. $21,000.

The CHAIRMAN. When does our lease expire for that?

Mr. NORTH. The lease expires every year on the 1st of July. The

purchase option expires on the 1st of July next.

The CHAIRMAN. What is the option•what is the price fixed in the

option ?

Mr. NORTH. $356,000, I believe [After referring to memorandum]

$354,126.

The CHAIRMAN. HOW much ground is there?

Mr. NORTH. There are 106,900 square feet. The price fixed in this

option is $3 per square foot, which makes it, so far (is I can discover,

a very cheap piece of property, considering the eligible location, as

cheap as can be found anywhere in the city.

The CHAIRMAN. IS the property that sve have an option .m, the

land, all covered by the Census Office building?

Mr. NORTH. NO; there is a vacant lot. embracing 11,000 square feet,

which is covered by the option, and which adjoins the Census Office
54 . THIRTEENTH CENSUS.

building; it is immediately adjoining it on Second street and the

alley.

The CHAIRMAN. And the option cover-; the Imiklmg?

Mr. NORTH. The price in the option includes the building also.

The CHAIRSIAN. Of course the Department of Commerce and

Labor has not any home. It is scattered all over the city. Would

that site, in your judgment, be a suitable location for the construction of a large building for the Department of Commerce and Labor?

Mr. NORTH. Well, I believe the secrelarv might have objection to

the location, by reason of its great distance from the other Departments. Of course that is not an objection which applies to the Census Office proper. I have no doubt that the location is one which

will ultimately he purchased by the Qoveiiuneut. It is included in

the scheme of the park commission .for the Mall improvements. Its

nearness to the Capitol gives it, to my mind, some advantages over

more distant locations The facts in regard to the census building

and the urgent need for additional accommodations, arc contained

in the last annual report of the Director of the Census; and in order

that they may be put before all the members of the committee, I have

brought copies of the report for those who have not already seen it.

Mr. HAY. Does the present building afford ample accommodation

for the force of the Census Bureau during the decennial period?

Mr. NORTH. No; it is not quite one-half large enough. It was

necessary at the last census, although this building was constructed

especially for it, to locate more than one-half of the clerks in quarters

in other parts of the city, some of them quite distant; the old Globe

Building on Pennsylvania avenue was used, and also the Union

Building on G street was rented, and there were several other buildings used. Of course, it is a great detriment to efficient administration to have the work scattered over the city in that way.

Mr. SNAPP. Section 27 reads that the Director of the Census may

authorize the expenditure of necessary sums for the actual and necessary traveling expenses of the officers and clerks of the Census Office,

and an allowance in lieu of subsistence not to exceed $5 per day.

What officers and clerks of the Census Office do you think will be

required to travel on business of the Department?

Mr. NORTH. During the emergency work of a decennial census they

are constantly traveling.

Mr. SXAPP. Who are constantly traveling?

Mr. NORTH. Well, whenever any difficulty arises in any district,

somebody has to be sent to straighten it out.

Mr. SNAPP. From where are they sent?

Mr. NORTH. From Washington.

Mr. SNAPP. What is the reason for having the supervisors of the

census, if they are not going to be such men as can be relied upon to

do this work•why should they not do this work instead of sending

clerks from the Census Office at Washington?

Mr. IIAI.E. Suppose a man dies or is taken sick?

Mr. SNAPP. Then his successor will be appointed.

Mr. NORTH. What will happen to his work in the meanwhile?

Mr. SNAPP. That is what I am trying to find out. For what purpose will they be traveling from Washington on the business of the

Census Office, and to what extent is it anticipated that there will be

such traveling?
THIRTEENTH CENSUS. 55

Mr. XoRTir. This provision is taken from the last act, you understand, the Twelfth Census act.

Mr. SNAPP. I still want the information.

Mr. NORTH. I will give it to you as well as I can. The purposes

for which sucii travel may be necessary are practically innumerable.

Suppose, for instance, a question arises as to what kind of an office

the supervisor for New York City shall rent. It very properly and

naturally would be the duty of the Director of the Census to send

an agent to New York City to see whether the selection of the supervisor was the proper and suitable one, would it not ? He certainly

should have that power, and I think he would neglect his duty if

he did not exercise it.

Mr. SXAPP. Then to what extent do you anticipate such work will

extend, and to what amount in the appropriation?

Mr. NORTH. A very small proportion of the appropriation of

course.

Mr. SNAPP. What do you estimate would be the item for that?

Mr. NORTH. I have not made any such estimate. I can find out

what it cost in the Twelfth Census for such purposes, and will be

glad to do so.

Mr. SNAPP. I wish you would. Please give me what it will probably take in money to cover the traveling expenses of the officers and

clerks in the Census Office. I know this says " an allowance of not

over $5 a day." In all other branches of the Government with

which I am familiar, and especially the Post-Office Department, the

allowance is only $4 a day. Why do you ask for $o a day?

Mr. NORTH. The allowance in this bill is $4 for clerks.

Mr. SNAPP. But here it says " For the actual and necessary traveling expenses of the officers and clerks of the Census Office * * *

not exceeding $5 per day;" while in the Post-Office Department it is

only $4 a day•why is it $5 here?

Mr. NORTH. I am not aware of the reason for making it $4 in the

Post-Office Department. I am very certain that you can not go to

New York or Chicago or any city of any size in this country on a

day's trip or two days' trip and live respectably for less than $5 a

day.

Mr. SNAPP. DO you undei-stand that the officers and clerks pay

their traveling expenses?

Mr. NORTH. Certainly not.

Mr. SNAPP. HOW will you avoid it?

Mr. NORTH. The office will furnish them transportation.

Mr. SNAPP. You understand it. Will the railroad fare be paid out

of some fund ?

Mr. NORTH. Out of this fund.

Mr. SNAPP. SO you anticipate they will not ride free?

Mr. NORTH. Well, they never have.

Mr. SNAPP. Then if their railroad fare is to be paid out of another

fund. let me ask you, again, why you think it necessarv for a subsistence allowance of $5 a day when $4 a day is all that is allowed in

the Post-Office service and has been found to be adequate?

Mr. NORTH. I do not believe it has been found to be adequate in

these times.

Mr. SNAPP. It has been and that is all that is allowed.
6G THIRTEENTH CENSUS.

Mr. NORTH. It may be that is all that is allowed.

Mr. SNAPP. TO employees of the Post-Office Department, who are

traveling continuously.

Mr. NORTH. I do not know the facts about that.

Mr. HAMLIN. You say the office furnishes the transportation?

Mr. NORTH. Yes; makes a requisition on the railroad.

Mr. HAMLIN. Out of what fund is the railroad to be paid ?

Mr. NORTH. Out of the general appropriation for the Thirteenth

Census. Everything, every possible item of expense, is to be paid out

of that appropriation.

Mr. HAMLIN. The same as the per diem allowance?

Mr. NORTH. Certainly.

Mr. LANGLEY. They have a uniform system of running that part of

the business of the Government; they have a form which is called a

" transportation request,'" approved by the accounting officers of the

Treasury Department.

Mr. SNAPP. That is no more than an order to the railroad company

to issue transportation to some person and charge it to the Government?

Mr. NORTH. That is it.

The CHAIRMAN. NOW, about the printing, in the Twelfth Census,

we had a printing office. This bill does not provide for that?

Mr. NORTH. No.

The CHAIRMAN. The printing shall be done in the Government

Printing Office?

Mr. NORTH. Yes.

Mr. HAY. Referring to this question asked you by Mr. Snapp, I

see it says not exceeding $5 a day. I suppose it would be in the discretion of the Director to say whether it would be $3 or $4. or what

it should be. in accordance with the expenses incurred?

Mr. NORTH. Yes; it would.

Mr. HAY. For instance, in the country, a man may be able to live

on $2 a day better than he could live in New York for $5 a day.

Mr. SNAPP. The language is similar to that used in the Post-Office

appropriation bill. I was simply calling attention to the fact that

the maximum here is $5 whereas in other cases the maximum is $4.

Mr. NORTH.,Not in all other cases. I understand in the Bureau

of Corporations the maximum is $5.

Mr. SNAPP. I was trying to ascertain what you considered the necessity for an increased maximum in this case.

Mr. LANGLEY. I know from my own experience as disbursing officer of the Census Office that in a great many cases•in som& sections

of the country•even $5 a day would hardly meet the actual expenses

that an employee or officer would incur, if he stopped at a good hotel;

and in other cases, in other sections of the country, employees have

been able to save considerable money on a $3 per diem allowance for

subsistence.

Mr. HAMLIN. I would like to ask is the allowance ever placed below

the maximum fixed by law?

Mr. NORTH. Oh yes; very frequently.

Mr. HAMLIN. And in exercising that discretion, upon what does

the Director base his decision?
THIRTEENTH CENSUS. 57

Mr. NORTH. He bases it on the geographical situation. In taking

the manufacturing census of 1905, the law allowed us to make an

allowance of $3. In the rural districts we only allowed $1.50, and

some of the men saved money on that allowance.

Mr. HAMLIN. DO you make that allowance in advance, decide what

the maximum allowance shall be?

Mr. NORTH. Yes, when the men are designated.

Mr. HAMLIN. If you allow them $5 a day to go to New York and

they only spend $2 a day do they retain the difference?

Mr. NORTH. Yes.

Mr. ROBINSON. And if they go over their maximum they lose?

Mr. NORTH. Yes.

Mr. SNAPP. I understand you fix the maximum allowance in the

order appointing them. Suppose it should turn out that their necessary expenses are greater than what you fix as their maximum allowance, but less than the maximum fixed by law; in such case would

you make them any allowance over that fixed in their appointment

order ?

Mr. NORTH. Then I would be at liberty to change that, if it seems

best, yes.

The CHAIRMAN. HOW frequently is it necessary to make requisitions

on the Public Printer during the course of a decennial census ?

Mr. NORTH. Well, not oftener perhaps than once a minute, in the

height of the work. It is an enormous thing, of course.

The CHAIRMAN. And the practice has been, and this bill provides,

that the Director may make those requisitions directly on the Public

Printer?

Mr. NORTH. That is the fact. The practice has been so and the bill

so provides. <

Mr. Cox. Why does this bill provide that the printing shall be done

by the Public Printer and not by the Census Department, as was provided in the last bill I

Mr. NORTH. Well, they had a great deal of trouble with their printing outfit at the last Census, and as a result of it my predecessor•

Governor Merriam•became disgusted with the whole business and

recommended that the provisions of the law be repealed. He said he

was taking a census and not running a printing shop, and he did not

find that the two were compatible.

The CHAIRMAN. Section 31 provides for a contribution or an appropriation to help States in taking five year censuses. What is your

view upon that. Mr. North?

Mr. NORTH. That is a recurrence to a provision of the act of 1880,

which is printed opposite on this page, and it is intended to encourage

the States to take these midway censuses, by contributing a portion of

the expense. The advantage of a more frequent census than once in

ten years is not a matter which I think needs any argument. It is

the general judgment of the students of these questions that a five

year population census is highly desirable, and yet it is hardly right

that the United States Government shall do it all, or come at once

into the total expense of a five year census of the population. This

provision would give an opportunity to such of the states as care to

do so. to-take an intermediate census, and to have it tabulated for

them by the permanent Census Office. The old provision of the act
58 THIRTEENTH CENSUS.

of 1880 never amounted to anything, because at that time there was

no permanent census and no use could be made of the returns taken

under that provision. There were 3 or 4 States that did take censuses under that old provision and the papers relating to those censuses are stored away in the Department of the Interior•they were

stored there, and I suppose they are stored there yet•because there

was no Census Office to tabulate them.

The CHAIRMAN. The section under consideration requires the

payment by the Federal Government of 40 per cent of the amount

paid to all supervisors and actual enumerators in the States taking

censuses, requiring also that the schedules shall be approved by the

Director of the Census You pay that for them, and the Federal

Government would appropriate those reports?

Mr. NORTH. Yes.

The CHAIRMAN. Those schedules, and publishes reports in these

several States.

Mr. NORTH. Yes.

The CHAIRMAN. YOU know we passed a resolution several years

ago authorizing the Census Office to pay the State of Michigan and

perhaps other States a portion of the cost of the manufacturing census those States were engaged in taking?

Mr. NORTH. That was carried out and the report published. We

made the compilation in cooperation with the State, and it worked

very satisfactorily.

The CHAIRMAN. Section 32 provides for a five year census of agriculture and live stock. Do you know what the cost would be?

Mr. NORTH. I submitted a statement at the last session of Congress. It is in the printed document before you; I submitted an

estimate of a round million dollars. Mr. Powers, the chief statistician in charge of agriculture, thinks it would cost about $2,000,000

to do a satisfactory piece of work. I would like to consider the matter a little further with him.

The CHAIRMAN. All right. That is one of the important features

of the bill. We had hearings before on that, and the Secretary of

Agriculture appeared before the committee and made a strong statement, an elaborate statement, in favor of the five year census of

agriculture, including live stock, and a number of the representatives

of the Western Live Stock and Agricultural Association came before

this committee, and urged the passage of the bill.

Mr. Byrleson, of Texas, introduced the bill and made a statement

for it. and we have those hearings printed, and instead of having the

Secretary of Agriculture and other gentlemen before the committee,

upon that subject, I suggest we simply reprint those statements that

were given before, with this hearing, so we will have the testimony

before us. It will perhaps do just as well as to have the Secretary of

Agriculture come before the committee and take up a day's time

again. His statement was very instructive and interesting at that

time. His reasons for a five year census of agriculture were quite

forceful, it struck me, and if the committee consents we can have

those hearings reprinted with the report of these hearings.

Mr. NORTH. At the last session of the committee, Mr. Robinson, I

think, asked for a list of the places in which Census Office examina-
THIRTEENTH CENSUS. 59

tions were held in 1900, and I have a list of those places and will

suhmit it at this point:

DEPABTMENT or COMMEBCE AND LABOR,

BUREAU OF THE CENSUS,

Washington. January 25, 1008.

The records of the appointment division show that exaininatiovis were held at

the following places on the dates indicated for appointment in the Twelfth

Census:

mo.

Washington, D. C.•May, June, July, August and September.

/loston, IffLis.•August.

Lansing, Mich.•September.

Cincinnati, Ohio•October.

San Francisco, Cal.•October.

Chicago, III.•October and November.

Ht. Paul, Minn.•November.

I'ortland, Oreg.•October.

Omaha, Ncbr.•November.

Topeka. Kuns.•November.

St. Louis, Mo.•November and December.

.Veic Orleans, La.•December.

Atlanta, Go.•December.

1900.

Washington, D. C.•Januapy, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December.

Chicago, III.•March.

Boston, Mass.•March.

Netc York, N. I'.•April.

1901.

Washington, D. C.•January, February, April, May, June, August, September,

December.

190Z.

Washington, D. C.•January and February.

Mr. SNAPP. HOW many States took a census under section 22 of the

old act?

Mr. NORTH. There are 14 States that now take an intermediate

census.

Mr. SNAPP. Can you jsrive the names of the States?

Mr. NORTH. They are Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New York,

New Jersey, Minnesota, Iowa, Kansas, North Dakota, South Dakota,

Oregon, Wyoming, Michigan, Florida, and Wisconsin.

The CHAIRMAN. Section 33 provides for the expenditure of $50,000

for experimental purposes. Will you explain what the object of that

appropriation is?

Mr. NORTH. I have talked with Assistant Secretary Hays, of the

Department of Agriculture, on this section. It was supposed this

would meet the wishes of the Agricultural Department; but he says

they have got so far with their own work now that they prefer that

this should be omitted.

The CHAIRMAN. Coming to section 34, what do you think iibout

omitting that about the Philippine census?

Mr. NORTH. Well, that is a pretty hard question. I do not think

that the decennial enumeration of the United "States ought to be en-
60 THIRTEENTH CENSUS.

cumbered with the enormously difficult task of taking the census of

the Philippine Islands. The last census of the islands was taken as

of 1903, and was taken by the War Department. The question involved in this proposition is whether or not the Federal Government will assume the expense of taking the census of the Philippine

Islands. All the expenses of the last census of the Philippine Islands,

except the tabulation, which was done in the Census Office, was paid

by the Philippine government.

The CHAIRMAN. Yes; and it therefore occurs to me we might leave

that question•might leave the matter of the frequency, etc., to the

Philippine government.

Mr. WORTH. Or the War Department. It seems to me it is a matter about which, before any action is taken by the committee, the

War Department should be consulted.

The CHAIRMAN. Section 35 is a section authorizing the Director to

furnish certain transcripts for certain purposes.

Mr. NORTH. That has been amended so as to safeguard it more

effectually than was done in the last act.

The CHAIRMAN. Section 36 carries the appropriation of 14 million

dollars. I suppose it is all right enough to mclude that in ihe bill,

but I have some doubts about the propriety of thU committee recommending the appropriation of that amount of money to be used a

year or so in the future.

Mr. HAY. I think we liad better hold everything we have got.

Mr. SNAPP. I have a question on section 35. In line fi I find the

words "the population returns." What does that mean; how comprehensive is that?

Mr. NORTH. How comprehensive are the population muvns?

Mr. SNAPP. Yes. In other words, what information would the

Census Department be allowed to furnish to the governor of any

State or Territory or judge of a court of record under section 35?

Mr. NORTH. The information most commonly sought for is the age.

It is commonly sought in connection with suits of one kind or another. The general plan of the Office since I have been Director has

been to decline all private requests for information about individuals

from the population schedules wherever it is sought for to be used

to the detriment of that individual, and to give it only when it was to

be used in the interest of the individual.

Mr. HAMLIN. How does the Director know the purpose?

Mr. NORTH. He makes the inquiry.

Mr. LANGLEY. There is usually an order of the court, is there not?

Mr. NORTH. There is sometimes. The old law did not give the

court any authority to do it. That has been amended here.

Mr. SNAPP. If the usual, practice has been to furnish that only

when it would be in corroboration of the statements of the individuals about which the information was requested, then this provision

enables this Department in its discretion to act unequally between

parties, does it not ?

Mr. NORTH. That may be so.

The CHAIRMAN. Then it may be important to go to the records of

the Census Office to trace ancestry or descendants ?

Mr. NORTH. It is done every day.

The CHAIRMAN. AS ^I matter oi information, where the parties are

dead it is difficult to prove. It seems to me, without careful analysis
THIBTBEllTH CENSUS. 61

of its phraseology that it is fairly well safeguarded, giving of course

to the Director quite a broad discretion as to the purpose for which

this information may be used.

Mr. SNAPP. There are cases where the question of age may be

of vital importance in litigation, such as descent and other questions

of like character. Now, as this information could be furnished by the

Department only to substantiate or corroborate the statement of the

individual who makes the statement, and not to contradict any statement, it is an unequal application of this doctrine.

The CHAIRMAN. That argument would be addressed to the policy

of the Office rather than to the law.

Mr. SNAPP. The policy of the Department is going to be fixed by

the law, and if it enables a policy by the Office which would work

unequal justice between two parties, such as I have spoken of, it might

lead to gross injustice.

Mr. NORTH. The theory of the law is that no individual shall suffer

any detriment by giving answers to the enumerators according to the

schedule. That is the fundamental theory of the law, and a very

Eroper theory. The policy of the Office, as I have indicated it, has

een to respect that theory of the law.

The CHAIRMAN. IS there anything else any of the members of the

committee desire to ask Mr. North ? It may be when we get together

in executive session and discuss some features of the bill, we will want

to call the Director back for further explanation. As it is a little

after 12 o'clock now, the committee will adjourn, to meet next Friday.

(Thereupon, at 12.05 o'clock, the committee adjourned.)

SATURDAY, February 1, 1908.

The committee met at 10.15 o'clock, a. m., Hon. Edgar D. Crumpacker (Chairman) in the chair, to consider the bill H, R. 7597, to provide for the Thirteenth and subsequent decennial censuses.

The CHAIRMAN. Secretary Wilson has sent a statement covering

11 pages, in favor of the quinquennial census of agriculture and live

stock. He made a statement before the committee in 1905 or 1906, I

think, when the Burleson bill was under consideration, upon that

question. His statement was a very forcible one and we have printed

copies of the hearings here and have concluded to print them in the

record of the hearings upon this bill. Then this additional statement will be printed and if the committee desires to have it read,

the clerk will read it.

Mr. HAY. I suggest that it be printed.

The CHAIRMAN. It will be printed along with the hearings, so

that you can read it at your leisure. Governor Merriam has kindly

consented to appear before the committee.

Mr. HALK. DO you think there is nothing in that which we would

like to discuss or hear discussed this morning?

The CHAIRMAN. After we have heard Governor Merriam we can

take it up.

Mr. LANGLEY. Will Governor Merriam's testimony embody any

thing covered by Secretary Wilson's report?

The CHAIRMAN. Perhaps not, but I do not know how wide s

range the governor's statements may take. I want to have him give
62 THIRTEENTH CENSUS,

his opinion on some of the administrative features of this bill. The

Secretary of Commerce and Labor wrote me a letter a week or two

ago embodying some suggestions for a modification of the bill on the

ground that he thought it too much power, independent power, upon

the Director of the Census, and he wanted the work to be done in

a large degree b}' the Director through the Secretary. You notice

the bill confers quite a latitude of discretionary authority upon the

Director of the Census. It provides for emergency work, and as

Governor Mcrriam was the Director of the Twelfth Census he has

had experience and knows something about the character of the work

and the latitude of authority that the Director must have in order

to do the work with proper dispatch and economy.

I think I can say with perfect propriety that the Twelfth Census

was the best decennial census, considering its scope and magnitude,

that has ever been taken in the history of this country. In the taking

of the Tenth Census and the Eleventh Census Secretary Straus's

policy was observed, and everything had to be done through the

Secretary of the Interior. When we got ready to provide for the

Twelfth Census, we thought we could profit by the mistakes of the

Congress in the past, and we made the Director more independent in

relation to many emergency matters.

Mr. SNAPP. When did Governor Merriam leave the Department?

Governor MERRIAM. In June, 1903.

Mr. SNAPP. I thought it was about that time.

The CHAIRMAN. Governor Merriam, you were the Director of the

Twelfth Census?

Governor MERRIAM. Yes, sir.

The CHAIBMAN. HOW long did you hold that office?

Governor MERRIAM. I was appointed in March, I think, the 4th or

6th of March, as Congress adjourned, in 1899, and left the office about

the 1st of June, 1903, or within a few days of that time.

Mr. LANOLEY; The 8th of June, 1903. You left it after the permanent census was inaugurated.

The CHAIRMAN. What was the salary of the Director during the

period you held the office?

Governor MERRIAM. Seventy-five hundred dollars, up to the time

the permanent census bill was passed. I think it was changed then,

to $6,000 per year, but during the taking of the Twelfth Census proper

it was $7,500 a year.

The CHAIRMAN. You are not in the public service now?

Governor MERRIAM. NO, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. State whether, in your judgment, the salary ought

to be that much during the taking or the decennial census?

Governor MERRIAM. Yes, sir. It is a very arduous undertaking

and it is not a large compensation at all in view of the work involved.

Mr. SNAPP. What does he mean, $7,500 or $6,500?

Governor MERRIAM. Seventy-five hundred dollars a year. That

was the salary up to the tune the office became permanent.

The CHAIRMAN. When it was fixed at $6,000?

Governor MERRIAM. Six thousand; yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN, When did you complete the work of the Twelfth

Census and get out the reports?

Governor MERRIAM, Within the time limit specified by the law, but

I have forgotten the precise date myself. The law required the work
THIRTEENTH CENSUS. . 63

to be done, I think, within two years after the taking of the census,

and the work was finished and in the hands of the public on the date

required.

The CHAIRMAN. Within two years after?

Governor MERRIAM. Yes.

The CHAIRMAX. My recollection is that the work was finished and

the reports were in the hands of the public by July 1, 1902.

frovernor MERRIAM. I think it was in July of the second year.

Whatever the law prescribed was carried out to the letter.

The CHAIRMAN. In a general way, what is the character of the

work of the Census Office during the decennial period?

Governor MERRIAM. It is an emergency work, involving the employment of a large number of people, the disbursement of vast sums

of money, and the massing of statistics within a limited time.

The CHAIRMAX. DO you remember about how many men you had

in the field during the period, the enumerators?

Governor MERRIAM. I think there were 55,000 enumerators and 300

supervisors, and a large number of what we called " special agents."

I have forgotten the precise number. Of course, those are matters

of record which could be furnished.

The CHAIRMAX. About how many clerks and officers did you have

here in the offices in Washington?

Governor MERRIAM. Mr. Langley knows exactly, because he was

my appointment clerk.

Mr. LAXOLEY. The largest number, T think, was something like

3.400.

Governor MERRIAM. A trifle under 3,500.

The CHAIRMAX. HOW were those clerks appointed?

Governor MERRIAM. They were appointed by the Director.

The CHAIRMAN. Under an examination?

Governor MERRIAM. I will give you the plan, which was a very

simple one.

The CHAIRMAX. Let us have it.

Governor MERRIAM. The law provided that the clerical force

should be selected by the Director with such examinations as he

thought wise. So, in order to equalize the division of the clerical

force so far as possible, it was divided among the States, according

to population. Then it was apportioned, allowing each Senator so

many. North and South, and each Representative so many. In addition, there were quite a large number of clerks selected from the city

of Washington and localities nearby. The examination papers were

prepared by Doctor Wines. That is. he selected an examining board

from among the clerks and most of the examinations were held here.

It was a noncompetitive examination, but there was a minimum rate

which each one had to attain before he or she was eligible for appointment. Examinations were held here, in Philadelphia, and different parts of the country. It was not altogether an ideal plan, but

it seemed to be the best, under all the circumstances, to provide for

an emergency work.

The CHAIRMAX. Doctor Wines was the Assistant Director?

Governor MERRIAM. Doctor Wines was the Assistant Director; yes

sir.

The CHAIRMAN. He was a college man?
64 THIETEENTH CENSUS.

Governor MERRIAM. Yes, sir.

The CnAiRstAN. Was any age limit fixed in those examinations or

do you remember?

Governor MERRIAM. My impression is that there was; ves sir.

The CHAIRMAN. In view of the character of the work, Governor

Merriam, wiiat is your opinion as to the necessity of giving the Director of the Census a large latitute respecting emergency matters

that may arise during the taking of the census?

Governor MERRIAM. I am firmlv convinced he should have the

fullest powers assigned him possible. I remember that under the

act of 1899 there was some question arose as to whether the Census

Office was independent of the Department of Interior. It was referred to the Attorney-General•General Griggs•and he decided it

was. So I acted without reference to the Secretary of the Interior,

under tiiat decision. It is absolutely essential, in order that this work

may be done properly, may be done rapidly, that the Director should

have the amplest power. In fact, I doubt very much whether the

results desired can be attained in the allotted time otherwise. Emergencies arise, requiring prompt action and time is not allowed in

which to seek advice through anj' Department or select a clerical

force. Clerks were frequently appointed and sent away in a day.

Mr. LANOLEY. Sometimes by wire..

Governor MERRIAM. By wire, yes. One could not spend the time

to submit lists of clerks to a higher authority. If this were attempted the Director would break down physically under it. or he

would not finish his work.

The CHAIRMAN. In the matter of responsibility, the law in effect

makes the Director responsible for the character of the work, and he

will be able to give, of course, better results if he has the corresponding amount of authority ?

Governor MERRIAM. Oh, yes; I do not see how you can hold him

accountable for the results if you do not give him the authority.

The CHAIRMAN. Under the law of March, 1899, providing for the

Twelfth Census, the Secretary of the Interior had nothing to do with

the appointments at all.

Governor MERRIAM. NO, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. The law did not require them to be made with his

approval ?

Governor MERRIAM. NO, sir.

Mr. LANGLEY. NO; they were made wholly by the Director. The

permanent census act required that the permanent force should be

appointed with the approval of the head of the Department, and the

entire list of the Census Office was submitted in bulk.

The CHAIRMAN. The organic act for the Twelfth Census made the

Census Office nominally a bureau in the Interior Department?

Governor MERRIAM. Yes, sir; but it was declared independent.

The CHAIRMAN. Declared practically independent for administrative purposes?

Governor MERRIAM. Yes.

The CHAIRMAN. The Census Office was put in the Department of

Commerce and Labor when that Department was created?

Governor MERRIAM. Yes.
THIBTEENTH CENSUS. 65

The CHAIRMAN. And the Secretary of Commerce and Labor was

given all the powers that the Secretary of the Interior had over the

Office before?

Governor MERRIAM. Yes.

The CHAIRMAN,, It was not a very large amount of power?

Governor MERRIAM. NO.

The CHAIRMAN. About the necessity of having the appointing officer in the Census Office.

Governor MERRIAM. YOU mean the appointment clerk?

The CHAIRMAN. The appointment clerk.

Governor MERRIAM. Oh, that is absolutely necessary.

The CHAIRMAN. And the method of disbursing, how should that

be?

Governor MERRIAM. It should be done directly through the bureau's own disbursing clerk; there would not be time to refer accounts

to another Department.

The CHAIRMAN. There is a disbursing clerk in the office of Secretary of Commerce and Labor who feels, perhaps, that the disbursing

ought to be done through his office. What would be the result or

that ?

Governor MERRIAM. It would simply delay the business without

any special advantage.

The CHAIRMAN. Under the present law the Census Office has the

disbursing and the appointment clerk combined in one?

Governor MERRIAM. They were consolidated at the time the office

was made permanent, but up to that time they were separate.

The CHAIRMAN. In your opinion, is it necessary to have separate

offices during the temporary period?

Governor MERRIAM. It would be inadvisable for the appointment

clerk and the disbursing officer to be the same person.

The CHAIRMAN. Respecting the making of requisitions for printing, should that be done directly by the Director or through the

Secretary of the Department?

Governor MERRIAM. It should be done directly through the Government Printing Office. A great many blanks have to be gotten

out in a day, and it would be impracticable to send them over to the

Department of Commerce and Labor and have them take the ordinary routine.

Mr. BURTON. It would take a week.

Governor MERRIAM. Oh, yes; that would be an entirely impracticable thing to do.

The CHAIRMAN. In the Twelfth Census you had a printing office,

I believe, in the Census Office?

Governor MERRIAM. Yes, sir; we had for quite a while, but afterwards we abandoned it and the Government Printing Office did the

work.

The CHAIRMAN. YOU would not advise the establishment of a

printing office in the Census Office again ?

Governor MERRIAM. NO: I do not think there Is any necessity for

it. That is to say, I wotdd not want to do it, unless you were going

to make requisition through some other Department. If you were

going to do that, it would be necessary to have a printing office in the

2C629•08- 5
66 THIBTEENTH CENSUS.

Census Office, because a great deal of the material has to be printed

and sent off practically the same day or the next day.

The CHAIRMAN. The bill under consideration authorizes the Director of the Census to fix the compensation of special agents and

enumerators under some circumstances. What is the necessity for

a provision of that kind. Governor Merriam?

Governor MERRIAM. There is maximum limit, is there not?

The CHAIRMAN. Yes.

Governor MERRIAM. I think I should leave that entirely to the

Director, because there are certain services that require more time,

more experience, than others, and he can best determine conditions

as they arise.

The CHAIRMAN. Are there any places in the country where the

settlements are so sparse that the schedule of fees would be inadequate compensation for an enumerator?

Governor MERRIAM. Oh, yes.

Mr. HALE. For what purpose do you use special agents?

Governor MERRIASI. Special work of any kind, if the law provides

as before. It generally provides a compensation per diem, that is.

so much per day and so much for expenses.

Mr. HALK. What character of work do they do?

Governor MERRIAM. Any special work, to ascertain facts, gain

special statistics, look after supervisors•a hundred things. It is

just like an agent in a private business, you know. Very often the

supervisors do not do their work, and we had to send a man out to

follow them.

The CHAIRMAN. I suppose there were a number of instances where

you were required to do the work over for verification ?

Governor MERRIAM. Yes.

The CHAIRMAN. Or to satisfy yourself that it was accurate?

Governor MERRIAM. Yes; a thousand contingencies arise during

a census, requiring prompt action, and with an enormous field force

of 50,000 or 60,000 people many of them incompetent and inexperienced, the%y do not do their duty, and you must have men to send out.

as no time must be lost. You ought to have the figures by the 1st

of October following the enumeration for the entire population of

the country. This can not be done unless one has a free hand to put

men of experience on the work when required.

The CHAIRMAN. The Twelfth Census was taken as of the 1st day

of June?

Governor MERRIAM. Yes.

The CHAIRMAN. The pending bill provides that the population

shall-be taken as of the 15th day of April. Mr. North, in his statement to the committee,_recommended that change because of the fact

that in many cities in June man}' people had closed up their homes

and gone abroad or to summer resorts, and it was impossible to get

an accurate census. Have you given that subject any thought ?

Governor MERRIAM. Yes ^in discussing the matter before I left the

Census Office, after we were through with the work. We thought at

that time, you know, that at the next census the date should be

changed and to a date early enough to enumerate the people who

yearly leave large cities in the spring months. I know we had a great

deal of trouble in New York, and we had to send out a quantity of
THIKTEENTH CENSUS. 67

postal cards to people before we took the census, asking them if they

intended to leave town before June 1. People leave New York in

May and June and go over into New Jersey, and into different parts

of the country. The result is that you do not get a fair census. The

only objection would be that in certain parts or the United States the

weather conditions might interfere. There would be a little difficulty

in the early part of the spring to secure enumerators who would take

the census in the northwestern part of the country•Minnesota.

North Dakota and that region•but that work could be done later,

because in the meantime the schedules come in and you can go on

and tabulate them. I think that is a good change.

Mr. BURTON. You have the privilege of making the return the 15th

of April, and if it is later it does not make any difference.

, Governor MEKRIAM. There are States wjhose citizens would be

enumerated in April; for instance, the Southern States, so that the

tardiness of some few localities would not affect the result. There

may be some few States from which returns would be slower in

coming in owing to climatic conditions. You will certainly secure a

better census of cities by having it taken earlier. The drawback to

the June census was liability to duplicate the work. The same people

would be enumerated in New York and in Atlantic City, and all

along the coast, and it was impossible to avoid duplication.

Mr. HALE. Would you suggest that the examination of those applicants be made in the local cities by the local civil service examining

boards or separately ?

Governor MERRIAM Civil service boards, because the Commission

has the machinery. It was a great expense for the Census Office to

carry on examinations in different parts of the country; but as long

as the Civil Service Commission have the machinery, it is wiser to

use it.

Mr. HALE. YOU referred to having to send some out and that that

was quite expensive.

Governor MERRL^M. We could not do it any other way.

Mr. LANGLEY. DO you think the appointments, as well, should be

made through the machinery of the Civil Service Commission?

Governor MERRIAM. What is that?

Mr. LANGLEV. You say you think the Civil Service Commission

ought to hold the examinations, because it has the machinery for

holding them ?

Governor MERRIAM. Yes.

Mr. LANGLEY. DO you think the appointments should be made by

the existing machinery, by certification, according to the regular plan

of the classified service?

Governor MERRIAM. The manner of collecting the temporarv clerks

is one of opinion. As you remember, I had an excellent appointment

clerk, Mr. Langley. and probably he smoothed over by his tact many

of the difficulties, but at best it is a very arduous part of the work,

I should say that if Mr. North selects his clerical force in the vicinity

and insists upon a rigid examination, that he would probably secure

a great many good clerks, although he would avoid a great deal of

trouble if he could devise any way to secure them for his office force

without a division of territory. I do not know how he is going to

select the office clerks without dividing them up territorially, without
68 THIRTEENTH CENSUS.

allotting them to the several States. Attention should be called to the

fact that in the event the clerical force is selected through the Civil

Service methods, at least 4,000 persons would be eligible for transfer

•to other branches of the public service as soon as the decennial census

is over, thus adding to the present eligibles on the Civil Service list.

Mr. HAY. What class of people did you get under the system that

you adopted. Did the clerks appointed in that way give satisfactory

service ?

CovernSr MERKIAM. In a general way; yes. One could not expect

to assemble so large a number of clerks without some poor ones; the

results speak for themselves.

Mr. HAY. Did you ever get a poor clerk through civil service?

Governor MERRIAM. I should say there would be a possibility of

such a thing.

Mr. ROBINSON. Do you know how they were appointed in previous

censuses ?

Governor MERRIAM. In other census years there was a superintendent of the census, and the clerks were named by the superintendent

of the census and then, I suppose, nominally appointed by the Secretary of the Interior.

Mr. ROBINSON. They have never been appointed under the Civil

Service ?

Governor MERRIAM. Oh, no.

Mr. BURTON, of Delaware. Are you speaking now of the enumerators or of the clerical force?

Governor MERRIAM. Of the clerical force.

Mr. BURTON. The enumerators are not under civil service?

Governor MERRIAM. They were not under civil service under the

last census and I judge not in this act. The enumerators were named

by supervisors, as I recall. The supervisor is appointed by the President and is generally suggested by the Senator or Representative.

Mr. BURTON. For a certain district?

Governor MERRIAM. Yes, sir.

Mr. BURTON. He nominates his enumerators?

Governor MERRIAM. Yes; in connection with a Member, he generally selects them.

Mr. BURTON. They come through that way?

Governor MERRIAM. Yes.

Mr. BURTON. You do not have any idea of putting them in the

civil service do you?

Governor MERRIAM. NO, sir; that would be entirely impracticable.

Mr. HAY. Would it be possible to have the enumerators appointed

through civil service?

Governor MERRIAM. NO, sir; that would not be a practicable thing

to do. They are like any army, and the Director ought to have the

power to dismiss whenever he thought it was to the best interest

of the service to do so.

Mr. HALE. Did you ask the Governor anything about his views

in regard to Secretary Wilson's request?

The CHAIRMAN. About the quinquennial census of agriculture and

live stock? Governor, we would be glad to hear from you on that.

Governor MERRIAM. I think that is a good idea. It was considered

several times when I was in the office, and when I used to go before
TH1BTKENTH CENSUS. 69

the comniittee. It would be, of course, an item of considerable expense, but I think that the results are sufficiently valuable to warrant

the expenditure of the money.

Mr. BURTON. Secretary Wilson made that request?

The CHAIRMAN. We have his hearing and written statement, sent

to me a day or two ago.

Mr. HALE. It seems to me that it would be less expensive since we

have a permanent census.

Governor MERRIAM. That is an advantage. You have a nucleus of

a large force, a skeleton.

Mr. HAY. During the decennial period, during the work when it

is most exacting, how manv clerks, possiblv, would von take on every

day?

Governor MERRIAM. That would vary•sometimes 200 or 300.

Mr. HAY. Would it be possible, through the machinery of the Civil

Service, to get those clerks when you would have to have them ?

Governor MERRIAM. I suppose. Mr. Hay, they would provide the

Director with them if he had to do it that way, but they would have

to examine, say, 1,000 or 2.000 and have them ready for transfer.

That is the only practical way, and then all the Director would have

to do would be to make a requisition for 200 or 500, if he had to

select them from the Civil Service list.

Mr. HAY. But the ordinary course now pursued by the Civil Service would not be possible to use to advantage?

Governor MERRIAM. I should not think so, because there are a great

many people who will be in the Census Office who are not really

clerks, who do mechanical work. For instance, we had 1,000 clerks

punching cards. J^ow, the merit, of course, of those clerke, would

rest in their capacity to punch cards, so many per day. And the

Director would have to place so manv each week. For instance, the

figures commence to reach the office within twenty days after the 16th

of April, and he has to be ready just as rapidly as the schedules are

received to punch the cards, and he must have 1.000 clerics available.

He must not lose a moment, because there is a time limit in which he

must finish.

Mr. HALE. Those are low-salaried clerks?

Governor MERRIAM. Sixty to a hundred dollars per month.

Mr. BURTON. You say their efficiency depends on how many cards

they can punch?

Governor MERRIAM. That would be the measure of their ability, the

number they could punch each day, and when we held the examination for that particular kind of work they were given a trial. The

Director must have a right to call on all the old census clerks possible,

because many became very expert. The Director ought to have the

greatest latitude in selecting the people to do the mechanical work.

The last census, I think, was finished in a couple of years; that is, the

4 principal inquiries were finished. I do not think that the previous

census was completed inside of five or six years.

The CHAIRMAN. The last report, seven years.

Governor MERRIAM. For such an enormous amount of work, the

Director should have a free hand. He simply can not finish it unless

he has, and it will try his physical and mental powers to complete it,

because there will be, I think, eighty-five or ninety millions to count.
70 THIRTEENTH CENSUS.

You have Porto Rico, the Hawaiian Islands, and Alaska, and the

work has to be pushed. If he gets through it and it does not kill him,

he will be pretty lucky. It is the most colossal work of its kind that I

know of. It wears a man out physically. It is work continually

from morning to night, and there is nothing to do but have everything at your command. If you do not, you can not finish the work.

Mi-. BURTON. Governor, would it be your judgment that those old

clerks who had good records there should be compelled to submit

again to a civil service examination.

Governor MERHIAM. NO, sir; I think they should be reinstated.

The records of all were all kept. They should be allowed to come

back without further examination, and it would be a help to the Director to secure them.

Mr. BURTON. In all probability, if they had to take an examination, they might be down very low ?

Governor MERRIAM. They might, of course, in the mechanical examination. There is a great deal of work that requires special training, that makes a man or woman very valuable, and it saves the Government a good deal of time if you can secure people who can perform

special work.

The CHAIRMAN. You feel, Governor Merriam, that it would be

better to conduct a noncompetitive examination under the control of

the Director and the Civil Service Commission, the Director having

power, as he would there, practically to determine the qualifications,

and then the expense and bother of conducting the examination

would be borne by the Commission ?

Governor MERRIAM. I would not think there could be any doubt

about it.

The CHAIRMAN. They are equipped to conduct the examinations?

Governor MERRIAM. Oh, yes; they have all the machinery, you

know, in every State, and it answers every purpose. Of course, just

how you would limit the powers between the two, I do not know.

There might be some friction; but, as I understand, you do not propose to give the Civil Service people any voice in the selection ?

The CHAIRMAN. No.

Mr. HAMLIN. Who would indicate the character of the examination?

Governor MERRIAM. The Director would naturally do that.

Mr. LANGLEY. In cooperation with the Civil Service Commission.

Mr. HAT. This bill does not give the Director as much power

about that as he ought to have.

Governor MERRIAM. It would be. desirable to avoid friction.

The CHAIRMAN. Would not that be construed to mean that the

Director could avail himself, probably, of the Civil Service Commission in providing the examination f

Mr. HAMLIN. I think the Director ought to have a right to specify

the kind of examination to be held, submit a list of the questions.

Governor MERRIAM. YOU really provide for this, through the

Director of the Census, in cooperation with the Civil Service Commission.

Mr. HAY. But they would have to agree.

Mr. HAMLIN. And they would never agree.

Governor MERRIAM. When you come to the last analysis, the Director has to take the responsibility for this work. If he fails, he
THIKTEENTH CENSUS. 71

will be blamed and would receive scant consideration, so he ought to

be allowed to decide whom he shall employ. He will require 1,500

mechanical operators, perhaps 1,000 card punchersMr. BURTON. What do you mean by punching?

Governor MEERIAM. Clerks punch holes in cards when the data

reaches the office, requiring quite a good deal of skill; a card being

representative of each schedule for use in counting the returns. I

assume the cards will be tabulated by electricity as in the last census.

Mr. LANGLEY. IS it not true that people who do that work, which

covers only a short time, would be afterwards assigned to clerical

work?

Governor MERRIAM. Yes; clerical work in addition. They should

write well and be skillful in arithmetic, and English. I think the

Director is the best judge of the capacity of each clerk. He has been

in the office long enough to know what is required.

Mr. Brmxm. In case a person went from that work to clerical work,

and turned out to be incompetent, the Director should have the right

to dismiss him?

Governor MERRIAM. Certainly.

The CHAIRMAN. Mr. North was on your staff in taking the Twelfth

Census, was he not?

Governor MERRIAM. Yes; he had charge of the manufacturing

division.

The CHAIRMAN. I think he had experience in the Eleventh Census.

Governor MERRIAM. Yes; with Mr. Porter in the Eleventh and

with me in the Twelfth, and he has had a great deal of experience

in statistical work. I considered him one of the ablest men in the

office.

Mr. HAMUN. I just want to ask one question for my own information. I see in the Twelfth Census, Governor Merriam. there were 5

expert chiefs of division, and this bill provides for 12.

The CHAIRMAN. I think you have the permanent census bill.

Mr. HAMLIN. NO, sir; under the Twelfth Census, on page 2, there

are given 5 expert chiefs of division, and under the thirteenth census

act there are 12. I was wondering what was the necessity for more

than doubling those.

Governor MERRIAM. That is partly a matter of detail, in dividing

the work of the office, I am not sufficiently familiar with Mr. North's

views, but I assume he has arrived at some plan for carrying on the

work, and he would require a larger force than I, because he has more

to accomplish. I should say, without knowing anything about it, that

he has decided that more expert chiefs of division will be required to

complete the task. I could not say more, as I am not conversant with,

his plans.

Mr. LANGLEY. Governor, the plan originally in the Twelfth Census

was to have only one chief of division for each chief statistician.

Now, in the progress of the work, experience there has demonstrated

the fact that that plan does not work out well. Sometimes it is well

to have a subdivision.

Mr. HAMI.IN. That is what I wanted to find out.

Governor MERRIAM. It must be something of that kind.
72 THIfiTKENTH CENSUS.

Mr. LANGLEY. There are times there when one division has as

many as 2000 clerks. If you have one chief of division in charge of

this entire force, you must subdivide.

Governor MERRIAM. I used to figure in a rough way that it would

take 5,000 clerks to complete the Thirteenth Census work. The bill

provides for 4.000 extra, and with 650 now in the office, it will require

not far from 5,000.

The CHAIRMAN. Under the current appropriation there are 8

chiefs of division for the permanent work. So, I think, they are

subdividing the work.

Mr. HAMLIK. I did not have any doubt that it was all right, but

I wanted to understand the necessity for doubling it over the

Twelfth Census.

The CHAIRMAN. The places for salaries are blank, in section 5.

The Director got $6000, the Director of the permanent office. The

Director for the Twelfth Census got $7,500 for the temporary work.

It is section 5, page 3. Do you remember what salary the assistant

director got?

Governor MERRIAM. Four thousand dollars.

The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Langley is familiar with what all those

officers got under the other census.

Mr. LANGLEY. Y^; and I want to say right there that the appointment clerk of the Twelfth Census did not get enough, and if

you gentlemen have anything to do with fixing the salary, you

ought to give him a very considerable increase.

The CHAIRMAN. We are very much obliged to you. Governor, for

your courtesy in coming here and making your statement to the

committee.

(Thereupon, at 11.20 o'clock n. m., the committee adjourned.)

FEBRUARY 8, 1908.

The committee met at 10 a. m., Hon. Edgar D. Crumpacker, chairman, presiding.

STATEMENT OF HON. S. N. D. NORTH, DIRECTOR OF THE CENSUS.•

Continued.

The CHAIRMAN. Mr. North, you may proceed with your statement.

Mr. NORTH. I want to correct a former statement. On page 38 of

the testimony I stated that the geographer's salary was $2,000. I

should have said $2,500. You have asked me to again look into the

question of cost connected with a five-year census of agriculture as

proposed by this bill under consideration, and I have consulted with

the chief statistician for agriculture and with the geographer on that

subject; and each of (hem has prepared a memorandum, and I suppose these memoranda might as well go into the hearings. The

gentlemen I have mentioned both agree that the estimate I submitted

to (he committee a year or so ago in regard to the cost of such a census is altogether too low. I put it at a minimum. Mr. Powers, the

chief statistician for agriculture, is confident that it can not be done

for less than $2,000,000, and Mr. Sloanc, the geographer, doubts if

it can be done for less than $2,500,000, and (heir reasons for these
THIRTEENTH CENSUS. 73

opinions are stated in detail in these memoranda, which the committee perhaps would like to have included in the hearimrs.

(The memoranda referred to by Mr. North are as follows:)

[Momnrnndxim from Goojjraphcr Sloane.3

COST OF FIVE-YEAR CENSUS OF ACBICTJI.TURE.

DEPARTMENT OP COMMERCE AND LAROR.

BITREATJ OF THE CENSUS,

Waahinpton. Frhrunrj/ 7, 1908.

In compliance with yonr rcqiicst. I have carefully examined the estimates

that have heen previously made as to the cost of seciirinR the iiKricnltnral returns of the Twelfth Census and find that the amount estimated. $1,155,542,

Includes the payments to per capita enumerators of $0,37.602. nt the rate of 15

to 20 cents for each farm for which they returned a schedule, and one-third

of the payment to per diem enumerators, $217,940.

Certain ennmerators in the Twelfth Census were paid at per diem rates,

owing to the sparse settlement and rough and hroken character of the area

which they had to cover. In taking a census of agriculture alone. I believe

that it would cost as much to cover the farms included in the per diem districts as it did to secure all the data for the Twelfth Cens\is in the same area.

The enunierntors of the Twelfth Census who were paid at per diem rates received $725.S7n: this is exclusive of Alaska, hut Includes Hawaii.

The filling of the population schedule required but a small proportion of the

enumerator's time, the securing of data for the filling of the agricultural schedule consuming the greater portion of the time spent at each farm house. It

should be borne in mind, however, that in agricultural districts much of the

time for which the enumerator is compensated is spent in traveling from one

farm to another. It would seem, then,, that to estimate the cost of an agrlcnltural census, there would he•

First. An expense for a portion of the country of at least $725,000.

Second. The per capita ennmerators received $937,002 for returning 5,105,426

schedules, an average of IS cents per schedule.

It can not be doubted that to collect agricultural statistics only would cost

much more than the amount paid the census enumerators for their returns. A

low estimate is that it would cost at least double this amount, or 36 cents for

each farm schedule, or $1,837,953 for securing the agricultural schedules in

the area paid for at the Twelfth Census at per capita rates. Adding this to

the $725,000 estimated for the per diem districts would give a grand total of

$2,562,953. This I believe to he a conservative estimate, for while in a part of

the mountainous districts where there Is no agriculture it would not be necessary

to cover the entire area canvassed by the enumerators of the Twelfth Census,

In the arid regions there has been opened to settlement, through the work of

the reclamation service, a tract of land that would offset this reduction.

It would be possible to collect all the agricultural data asked for by the

special census In the per capita enumeration districts for less than 36 cents

per schedule, provided the schedules were sent by mall to farmers and returned

by the same method, thus avoiding the necessity for a personal visit to each

farm by an enumerator. This method, however, is unsatisfactory and Inaccurate and would, undoubtedly, fail to secure the results that are demanded

from an agricultural census.

Very respectfully, C. S. SLOANE, Gmgranher.

FMEMORANDUM FROM MR. POWERS.]

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE AND LABOR.

RUREAU OF THE CENSCS,

Washington. Fchrunry .}, 1908.

In compliance with your oral request, I herewith submit a statement of my

conclusions concerning the probable cost, accuracy, and value of a census of

agriculture In 1915:

A census of agriculture may be taken In that year under very many different

circumstances, the results obtained depending upon the character of the enumeration, and the costs will be somewhat affected by the same factor.
74 THIETEENTH CENSUS.

A complete census of agriculture may be faken as of December 1, nt tlie close

of tbe harvest of all crops, with the exception of cotton. Combined with the

Census ginning report, such a census can be made far more accurate than any

agricultural census ever taken, or than the one-authorized for the Thirteenth

Census. It would free the Bureau of the Census from the difficulty hitherto

experienced of securing reports•or estimates•from farms which have changed

operators between the close of the crop year enumerated and the date of

enumeration. The amount of increased accuracy that may be secured thereby

may he appreciated when the fact is understood that, at the present time at

least 7 per cent of the farms of the country change operators (owners or

tenants) every year. In the New England States this percentage is smaller,

while among the negro tenants of the South it is greater.

A less complete census may be taken as of September or October 1, giving only

the acreage of crops as of that date, and would call for an estimate of the

yield per acre, by the present method of crop returns for the Department of

Agriculture. Such a census, if based upon a complete canvass of the farms,

will give the acreage with a smaller margin of error than the present decennial

census secures. The reason for this arises from the fact that it would secure

returns from the fanners raising crops and would avoid the confusion referred

to iu the preceding paragraph, owing to a change of proprietors.

The principal cost of a complete census of acreage and products as of December 1, or of the less complete census of acreage as of September or October

1, is that of enumeration. That enumeration may be made under or by a system

that Is substantially the one which has long been employed In census work, and

is contemplated by the proposed act authorizing the Thirteenth Census. Such

an enumeration will secure accuracy and completeness. It will, however, cost

a large sum of money, not less than $2,000,000. The geographer of the Census,

who has had most Intimate knowledge of this branch of census work, can furnish the best attainable estimates of the probable cost of the field work for

such an enumeration. The main cost of the enumeration of crops and animals

on farms, by present methods, is an expenditure of time in going from farm to

farm, and not the completion of the schedule. In the decennial census this expenditure for time iu traveling is practically divided between the cost of

enumerating population and securing the agricultural enumeration. In a

purely agricultural census this cost must be borne wholly by the agricultural

census, and hence a higher relative compensation per farm must be allowed

or the work can not be done.

It has been suggested that by organizing the work and employing county

enumerators Instead of an enumerator for every township by the old method,

using a simpler schedule calling for only acreage of crops ajid nnmber of

animals, and authorizing the free use of telephones and rural mail, a correct

census can be secured for one-half, or even one-fourth, the cost of field work

stated above. Individually I do not believe that a correct return can be secured

by such a method. All of my experience and study calls it in question. Further, I believe that no money can be saved by such a method. Other men differ

with me, among whom is the honorable Secretary of Agriculture, who thinks

this work can be done for only a small portion of the amount which I have estimated. Neither one of us can point to any definite experience in support of his

conclusions or opinions.

Under the circumstances, if the Congress wishes to base Its final judgment

upon actual knowledge and experience before determining the scope of the

agricultural census of ]!»15, and making appropriations therefor, it should include section 33 of the proposed census act In their final act, with possibly some

slight change in phraseology. This section should be framed so as to authorize

the taking of a census of agriculture in a number of typical counties, and of

testing any proposed plans for securing such a census iu 1!)]5 by methods which

will guarantee substantial accuracy and at the same time involve less expenditure of money than the methods adopted iu prior census years. I have called

attention to this fact in the memorandum submitted July 10 and embodied in

the hearings before the Committee on the Census, House of Representatives,

and given in the second paragraph, page 10 of the hearing.

An expenditure of $50,000 for such an experiment can obtain the data for

determining whether a trustworthy census of the character outlined in this

paper or provided for in the existing census act can be secured for a moderate

sum of $500,000, or will require $1,000,000 or $2,000,000. Such an experiment

can at most use up the amount appropriated; while if the Census Office is directed to take a census of agriculture in 1015 by methods hitherto untried, the
THIRTEENTH CENSUS. 75

probability Is thot tbo whole expenditure authorized will be wasted by securing

a census with less accuracy than the existing estimates of the Department of

Agriculture. Business prudence and common sense, as applied to the administration of large sums of governmental money, demand that before the country

rushes into the adoption of untried methods of census work involving the expenditure of from $500,000 to $2,000,000, the Congress and the Census Office

have some definite information concerning the trustworthiness of the results to

be obtained by the new method, and the cost thereof.

All of which is respectfully submitted.

L. O. POWERS, Chief Sjatiatioian.

Mr. NORTH. At the last hearing of the committee, at which I was

present, Mr. Snapp asked for a statement of the moneys expended

during the taking of the Twelfth Census in traveling, and, accordingly, I have had drawn from the books a statement of the traveling

expenses of administrative officers, of special agents, and of supervisors, which are separately shown. The statement shows that the

traveling expenses of the administrative officers were $18,454.77, of

the special agents $54,454.02, and for the supervisors $17,956.43.

(The statement of traveling expenses referred to is as follows:)

[Memorandum.]

ExpenditurcH for travel. Twelfth Census, shoicing the expenditures for travel

and suhsistence at the Twelfth Census, from the beginning of that census to

June SO, 1902.

Administrative officers:

Transportation and actual subsistence expenses $18,454.77

Special agents:

Transportation $13,125. 77

Per diem in lieu of subsistence 41,328.25

54,454.02

Supervisors:

Transportation and per diem in lieu of subsistence 17,956.43

Total 90, 866. 22

Mr. NORTH (continuing). One of the members of the committee, I

have forgotten who it was, asked me for an approximate itemization

of the $14,000,000 which is provided for in the bill for the Thirteenth

Census, and accordingly such an approximate estimate has been prepared and put in parallel columns with the corresponding expenses

of the Twelfth Census. The actual cost of the Twelfth Census is

something that will never really be known, because the permanent

census act cut off the Twelfth Census work before it was quite finished, and the expense of completing it was no longer charged to

the lump sum appropriation, but charged to the annual appropriations for the permanent census. The expenses of the Twelfth Census which I have here before me, amounting to $12,8-

J5,000. are the

expenditures incurred during what is called the decennial census

period in this bill. That is, the expenses from the start until the 1st

of July, 1902, amounting to $12,825,000; and in addition to that there

was work done by the permanent office on the volume on " Occupations," '" The Statistical Atlas," and the " Supplementary Analysis,"

which were completed and printed by the pennanent office; and exactly how much these other tag ends of the Twelfth Census cost I

am not prepared to say, but it was certainly over a half million

dollars.
76 THIBTEENTH CENSUS.

The CHAIRMAN. Mr. North, the act of March, 1899, providing for

the Twelfth Census, required four principal inquiries and a lot of

special investigations?

Mr. NORTH. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. The four principal inquiries were in the main completed before the office was made permanent, and the permanent office

took up all the special invastigations that were provided for in the

Twelfth ^ensus act?

Mr. NORTH. Yes, sir.

The CBAIRMAN. And the expenses were paid out of the appropriation for the permanent office?

Mr. NORTH. Yes, sir; the annual appropriations.

Mr. BUKTON. What is the amount of the annual appropriation?

Mr. NORTH. It varies. It has run from $1,200,000 to $1,300,000,

and in one case $1,400,000. It varies according to the work wc have

on hand. It was because of the five-vear census of manufactures

that the cost went up to $1,400,000 in 1905.

Mr. LANGLEY. Would any work similar to that you have referred

to as having been done and paid for after the permanent office was

organized be done and paid for out of the lump-sum appropriation?

Mr. NORTH. We hope it can all be done out of the lump sum appropriation, and yet when we come to analyze the figures, we find

that, with certain allowances for decreased expenditures in the next

census, we run a little over the $14,000,000. This is because, in the

first place, allowance has got to be made in this lump-sum appropriation for the cost of the three annual reports and one biennial

report to be made in the decennial census period, and we estimate

that the total cost of those four reports for the three years will be

about $1,225,000, which sum of money has got to be subtracted from

the $14,000,000, in order to properly understand what we estimate the

cost of the next census is to be.

There are certain of these comparative items that must necessarily

increase. There is no escape from that. The sum of money to be

paid to enumerators will be larger than at the Twelfth Census. They

will have to enumerate 15,000,000 more people than last time. So,

for the same reason, the supervisors must be paid more. There are

more of them, with more work to do. The enumerators were paid

$3,540,000 in 1900; and we estimate that this time it will require

$4,230,000. The supervisors, including all their expenses for clerks,

traveling expenses, and so forth, cost $070,000 at the Twelfth Census; and we estimate at this time the cost will be $910,000. The

amount paid for clerical service in the Twelfth Census during the

three year period was $3,655,000. That is for the clerical force, and

we estimate that by reason of the piece-price provision in this bill

the cost for the clerical service at the Thirteenth Census will not

greatly, if at all. exceed $3,000,000, which means a saving of $655,000

on that item. That is what we think can be done.

Mr. BtTRTOx. How did you say vou saved that?

Mr. NORTH. Well, by the provision in this bill that permits the

clerks who do the card punching, the machine work, to be paid by

the quantity of work they produce, rather than a fixed salary. The
THIKTEENTH CENSUS. 77

cost for tabulating machines•the rental paid for tabulating machines•at the Twelfth Census, was $395,000. The total sum paid

the Tabulating Machine Company at the Twelfth Census, including

cards, sorting machines, etc., was over $500,000. We estimate that

by making our own machines and owning them, that item will be

reduced to about $150,000. That is, we think, the outside cost of

manufacturing sufficient machines to compile the Thirteenth Census.

Mr. LANGI-EY. That is a saving of a quarter of a million dollars?

Mr. NORTH. Yes, sir; at least that amount, and those are the two

great savings that we calculate as possible.

Mr. BURTON. Those machines will not be worn out in the compilation of one census, will they?

Mr. NORTH. Oh, no; they ought to run through at least three

censuses.

Mr. BURTON. SO the saving would be really more.

Mr. NORTH. Another way of getting at this would be to take the

increase in the population of the country, which will be about 20 per

cent, and that to the cost of the Twelfth Census. If we do that we

would bring the cost of the. Thirteenth Census up to $16,186,000; but,

of course, with the permanent office and with the preparations so well

under way and with the furniture and outfit already on hand that

method of estimating the cost of the Thirteenth Census has no value.

Mr. HAT. The permanent census is able to economize in this way.

Mr. NORTH. Yes, sir.

Mr. HAY. If it had not been for the permanent office you could not

have done it?

Mr. NORTH. NO. I have a statement here, which was prepared by

Governor Merriam shortly before he resigned, showing the number of

enumerators, supervisors, and employees, the time consumed in the

enumeration, and the total cost of each census from 1790 down to and

including that of 1900; and I think it would be of interest to the

members of the committee to have it included in the hearings.

Mr. LANOLEY. You think that statement is accurate?

Mr. NORTH. I think it is as accurate as it can be made. It is a very

interesting historical statement.

Mr. BURTON. Give us the total cost of the first and the last censuses.

Mr. NORTH. The total cost of the first census was $44,377.28. The

cost of the last census, as put down here, was $11,855,817.91.

Mr. BURTON. Quite a difference.

Mr. NORTH. That is a growth in the expense quite equal to the

growth of the country.

Mr. BURTON. With the improved methods and appliances it seems

to me to be greater.

Mr. LANOLEY. The scope of the inquiries has expanded.

Mr. NORTH. I think that is all that it is necessary to say, Mr.

Chairman, in regard to the use that will be made of this sum of

monev.

(The statements referred to by Mr. North are as follows:)

J
78 THIRTEENTH CENSUS.

No. 1.•Number of enumerators and clerks, and time required, for collecting

and tabulating census returns, with number of pages of main reports published, arid cost.

is i

ii = •Si 1 s s Elapsed time

-

1 •

3 U

11 il Is

from census

date to date of

publication of

Population

Census

•sg.

h =

1

8

3

•sll'flf 1 il II

10

o

•

I

|

S

"S. t

S

$0.0112

volume.

yenr.

£

i

1

»

••650

J H O

56

H > M

1790.. 1 17 9 18.0 None. 3.929,214 844,377.28 8

1800... •24 a900 9 16.5 None. 74 5,808,483 66,109. (M .0124 6

1810... 30 01,100 5 10.0 None. 413 7.239,881 178,444.67 .0216 8

1820 ... 31 1.1S8 6 15.0 i (6) 288 9,l3,H,lr« 208,525.99 .0216 7

1880... 86 1,519 6 14.0 43 171 12,866,020 378,546.13 .0291 10

18-10... 41 2,167 5 ' (o) 28 890 17,069,45;) 833.370.95 .0488 9

18S0... 4b 3.231 4 20.5 160 1,606 23,191,876 1,423,350.75 .0613 9

1860... 64 4,417 5 (o) 184 2,879 31,443,321 1,969,376.99 .0626 3 9

1870... 1 ^ 1 6,530 1 * 15.0 488 2,406 38,558,371 3,421,198.33 .0877 2 4

1880... 150 31,382 1 1.0 1,495 5,245 50.429,345 5,798,678.40 .1148 2 10

1890... 175 46,804 1 1.0 ! 3,143 10,220 62,979,766 11,547,127.18 .1883 4 10

1900... 800 \ 52,871 \ 1 ' 1.0 , 3,554 10,900 76,149,386 11,854,817.91 .1550 i 7

" Estimated ; records destroyed by (ire.

' \m..ujit expended for clerics, $925.

• Unknown.

'Field agents, not Included with enumerators.

No. 2.•Estimated cost of the Thirteenth- Census as compared with the approximate cost of the Twelfth Census.

Decennial Censiu.

Office force (compensation)

Enumerators (compensation)

Supervisors (compensation, c\&rk hire, travel, and other expenses)

Special agents (compensation, travel, and other expenses)

Administrative (travel, telegraph, furniture, muchlnes, etc.)

Stutionerv

Rent

Tabulating machinery

Cards for tabulating machines

Alaska

Porto Klco

Printing

Total

Annual report* /or 3 j/eor», 1909-1911.

Cotton-flcld work $645,000

Cities and mortality Held work 210,000

Cotton clerical work*. 36,000

Cities and mortality clerical work 210,000

Forest statistics i-lcrical work 36,000

Official Register clerical work (2 issues) 50,000

Total

Estimated

cost of the

Thirteenth

Census.

$5,050,000

4,250,000

910,000

700,000

300,000

200.000

125.000

150,000

1(10,000

86.000

165,000

800,1100

12,825,000

865,000

331,000

14,011,000

Approxi.

male cost

of the

Twelfth

Census.

$5,655,000

3,540,000

670,000

645,000

250,000

150,000

100,000

395,000

96,000

70,000

"130,000

820,000

12,620,000

12,520,000

• Cost of census taken by the War Department In 1890.

Mom•On the basis of an Increase In cost proportionate to the estimated Increase in

Jopulatlon, 1. c., 20 per cent, the Thirteenth Census proper will cost approximately

15,000,000, to which amount should be added the cost of the three annual reports for

he decennial census period, $1,180,000, making a total of $16,186,000.
THIRTEENTH CENSUS. 79

No. 3.•yumbcr of persons employed in field work at the Twelfth Census, 1900.

Supervisors.

Clerks

to supervisors.

Special

agents to

assist supervisors.

Enumerators.Interpreters.

United States ." 300 929 423 53,678 3 828

8

2

1

6

6

2

1

1

1

2

11

1

1

1«

1

IS

11

7

U

6

2

4

1

12

7

7

18

1

6

1

1

6

1

19

9

1

19

1

2

19

1

6

2

10

18

1

1

10

2

4.

9

1

J 1,281

47

128

92fi

1,263

591

554

105

160

299

1,278

108

164

3,409

191

1,952

1,770

1,405

1,329

726

495

765

1,853

1,817

1,697

859

2,302

234

1,076

64

280

1,123

191

4,541

1,238

279

2,934

278

379

4,720

266

764

457

1,511

1,868

220

298

1,110

397

588

1,592

80

3

Alaska

2

IS

18

6

6

2

10

5

25

i'

72

2

80

28

16

26

20

6

17

3

30

39

19

45

5

28

3

S

18

3

95

26

8

47

2

7

62

a

17

6

22

36

4

2

24

6

9

31

2

65

Arkansas 1

14

I

1

3

2

1

2

i

California

Colorado 50

Connecticut 177

8

Florida 12

Georgia

Hawaii

Idaho 36

Illinois

Indian Territory

Indiana

16

8

2

19

4

1

16

24

10

60

189

45

26

22

33

Kentucky

Louisiana

3

17

42

Maryland 46

171

Michigan 122

90

Mississippi 8

M on tana

18 19

39

48

Nevada IS

49

New Jersey 16 210

29

New York 74

1

460

7

North Dakota 68

Ohio 24 168

89

1

47

2

56

998

11

1

60

\

8

81

Utah 17

13

Virginia 2

2

1

10

3

42

West Virginia 26

48

13

Mr. BURTON. I would like to ask why there was such a difference

between your own estimate, Mr. North, of the cost of the census of

agriculture and the estimates of your assistants?

Mr. NORTH. Well, Mr. Sloane says, and I think truthfully, that

in making my estimate a year ago I failed to take cognizance of the

expense of traveling and per diem of the people required to enumerate the farms, and it is by including that item that he brings the

cost up above $2,000,000.

Mr. BURTON. HOW were you expecting to do it?

Mr. NORTH. I made an estimate under which the special agents

or enumerators would be paid a certain sum for doing tne work, and

I took no cognizance of any traveling expenses which they would

have to incur.
80 THIRTEENTH CENSUS.

Mr. BURTON. My recollection of your statement at the time was

that it was based on some such an idea as having some official in each

county do it.

Mr. NORTH. I based my estimate on the theory that one man could

take, for instance, a county and be given plenty of time to go from

farm to farm throughout that county, instead-of having one man

for each enumeration district, as at the decennial census. Of course,

if that plan is to be pursued, each enumerator must be paid his traveling expenses, and he must be paid for his livelihood while away

from home.

Mr. LANGLEY. My recollection is that at that time the question of

paying him a flat allowance for his work was discussed.

Mr. NORTH. It was, but I am satisfied we could not get good men

to do the work, and do it properly, at. the compensation I suggested

in that estimate of a 3

r

ear ago. Such being my conviction on the subject, Mr. Chairman, I would be much pleased if in reprinting that

hearing and Secretary Wilson's remarks on the subject, my letter

might be omitted and these subsequent memoranda substituted for it.

The CHAIRMAN. I see no objection to that.

Mr. NORTH. The bill as it stands has been critically examined in

the Census Office by a number of experts, and as a result of this examination 15 or 20 verbal amendments have been suggested, which,

with your permission, I will place in your hands for the consideration

of the committee.

The CHAIRMAN. We will be'glad to have them.

Mr. NORTH. Those amendments are practically all verbal, excepting one which has been framed to meet the criticism of Mr. Snapp

the other day, in regard to the per diem allowances, and I think that

the proposition which is here suggested as a substitute is an improvement on the provisions now in the bill.

(Thereupon the committee went into executive session for the consideration of the bill by sections.)

STATEMENT OF HON. JAMES WILSON, SECKETARY OF

AGRICULTURE.

(Before Committee March 1, 1006.]

The CHAIRMAN. Secretary Wilson is with us this morning, having

kindly consented to appear and give us such information as he possesses. Secretary Wilson, vou may now give us your opinion respecting the importance of the bill.

Secretary WILSON. Look up the discuasion, Mr. Chairman, in regard to the taking of a quinquennial census of manufactures, and

apply every word of the reasons therein set forth to a quinquennial

census of crop acreage and live stock. There is not a reason given for

having a census taken of manufactures that does not applv with much

greater force to a census taken of those things mentioned in this bill.

We sell every year to foreign countries approximately $900,000,000

worth of farm products. In round numbers, $250,000,000 of that is

live stock and animal products; $050,000,000 of that is the value of

the farm crops of the country•first, corn; I shall not mention hay;
THIRTEENTH CENSUS. 81

next, cotton; then whont. rice, etc. It is not necessary, I think, to call

for a census of sugar yet, because we can readily get the amount from

the northern sugar factories and from the soul hern associations of

sugar growers.

Mr. PATTKRSON. Have you the percentages of corn and cotton? I

suppose you have them before you. Have you the amount of cotton

exported each year? If so, let that appear ai this point.

Secretary WILSON. Sixty-five per cent average for five years. I

have round numbers here. The fanners of the United States last

year produced $6,415,000,000 worth of farm products, and sent abroad

approximately $900,000,000 worth, which is considerably more than

half of all the stuff we export in a year.

Mr. Burleson evidently has in mind a quinqnennial census between

the decennials, for the purpose of giving to those who are growing

these articles, and those who are dealing in them, a closer idea of the

tendency and trend of production along those lines. Before there

was a permanent Census Bureau provided for the Department of

Agriculture had for many years been in the habit of making estimates of the production of all those things. But the time between

decennial censuses was too long, because the increase of production

of one class of things and the possible standstill or decrease in the

production of another might have a very great influence on the producer and the dealer in the United States. The benefit that would

come to the Depnrtment of Agriculture would be that instead of

having once in ten years a reliable basis for estimating we should

have it once in five years.

Mr. BOWIE. TO check your reports by?

Secretary WILSON. Yes, sir.

Mr. BOWIK. You make your annual estimates of products and acreage under existing law, but if an error is made in one year that may

repeat itself for a period of ten years before you get a chance to correct it.

Secretary WILSON. It has that tendency unless we go to a great

deal of expense of investigation in regard to that particular crop.

After we have gone four or five years past the census we are compelled to make careful inquiry as to all the crops. We can not depend on a five-Vear census of our own. and the particular value this

would be to us is that it would enable us to get closer to the actuality.

Now bear in mind. Mr. Chairman, that the regular census and our

work are entirely different along those lines. There is a very sharp

line of demarcation to be drawn. The census is supposed to report

absolute facts. Take cotton as an illustration: They count the bales;

there were so many bales ginned up to a certain time. At the end of

the ginning season they count all the bales; they say so many bales

have been grown during the last season, and the bales weighed so

much. That is census work. We are required throughout the season

to make estimates, to give conditions of the several crops growing

throughout the summer, and particularly in the fall.

Mr. HARDWICK. Mav I interject here without disturbing vour line

of thought?

Secretary WILSON. Certainly.

Mr. HARDWICK. I am particularly interested in cotton. Would it

not be better, in your judgment, if the Government did not undertake

20029•08 6
82 THIBTEENTH CENSUS.

through any Department to make any estimates, and confine itself to

publishing facts, particularly in regard to the cotton crop, in which

speculation is always going'on?

Secretary WILSON. That is a- question for Congress to determine,

not for the Department. We obe}' the law.

Mr. IIARDWICK. I wanted your opinion as an expert.

Secretary WILSON. My opinion is it would not. I will tell you

why. The law provides and custom requires that we shall tell the

people something about the crop of each year. The law says that on

the 3d of each month we shall make those reports.

Mr. HARDWICK. Condition reports?

Secretary WILSON. Condition reports. So we make that report as

to pottos on the 4th of December. We have been in the habit for

years of getting the abandoned acreage. In June, for example, we

get the acreage planted. Then prior to the December report we get

the acreage planted and abandoned, and that gives us the actual acres

grown.in that year. We also get from a very large number of reporters the estimated number of pounds of cotton grown on each

acre.

Mr. HARDWICK. That is purely an expression of opinion, is it not?

Secretary WILSON. That is purely an expression of opinion. Ours

is an estimating duty, not an enumerating duty. We use information

obtained from a great many sources, the census included. They say

up to a certain date so many bales of cotton have been ginned. That

is indicative. It is one of the things to be considered.

The reason why it is not wise to stop our work altogether and wait

until the census has counted the bales is that by the time the census

gets the counting done, along in March some time, the cotton has all

gone out of the hands of the producer and he has had nothing to help

him when he makes sales.

Mr. HARDWICK. Let me suggest this idea, which may or may not be

of value, but it has struck me several times very forcibly: What good

is it to the cotton producer or to tlie public generally to have guesses

or estimates made by the Government as to cotton production when

we have no estimates or guesses made by the Government as to cotton

consumption ? Does it not take both in order to arrive at a complete

understanding of the condition?

Secretary WILSON. I suppose so; but we are estimating on the

volume of the crop, and when we do that we have no authority to go

further.

Mr. HARDWICK. I quite understand that. I was not criticising any

administration of the Department.

Mr. DUNWELL. If the gentleman from Georgia will permit me, I

have thought that the reason why these cotton estimates should be

continued is the fact that it is a business necessity. They know from

the week-end statistics how much cotton is in sight, and private agencies are spending, not thousands, but tens of thousands of dollars to

get information about the condition of the crop and all that. Every

time there is a long gap between the Government reports upon the

conditions of the crops or the size of the crops private agencies begin

to get in their work, and there never has been a case, except when

these private agencies are checked through Government sources of

information, that they do not overestimate the production, with a

consequent depression of prices. If the Government ceases to make
THIRTEENTH CENSUS. 83

estimates, we might, put that price fixing in the hands of Mr. Neil

and others.

Mr. HARDWICK. I disagree entirely with the gentleman on that

subject. I believe he discounts the sincerity of these people; but if

the Government makes a mistake against the interest of the farmer

it is immeasureably worse.

Mr. BOWIE. The Government reports closer to the truth in point of

fact that any private agency, and Government reports are based upon

more general and better collected information than those of any private agency. The fact is that the Government estimates last December, where only half the crop had been marketed, made the widest

miss, and that was only 4.2 per cent, and that was in favor of the

farmer, and they Avere within a few hundred thousand bales of the

actual cotton crop. If you have information that is true within two

or three hundred thousand bales you have information of distinct

value to the trade. That is the theory upon which I have defended

the proposition.

Secretary WILSON. If we have the acreage taken by the census people once in five years we could do better work on them if Congress

thinks it wise to continue our estimates. I am free to say to you,

gentlemen, that our Department never refuses to obey Congress.

Whatever Congress tells us to do we do. We have had, probably, and

have now, quite as much criticism about this one little matter in our

Department work as we have in regard to all tiie other work of the

Department. But we do not object to it. People have a right to

their opinions.

The reason why I should like to see the acreage census taken once

in five years is that we could make more intelligent reports and be

less likely to report wide of the truth.

Mr. HARDWICK. In making your estimate of the cotton crop in

1906 do you take the acreage reported by the census of 1900 as the

basis of your calculations?

Secretary WILSON. No; not as an absolute basis. There was a dispute that liad run between our people and the Census Bureau with

regard to that very matter, and while we habitually lean on the census in most cases, yet we did not absolutely in this case. There was a

dispute between our statisticians and the people in charge of the agricultural part of the census. The census was new; the people were

new; you gentlemen know how they were gotten together; they had

not had time to learn everything. I have unquestioned faith in the

ability of the census people now to give us as correct information as

can possibly be had, because they have had time to weed out their

poorer people and to promote the better people and train them generally all along the line. The necessity for a man in charge of anything is that he organize and weed out the poor sticks and promote

the valuable men. I have no question but that the census can do and

does excellent work now. It is not necessary to go into bygones. I

have faith that they are able to do their work now, so far as that is

concerned.

Now, with regard to live stock, it is not only the amount of money

WQ get for what we sell in foreign countries, but we are becoming a

great manufacturing people. The farmers feed the manufacturer.

Manufacturing could not have grown so fast as it has were it not for

the fact that the farmer feeds the manufacturer better and cheaper
84 THIRTEENTH CENSUS.

than any other manufacturer on earth is fed. That is the first consideration. That is done by the American farmer, and when he has

done that he sells a quarter of a billion dollars' worth outside, and

the proceeds of those sales can be used in other directions. The

farmer is the man who pays the national obligations, and so it is

valuable to him to know the tendency of and the development along

the live-stock lines. I can give you an illustration if I do not tire you.

The CHAIRMAN. We are nere to hear you, Mr. Secretary.

Secretary WILSON. A pest has come up from Mexico, known as the

cotton boll weevil. That is one of two that have come from Mexico;

the cabbage butterflv is the other. This cotton pest, the boll weevil,

has probably cost our Southern States a loss of $100,000,000. On the

authority or Congress we are endeavoring to help those people to grow

cotton in spite of the boll weevil, to secure the crops they have put in

and help to make more in certain localities where the boll weevil continues as a pest. We find now, in outlining methods through our

administration, that it is not practicable for the farmers of the South

to abandon cotton raising, though in a great many cases they are compelled to do so and turn to something more profitable. The fields of

the South have been oxidized, the organic matter has been burned out.

It can profitably be put back by graas and leguminous crops, and

there must be domestic animals there. That is the way to bring the

acreage of the South back to its primitive fertile condition, and it

can not. be done otherwise.

We found another thing. The domestic animal can not be made

profitable in the South as long as that cattle tick is there to suck its

blood. Improved animals from the North can not be sent there. If

the South is to prosper, they must quit sending their cotton-seed meal

to the North. They must feed it at home. There is a demand in the

world for our meats.. The United States furnishes pretty nearly half

of all the meats shipped to eleven of the greatest purchasing countries

in the world, and it is merely a question of who can furnish it the

cheapest. They will buy from the country furnishing it the cheapest.

The South should consume ail the cotton-seed meal with their own

domestic animals. Congress has taken steps•the Committee on Agriculture has•to exterminate that tick. That will be accomplished in

a few years. Probably in ten years there will not be a tick left.

While that is going on it will be valuable to the country to know the

development along live-stock lines in the South. This is something

that must be done. Our scientists have demonstrated that it can be

done, and that is one of the reasons why we want that section to keep

more domestic animals.

In regard to corn, the amount of corn grown last year was 2,600,-

000,000 or 2,700,000,000 bushels, and it has been worth 40 cents a

bushel, a tremendous amount of money. It would be interesting to

the people who grow that corn to know every five years the yield per

acre, etc.

Wheat the same. We came within a few million bushels a year

ago of growing just the amount of wheat the United States could

consume. That was rather alarming, and the question'at once arose,

How are we going to provide for our increasing population? A million immigrants are coming here every year, in addition to the

natural growth within the United States. Ours is a wheat-eating
THIRTEENTH CENSUS. 85

people; we consume 7 bushels per capita per annum. We have introduced wheat that will grow in 10 inches of rainfall per annum, and

last year we grew 20,000,000 bushels. It is quite interesting to the

American people to know whether we are going to grow our own

wheat. Of course, Mr. Chairman, there is not an acre that grows

wheat in the United States but can be made to grow double the

amount. There is no question at all about the ability of the United

States to grow its own wheat for four times its present population.

The State of Iowa does not produce its own wheat, because with the

present low prices it does not pay. But let the price of wheat go to

a dollar a bushel, and the State of Iowa will grow 50,000,000 bushels

per year and keep up its soil while doing it. It is interesting and

valuable to know the tendency along these lines with respect to growing wheat and the development of different countries.

All those dry lands known as the Great American Desert will grow

something. Vouc legislation in regard to reclaiming those lands by

building dams and irrigation will serve a very useful purpose. My

Department is studying that question. In order to get wheat that will

grow with 10 inches of rainfall we are experimenting with wheat from

the steppes of Russia and from northern Africa. As an illustration,

the Department learned something not long ago. We sent an expert

to an oasis in the Sahara Desert, where they grow the finest dates in

the world. We wanted to grow those dates in the Southwest, and we

sent them to Yuma. They plant their dates 80 feet apart, and cultivate the same soil perpetually for the purpose of preventing the

evaporation of their 8 inches of moisture. We never knew that we

could grow anything of consequence with only 6 inches of rainfall,

but we learned, through our scientists, that that fi inches must be

husbanded or the Arabs can not grow anything. One of those date

trees will bear a crop of half a ton of the finest dates in the world.

Now we are going to apply to the American Desert all those things.

That is aside, however.

It would be interesting to know the development of rice culture.

Not many years ago we bought nearly all our rice; now we are exporting rice. The Department of Agriculture sends abroad to find the

rice that will grow under our conditions near the Gulf of Mexico.

There is no reason now to buy rice, because we can grow it. Our

theory is that we should not buy anything that we can grow at home,

thus saving immense sums of money for our own people.

Of course we shall grow our own sugar. To grow sugar we have

the carbon-dioxide that comes from the winds that blow over the

country. Why should we go to foreign countries to buy their atmosphere when we have our own atmosphere and all the other conditions

necessary to the growth of sugar? In Alabama and Georgia for one

hundred years they have been making the finest sirup, and in the

northern part of the United States they grow the sugar beet better

than anywhere else. But we do not ask you to put sugar in this bill.

We can readily get from the factories•there are only so many•information as to their output. The output from beets this year was

about 300,000 tons. The southern associations can tell us what they

get; they get in the neighborhood of 850,000 or 400,000 tons of sugar

from the cane of the Southern States.

Mr. HARDWICK. YOU think we can strike out sugar?
86 THIRTKENTH CENSUS.

Secretary WILSON. We do not need that. We do not ask you gentlemen to do anything we can do otherwise. The oats crop is an

important crop.

Mr. IIARDWICK. Oats are not mentioned in the bill.

Secretary WILSON. I think I will slip it in, because that information can be taken at the same time the information is taken in regard

to the other things. That is one of- our great crops.

Although it is not necessary to inquire into some of the minor features of live stock, yet it may be well to remember that the great

American hen produces something like $500,000,000 per year. It will

only be a short time when het products will pay all the expenses of

our Government. But information obtained once in ten years I think

will be sufficient. We do not export our eggs: we export poultry,

and that export is growing. But we can get all that information very

well from tiie decennial census; that will give us an idea of how the

hatcheries are coming on. Within a few years eVery#dollar of expense

of the Government will be paid by American poultry.

Mr. BOWIE. And all the war ships, too.

Secretary WILSON. Oh, yes, we must have war ships. I believe I

would like to see Uncle Sam take his own part if anybody outside

attempts to interfere and get saucy. But you must not forget that

here is the foundation for the payment of all these soldiers and

sailors.

I know the American farmer, I think, better than any man in

America; know more about him and hear more from him. Pie is not

opposed to you gentlemen having good committee rooms and comforts here. That is not the kind of a man he is.

MEMBER OF THE COMMITTEE. And a little more salary.

Secretary WILSON. And he would not hesitate to give you a little

more salary. It is a different breed of dogs that makes a fuss about

that. When his interests are at stake he would like to have you stand

up like bulldogs for his interests. That is the American fanner. He

is no one-cent man.

I do not think, Mr. Chairman, there is any other point necessary

for me to impress upon you.

Mr. BURTON. You alluded, Mr. Secretary, a while ago to some crops

increasing and the amount of other crops remaining at a standstill.

I suppose the idea is to give information to the farmer, so that when

a certain crop is decreasing he may turn his attention to that?

Secretary WILSON. TO illustrate that point, you have appropriated

over $30,000,000 for irrigation purposes in the arid regions. The

sand of that region was'originally rock, and has been decomposed by

the actions of nature. When you give water to that sand it will grow

almost anything and in great abundance. There is going to be a very

great development in that desert country by reason of the appropriations you have made for reclamation purposes. You will help thousands of industrious families to settle out there where they can get

water.

The CHAIKMAN. YOU spoke about the quinquennial census of manufactures in your opening remarks, perhaps as a justification for a

quinquennia] census of crop acreage and live stock. The methods of

growing and marketing crops and live stock are more conservative and

less liable to change than the methods of manufacture, are they not?
THIRTEENTH CENSUS. 87

Secretary WILSON. The prices of farm products change from day

to day•cotton, wheat, oats, and all the rest.

The CHAIRMAN. Yes, prices do change; but the methods of production are more settled and less liable to change, are they not?

Secretary WILSON. Just now we are trying to unsettle them all

over the United States; trying to have the farmers adopt better

methods of producing crops, and they are doing it.

The CHAIRMAN, 'iou advocate the collection of statistics, as provided for in this bill, partl3r

for the purpose of verifying the estimates that your Department makes each year?

Secretary WILSON. Yes.

The CIIAIRMAK. Those estimates are, of course, for purely current

and commercial purposes?

Secretary WILSON. Yes.

The CHAIRMAN. From a really statistical point of view, from the

census point of view, the work contemplated by this measure would

be valuable, yon think, for comparison and for the development of

these industries?

Secretary WILSON. Oh, yes; it would be. It would afford a sound

basis.

The CHAIRSIAN. Aside from the current commercial importance, it

would assist in securing accurate crop estimates?

Secretary WILSON. It would be safer to go back one, two, three, or

four years than it would be to go back five or six, seven or eight or

nine years. That is the point.

Mr. DLNWELL. Under the third head of the first section of the bill

there are mentioned cotton, corn, wheat, and rice. Now, you propose

to put in oats. Why do you not include rye and barley? Is it because those crops are not very large or important?

The CHAIRMAN. That is one ot the details that we can take up

among ourselves later. The suggestion has been made that we change

that so as to authorize the Director of the Census to collect statistics

respecting the acreage of the principal crops, leaving a large discretion with him as to what he should do in that respect. We have now

the acreage and the crops every ten years, and this is to collect statistics of the principal crops quinquenniallv. I know of no other questions to ask you, Mr. Secretary. I have been very much interested in

your statement, and I know the committee has.

Mr. BURTON. You spoke about the increased production of wheat.

When I was a boy I remember that the farmers in my section were

satisfied if they got 10 bushels of wheat to the acre, but now if they

get less than 25 they are not satisfied. What do you think has contributed to that increase?

Secretary WILSON. Our average.I think,is about 14 bushels. Wheat

is a ready-money crop, and is always grown everywhere by the pioneer.

He grows it as long as it will pay. and then he has to quit and grow

something else. In the famous San Joaquin Valley in California

they used to grow great crops of wheat, whereas now the yield is less

than 8 bushels to the acre, because they have grown it too long. The

people of North Dakota have resorted to growing a crop of wheat

one year and then simply plowing the land without attempting to

raise a crop the following year. That is what they call '• summer
88 THIRTEENTH CENSUS.

fallowing." But by that moans they are gradually destroying the

soil, because simnuer fallowing does not put anything in the soil.

Mr. BrnroN. That is. where wheat is grown every vear on the, same

soil?

Secretary Wii.sox. Yes; or where it is grown alternate years with

nothing grown the intervening year. In the United States we can

grow -J;") to 30 bushels to the acre, as they do in the British Isles, if we

only adopt the sanle methods. They have there a system of rotation.

Every four years they put in a crop of turnips or potatoes or beets,

as the case may be. and manure it heavily, and then tney put in wheat.

They only grow wheat on the best lands. If we should adopt that

method we can have big yields also. When the price of wheat goes

up•as it may go higher than it is now•when the pioneer can not find

any more new land to rob, then we will do that and get great yields,

as they do elsewhere. It is the soil robber who gets the small crops

nowadays; but his occupation is pretty much gone.

Mr. I)i XWEI.L. Do weeds fertilize tfie soil to any extent?

Secretary Wn.sox. A weed is a plant out of place. If a crop of

clover should be grown where it is not wanted, that would be a weed.

The soil will get the humus, the decayed vegetation, and when yon

cultivate all the time and take off the vegetation you exhaust that

element in the soil. Look at the great rivers in the Southern States.

They carry away not only water, but carry away soil; the soil has

become so light that it floats off into the Gulf of Mexico.

The CHAIKMAN. I used to he a farmer myself, and I always thought

that weeds were a natural crop, because when you plow and do not

plant the weeds will grow. ^ on can raise weeds without labor, but

you can not raise crops without labor.

Secretary WILSON. To my mind weeds are nature's endeavor to

cover her nakedness. Take land that has been uncultivated for a

long time; the weeds will grow, by and by the trees will come, and the

birds will bring in seeds, and in this way nature will bring it back to

its original fertility and strength. Nature is always a good mother to

the soil, but people do not let her have her way. Her rotations are

long, sometimes over half a century, in growing one kind of a tre«

and then another.

Mr. AMES. I should like to ask about nitrogen-fixing bacteria that

we heard about last year. Have there been any further developments

in that respect?

Secretary Wn.sox. Yes; our people are still developing that. It

has been known for hundreds of rears that if you grow clover, or

beans or peas, you enrich the soil, but why, nobody knew during all

that time, until Professor Ilellriegel. of (Jermany, discovered that on

the root of every leguminous plant there are found little nodifles; on

clover roots they are about the size of pin heads. He discovered that

those nodules were colonies of bacteria and brought the nitrogen out

of the atmosphere. Four-fifths of the atmosphere is nitrogen, as

you know, and there is no way by which that nitrogen can be got at

so well as through the leguminous plant, though now and then lightning will do the same business in storms, when nitrates are found in

the atmosphere and fall to the ground. Our people have gone to work

to prepare to strengthen these bacteria. We send them out in cheap

form. We tried at first to send them out in dry condition, and in

some cases that worked well enough, but not always. They arc now
THIETEENTH CENSUS. 89

sending it out in hermetically sealed A'ials, in liquid shape. It is

sending bacteria to the soil that never grew a leguminous crop, and

furnishing the bacteria that at once attaches itself to the roots of the

plant as it grows, and the two working together bring nitrogen out

of the atmosphere, in brief.

Mr. AMES. Have you so fixed your bacteria that yon have any

quantity to distribute, at present for experimentation?

Secretary WILSON. When we demonstrate anything of the kind it

is our custom to let commerce take hold of it. with the understanding that the people must not he overcharged for it, or otherwise we

will send it to the people ourselves. In the case of the cattle blackleg,

we demonstrated what could be done. It cost about one-tenth of a

cent to make a dose that would save a calf from that disease. But

the manufacturers got to charging 20 or '25 cents for a dose, so we

went to making it ourselves. It does not cost us anything to make

it except the time. That is our theory in regard to these things.

We are still working with the nitrogen fixing bacteria because we

are not satisfied that everything has been done that can be done.

Some of the private manufacturers who took it up did not make satisfactory articles and disappointed the people. So we are still engaged in endeavoring to further solve that question.

The CHAIRMAN. !NOW, Mr. Secretary, on behalf of the committee, I

want to thank yon for the courtesy of coming here and explaining

these matters, and for the very interesting statement yon have made

to the committee.

Secretary WILSON. It is always a pleasure to come before committees of Congress. I was unfortunate enough myself to be a Member

of Congress once, and I sympathize deeply with you gentlemen.

STATEMENT OF HON. JAMES WILSON, SECKETARY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, SHOWING REASONS IN SUPPORT

OF A aUINQUENNIAL CENSUS OF AGRICULTURE.

In relation to section 7a of "An act to provide for the Thirteenth

and subsequent censuses." which makes provision for taking a

qninquennial census of agriculture, it is submitted that this provision should be incorporated in the bill, as it is an excellent and

valuable one, for the following reasons:

1. It would provide more complete statistical information in regard to the agricultural products and resources of the United States,

by States and counties, at more frequent intervals than once in ten

years.

A few figures will serve to illustrate the value of complete detailed

agricultural statistics to the business of this country. According

to the census of 1900 the total farming capital of the United States•

that is, value of land, buildings, implements, and live stock•was

$20,000,000,000, which was more than twice the capital of mauufacturers (at that time $9,000,000,000). The total value of farm products according to the last census was nearly $0,000,000,000. In the

same year the value of manufacture exceeded the cost of materials

by about the same amount•that is, nearly $5,000,000,000.

Under the act of March (5, 1902, providing for a permanent census

office a provision was made for a quinquennial census of manufac-
90 THIRTEENTH CENSUS.

turcrs. In 1904 such a census was taken and all the data incorporated

into most comprehensive and valuable reports of the great business

interests of this country. The argmnents which prevailed for the

necessity of a five-year census of manufacture hold true with added

force as to the necessity for providing a five-year census of agriculture.

Our agricultural products have always been the main support of

our export business. The annual average of our exports of domestic

products in the five-vear period from 1900 to 1905 was $1,402,000,000.

of which $878,000,000, or 02.6 per cent, were farm products. Of this

amount cotton alone averaged in value about $350,000,000 or more.

In the past seventeen j'ears nearly two-thirds of our total exports of

domestic products were products of agriculture.

The excess in value of all exports over imports, or, in other words,

the balance of trade in favor of the United States, for the past five

years has averaged $125,000,000 annually. This is due principally to

the contribution of agricultural products to this great volume of

commerce.

It is important that the business men throughout the country

should know the total production of crops in the country, as well as

the production in their territories. Large mercantile houses desire

to know the condition of crops in their various portions of the

country in order to determine to what extent they should solicit

business in different territories.

The railroads are much interested and concerned about the agricultural production of the country, in order to secure a more economical distribution of their rolling stock, and the prosperity of these

roads are to a large extent dependent upon the products of tho farm.

Manufacturing interests are vitally interested in detailed information as to agricultural products which form an important item

in the materials used. The farmer lends strong assistance to the

support of manufacturing by furnishing raw material. Computations based upon the census of the United States disclose the fact

that farm products constitute over 50 per cent of the total products

and over 86 per cent of the total materials of the industries. These

industries produce 33.3 per cent of all manufactured products and

use 42 per cent of all materials employed in manufacturing. During

the last census year the farm products employed in manufacturing

was $2,679,000,000; the value of all materials, including the preceding

amount, was $3,087,000,000. The products of the industries using

these materials was $1,720,000,000.

It is therefore particularly desirable to have a detailed statement

showing the geographical distribution of agricultural products, by

States and counties, at a more frequent period than once in ten years,

and this quinquennial census will provide such figures. The Department of Agriculture prepares estimates each year of the crop, but the

smallest unit it can safely use in the State. The quinquennial census

will give us every five years the counties, and would be of particular

value to the great railroad, manufacturing, and commercial world

which desires more detailed information oi an agriculture which, in

this rapidly growing and changing country, shifts from place to place

and from crop to crop every year.

2. A five-vear census would be useful and helpful to the Bureau of

Statistics oi the Department of Agriculture for the purpose of fur-
THIBTEENTH CENSUS. 91

nishing a more frequent basis or check for its annual reports and

estimates of acreage, production, and value of farm crops.

The general method or principle upon which" the crop reporting

service of the Department of Agriculture has been based is to take the

acreage figures, by States, for the principal agricultural products,

and to apply to them in subsequent years the percentage of increase

or decrease which may have occurred in the planted area each year.

The resulting figures show the acreage planted for the year.

Then during the season in which the crops are growing condition

figures are prepared and issued. Finally, in the fall or at harvest time,

the vield per acre estimates are applied to the acreage figures and the

production for the year ascertained. The Department's figures in

each step are prepared by a crop-reporting board of statisticians in

the Department at Washington from figures reported to the Department each month by several distinct classes of correspondents, such as

special traveling agents. State statistical agents, county correspondents, individual farmers, cotton ginners, and special correspondents.

The reports sent by the different classes of correspondents as to condition figures and as to the yield per acre and the average farm prices

very closely approximate the actual conditions. The question of

acreage is naturally a much more difficult one to ascertain, as demonstrated by the reports of assessors and the statistical departments of

the different States. It is an all-important and vital one in enabling

the Department to arrive at reasonably accurate results. It has been

the practice to check the acreage figures, by States, of the Department

against the results ascertained by the Bureau of the Census at each

ten-year period.

A comparison of these two sets of figures for the past several decades shows that the figures of the Department of Agriculture have

in many cases differed from tho.se of the Census Bureau. This is very

naturally caused by the rapid development of certain parts of the

country, by the introduction of extensive irrigation projects, by the

experiments and development under the guidance of this Department

of dry-land farming, and of the shifting from one product to another

in many of the old agricultural States. Therefore, without this check

at a more frequeift interval than ten years, there is a possibility of a

more or less cumulative error existing. A quinquennial census would

freatly reduce this danger and would give a new basis or check every

ve years. It is believed that, with the efficiency prevailing in a permanent census organization and with a special effort being made for

such attainment, the acreage figures as contemplated in this quinquennial census could be ascertained in 1910 or 1915 and thereafter and

be given to the Department of Agriculture for use by it as a complete check on its acreage figures for those same years.

Foreign countries to a very large extent depend upon the United

States for many agricultural products, and to meet such demands at

home and abroad is the mission of American agriculture. The manufacturer, the merchant, the mechanic, the skilled operative in the factory, and all who consume the products of American agriculture,

whether at home or abroad, as well as the farmer who produces and

provides for them, are interested in reports on acreage and conditions

on the farms of the United States. Pricas of agricultural products

are primarily governed by the law of supply and demand, and earlier

information concerning the supply is of value to all, and those who
92 THIRTEENTH CENSUS.

produce and those who consume are vitally interested, as well as

the dealer who stands between them. Therefore, it is particularly

necessary that the Government provide the farming and commercial

interests of the country with a statistical statement of coi\ditions;

and it behooves (he Government to endeavor in every possible way to

make these reports above suspicion and as near as possible to the

actual facts. It is submitted that a quinquennial census as provided

for the bill will more safely secure and safeguard the accuracy of

such reports, which are now being prepared and issued by the Department of Agriculture at the behest of Congress.

As commerce, consists largely in the exchange of products of agriculture and manufacture, commerce thrives as the farmer and the

factory operative prospers. Some individuals, however, do not always

regard the common welfare, and injurious commercial speculatioiis

occur when ignorance prevails concerning the true conditions of our

crops and the true relations of supply and demand. At such times the

farmer does not obtain just prices and business is injuriously affected.

The consequences of inaccurate reports concerning the condition and

frospective yield of the cotton acreage alone may be very injurious,

f there were no adequate, well-equipped-Government crop reporting

service, and, b\' misleading reports, speculators should depress the

price of cotton a single cent per pound the planter would lose $60,-

000,000 or more; and if the price were improperly raised, the manufacturer and allied interests would be affected to a proportionate

degree. All interests, therefore, demand that as true and accurate a

condition as is possible in regard to crops should be known promptly,

and harmful speculation discouraged.

3. This quinquennial census would show the number and value of

domestic animals on the farms and ranges of this country and be

valuable as a more frequent basis for the annual reports of the Bureau

of Statistics as to the number, average price, and value of farm

animals in the United States, by States, each year.

Last year the value of the principal farm animals on farms and

ranges was nearly $4,500,000,(K)0. The animals sold from farms or

slaughtered on them in 1907 were worth over $1,250,000,000, and animals and animal products were exported to the value of $255,000,000,

composed chiefly of packing-house products worth $203,000,000. The

Department of Agriculture prepares annual estimates as to the number and value of farm animals on farms and ranges in the United

States, and the smallest unit for which the reports can be prepared

and issued are by State boundaries. A quinquennial census would

be valuable as a more frequent base against which the statisticians of

the Department of Agriculture can check. It is particularly difficult

to prepare reasonably accurate statistics as to live stock without a

check by enumeration at more frequent periods than once in ten

years. Of the subjects with which statisticians have to deal the

estimates of live stock are the most difficult, as there is such a wide

fluctuation in supply and demand each year and in the shifting of the

live stock.

Knowledge of the number of stock raised in different parts of the

country has a very material effect upon the value of the stock, and if

the fact is made known through statistics that the number of cattle or

hogs has increased or decreased, it enables the breeder to determine
THIRTEENTH CENSUS. 93

the best policy to adopt•whether to sell or to hold; whether to increase or dimmsh the ntiniber he has raised. Many changes occur in

conditions, occasioned by the extraordinary development of the southwestern and northwestern sections of the United States; the transfer

of stock raising from range to farm; the multiplication of farming

upon hitherto public, land; the great growth of dairying interests,

and the breeding of horses; the fattening of beef animals, and the

shifting of sheep growing areas•all these have presented difficulties

with which no system short of a census enumeration could hope to

cope with during years far removed from the regular census. The

Department of Agriculture now uses the decennial census as a basis

of its reports and annual estimates, for the reasons herein set forth,

and the annual estimates of live stock made by the Department would

be wide of the mark if an error should creep in and become cumulative from year, to year, and great danger might be done to the live

stock interests.

4. There have been numerous requests made for such quinquennial

census from organizations and individuals throughout the country.

The National Board of Trade, representing the principal chambers

of commerce and boards of trade throughout the United States,

has urged the value of a quinquennial census, and has aniiounced

itself as in favor of " a census report every five years, especially for

agricultural data which form a basis for calculations of estimates

and of area and production by other official service, governmental

and of area and production by other official service. Governmental

and otherwise, as to the more prominent crops and as to the number

of farm animals.

The National Live Stock Association, representing 75 per cent of

the producers in the West, has specifically recorded itself in favor of

such an agricultural census, so that more complete information may

be compiled more frequently.

The quinquennial census has also been indorsed by many agricultural societies, farmers' institutes, and associations throughout

the country.

The quinquennial census has been contemplated in two bills submitted to Congress by Hon. Albert S. Burleson, of Texas, and was

favorably passed upon and reported by the Census Committee of the

House in 1007.

Such a census every five years has also been recommended by the

statisticians of the Department of Agriculture, and the following reference was made in the statistician's report for the current year:

A quinqufnnml ccnnus.• lt is suggested that the agricultural ami live stock

Interests of tbe couutry would be benefited by a quimiuennlal census of tbe

number of farm nninmls and live stock in tbe United States, and the acreage

planted to tbe principal or more Important crops, such as wheat, corn, cotton,

tobacco, etc. Such census could be taken by the Kureau of the OmtOB of tbe

Department of Commerce and Labor in 1015 and be repeated every ten years

thereafter between the regular census periods. There seems to be an urgent

desire by the live stock organization, the Nafiomil Board of Trade, and the

principal commercial organizations of tbe country for such an enumeration.

Tbe main reasons for the taking of a census of manufactures more often than

at tbe regular census each ten years apply with equal force to such a census

of agriculture. Snch a census would be useful to this Bureau for tbe purpose

of furnishing a more frequent chock, and would enable it to secure greater

accuracy in the preparation of annual estimates of crops and live stock.
94 THIBTEKNTH CENSUS.

DEPARTMENT OF COMMEKCE AND LABOR,

OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY,

Washington, January 15,1908.

SIR : My attention has been directed to H. 11. 7597, entitled "A bill

to provide for the Thirteenth and subsequent decennial censuses,"

introduced in the House under date of December 12, 1907, and I beg

to submit the following views which I deem it highly important to

have incorporated in the bill as finally passed by Congress.

It is noted that the bill as it now stands, with the exception that

appointmeats of certain persons in (he Bureau proper shall be approved by the Secretary of Commerce and Labor, and that requests

upon other Departments for information pertinent to the work provided for by the act shall be made by the Secretary, confers upon the

Director of the Census all the duties of every description in connection

with the census work independently of the Secretary of Commerce and

Labor. This seems to me inadvisable. By the act creating the Department of Commerce and Labor (act of February 14, 1903, 32

Stat., 825), the then Census Office was transferred to and made an

integral part of the Department of Commerce and Labor. Section

10 of the same act provides that all duties performed and all power

and authority now possessed or exercised by the head of any Executive

Department, in and over any bureau, office, officer, board, branch, or

division of the public service transferred to the Department of Commerce and Labor, or any business arising therefrom, or pertaining

thereto, or in relation to the duties performed by and authority conferred by law upon such bureau, office, officer, board, branch, or

division of the public service, whether of an appellate or revisory

character, or otherwise, shall hereafter be vested in, and exercised by,

the head of the Department of Commerce and Labor.

Attention is further invited to the fact that section 1 of the organic

act makes section 161 of the Kevised Statutes, which provides that

the head of each Department is authorized to prescribe regulations

not inconsistent with law for the government of his Department, the

conduct of its officers and clerks, the distribution and performance

of its business and the custody, use, and preservation of the records,

papers, and property appertaining to it, applicable to the Department

of Commerce and Labor.

After careful consideration, I am of opinion that the act authorizing the Thirteenth and subsequent decennial censuses should be

drawn in accordance with the power conferred upon the head of the

Department by section 10 of the organic act, and that to depart from

the well-established plan of organization of the Executive Departments, by placing the chief of any bureau within the Department upon

a footing practically independent of the supervisory jurisdiction

of the head of the Department, would be extremely unwise and unfortunate. I would, therefore, urgently recommend, when this bill

is finally reported by the committee, that it be so drawn as to give

unqualified force to the powers conferred upon the head of the Department of Commerce and Labor by the organic act of P'ebruary

14, 1903.

Section 3 provides that there may be employed in the Bureau

proper, in addition to an Assistant Director who shall be appointed

by the President, a chief statistician, an appointment clerk, a private
THIBTEENTH CENSUS. 95

secretary to the Director, two stenoprapliers. and ciplit expert chiefs

of division, and further provides that these officers, with the exception

of the Assistant Director, shall be appointed by the Director of the

Census, such appointments to be approved by the Secretary of Commerce and Labor. With the exception of Assistant Director (whose

appointment is to be made by the President), I believe that these

officers should be appointed by the Secretary of Commerce and Labor

upon the recommendation of the Director qf the Census, in accordance

with the practice which now obtains. The rule,? now provide for the

exception of one private secretary to heads of bureaus appointed by

the President and confirmed by the Senate.

Section G provides for the appointment of the temporary force to

be employed in the Bureau proper in Washington and vests the

employment of such employees in the Director of the Census, with

the approval of the Secretary of Commerce and Labor. With reference to the approval of the appointments by the head of the Department, I am of the opinion that the appointments should either be

made by the head of the Department upon the recommendation of the

Director, or else by the Director independently of the head of the

Department. I have no objection, however, to the act being so drawn

as to make the Director solely responsible for the temporary force

that will be employed in Washington.

With reference, however, to section 7, which authorizes the Director

to choose the employees provided for by section 6 by noncomjietitive

examination. I desire to state that this plan does not meet w*ith my

approval. I fully agree with the views of the President, expressed

in the recent message to Congress on this question, that these positions,

when not filled by transfers from other parts of the classified service,

should be filled from eligible lists established by the Civil Service

Commission, in accordance with the civil-service rules. In view, however, of the temporary character of employment, I am of the opinion

that the provision in the civil-service law with respect to the apportionment of appointments among the States and Territories should

be waived, and I am further of opinion that persons formerly employed in the Census Office at Washington, D. C, whose efficiency

records were such as to entitle them to preferment should, in taking

the civil-service examinations, be given a credit for experience, the

amount and relative weight of which to be determined oy the Civil

Service Commission and the Director of the Census.

With respect to the last proviso of section 7, which authorizes the

Director of the Census to fill vacancies in the permanent census force

of the Bureau of the Census by the promotion or transfer of clerks

or other employees on the temporary force during the decennial

census period, I desire to state that in my judgment there should be

no change in the existing method of making appointments in the

permanent force of the Bureau during the decennial census period;

that the head of the Department should continue to exercise authority

over that force and over all transfers to or from it.

Section 9 of the bill as it now stands was evidently drawn with the

intention that there shall be no intermediary between the Director of

the Census and the President in the matter of the appointment of

supervisors. This is unique in the administrative affairs of a bureau

under an Executive Department. If the assumption that the Director

of the Census shall confer directly with the President concerning
96 THIRTEENTH CENSUS.

these appoiutinents is not correct, and that the real intention is that

the Secretary shall have the same duties and responsibilities as is the

case in other Presidential appointments, the language should be

explicit: otherwise perplexing questions will arise as to the nomination, appointment, and commissionin<x of these officers, there being a

statute bearing upon the commissioning of Presidential officers of this

Department (act of March S, lOOo; 3:1 Stat.. 990). It is my opinion

that the head of the Department of Commerce and Labor should

himself act directly-with the President in these matters.

"With reference to the fixing of compensation for personal services,

it is my belief that wherever such services are authorized by the act

and the rate of compensation is not definitely fixed, that such rate of

compensation should be fixed by the head of the Department of Commerce and Labor; and further that ail other expenditures of moneys

appropriated for the purpose of taking the Thirteenth Census of the

United States, and the defraying or expenses for the permanent

Census Office for the decennial period, should be under the supervisory control of the head of the Department.

Section 28 of the act authorizes the Director of the Census to make

requisition upon the Public Printer for such printing as may be

necessary to carry out the provisions of the act. This provision, if

enacted into law. would place in the hands of the Director entire control of all matters with reference to printing in connection with the

census work. It would be a departure from section 89 of the act of

January 12, 1895 (28 Stat., 622), which provides that no printing

shall be done for the Executive Departments without special requisition signed by the chief of the Department ard filed with the Public

Printer. The same section further authorizes the Director to have

printed by the Public Printer, in such editions as the Director may

deem necessary, preliminary and other census bulletins and final

reports of the results of the several investigations authorized by the

proposed act or by the act to establish the permanent Census Office,

and to publish and distribute said bulletins and reports without

reference to the head of the Department. Such authority with reference to requisitions upon the Public Printer and the authority to

publish and distribute results of investigations authorized by the act

places in the hands of the Director of the Census an unlimited power

which, in my judgment, should not be given to the chief of any bureau

without the exercise of supervisory authority by the head of the Department. It certainly is a grant of power that I strongly oppose

being given to any chief of bureau of this Department. Requisitions

upon the Public Printer can be and should be made by the Secretary

of the Department, and the Department is equipped to perform this

duty without delaying or retarding the work.

It is noted that throughout this entire bill, wherever the Bureau

of the Census is referred to, it is designated as the " Census Office."

On the 1st of July. 1903, the then Secretary of Commerce and Labor

addressed a letter to the Director of the Census, advising him that,

pursuant to an opinion of the Attorney-General, the Census Office

should thereafter be designated the " Bureau of the Census." Since

that time in all administrative matters the Bureau presided over by

the Director of the Census has been known as the " Bureau of the

Census." For the reasons which prompted this designation, which

at this time it is not necessarv to discuss in detail. I recommend that
THIBTEBNTH CENSUS. 97

throughout the act authorizing the taking of the thirteenth decennial census the designation heretofore prescribed by the Secretary of

the Department of Commerce and Labor shall, in accordance with an

opinion of the Attorney-General, be retained.

The Constittition provides that the President " shall take care that

the laws be faithfully executed." This mandate of the Constitution,

in accordance with a plan which has existed almost from the foundation of the Government, and which has repeatedly received the sanction of Congress, is carried out by the President through the heads

of the various Executive Departments established at the seat of government, who are direct representatives of the President in the execution of the laws. The setting up, therefore, of a bureau, within an

Executive Department, which shall be independent of its head would

likewise be independent of the Chief Executive of the nation, and

would constitute an administrative anomaly which it is believed is

not the purpose of Congress to create.

In conclusion I may add that the work of taking the Thirteenth

Census, which involves the expenditure of approximately $14,000,000,

should not, in my opinion, be attempted under a law which vests in a

bureau chief unlimited powers with reference to practically every

feature in connection with the work, independent of the head of the

Department of which the bureau is a part. The several bureaus of

the Department of Commerce and Labor are now fairly well coordinated, and if this bill as drawn becomes a law it will go a long

way toward absolutely defeating the good work already done. I

therefore earnestly recommend that the bill be so amended as to

comply with the foregoing views.

Very respectfully,

OSCAR S. STBATTS, Serrctary.

Hon. EDGAR D. CRrsiPACKER,

Chairman Committee on the Censits,

House of Hepresentativcs.

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE AND LABOR,

OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY,

Washington, February 7, 1908.

SIR: Pursuant to your request, made during a conference held in

my office yesterday morning, at which time I stated in general my

views with reference to H. R. 7597, entitled a bill " to provide for the

Thirteenth and subsequent decennial censuses." now pending before

the Committee on the Census of the House, I beg to submit herewith a draft of the bill in which are incorporated certain proposed

amendments which I deem it highly important to have incorporated

in the bill as finally passed by Congress.

The bill as introduced into the House, with the exception that appointments of certain persons in the Census Office proper shall be

approved by the Secretary of Commerce and Labor, and that requests

upon other Departments for information pertinent to the work provided for by the act shall be made by the Secretary, confers upon

the Director of the Census all of the duties of every description in

connection with the census work, independently of the head of the

Department of Commerce and Labor.

26629•08 7
98 THIRTEENTH CENSUS.

This I deem inadvisable by reason of the fact that it places a chief

of a bureau within the Department of Commerce and Labor upon a

footing practically independent of the supervisor; jurisdiction of the

head of the Department, which is a departure from a well-established

plan of organization of the Executive Departments of the Government, and, in my judgment, will lead to undesirable and unsatisfactory results.

Owing to controversies which have arisen in the past with reference to the authority of the head of the Department of Commerce

and Labor over the Census Office, now that a code of laws which

will, in a large measure, govern that Bureau is about to be passed,

it is desirable that the supervision and jurisdiction of the head of

the Department be clearly defined and that- the inherent entity of

the Department, so far as the Census Office is concerned, lie preserved.

With this object in view sections 1 and 34 have been so amended

that the censuses authorized shall l)e taken by the Director of the

Census under the direction of the Secretary of Commerce and Labor.

Section 3 of the act is so amended as to vest the appointment of

the officers and employees therein provided for who are to become a

part of the permanent census force in the Secretary of Commerce

and Labor upon the recommendation of the Director of the Census,

the reason being that appointments to the present permanent force

of the Census Office are now made by the Secretary of Commerce

and Labor, thus securing uniformity in this respect.

Section 4 is amended by adding, after the word "Census,'" in line

15, " with the approval of the Secretary of Commerce and Labor,"

thereby making necessary his approval of the general duties which

are to be performed by the Assistant Director, said duties being prescribed by the Director of the Census.

Section 6, which authorizes the temporary force to be employed in

the Census Office during the decennial census period, is so amended

as to vest the appointment of such employees in the Director of the

Census without reference to the head of the Departments

Section 7 is so amended as to provide that the temporary force

authorized by section 6 be subject to such competitive examination as

the Civil Service Commission, after consultation with the Director

of the Census, may prescribe; and, further, that during the decennial

census period vacancies occurring in the permanent force of the Census Office may be filled from the temporary force, subject to the conditions prescribed by the civil-service rules. With reference to the

question as to whether or not the temporary force provided for by

section 6 be chosen by competitive or noncompetitive examination, I

beg to state that I fully agree with the views of the President, expressed in a recent message to Congress on this question, and I am

convinced that these positions, when not filled by transfers from other

f»arts of the classifiecl service, should l)e filled from eligible lists estabished by the Civil Service Commission. In view, however, of the

temporary character of the employment, I am of opinion that the

provisions of the civil-service law with respect, to the apportionment

of the appointments among the States and Territories should be

waived, and. further, that persons formerly employed ill the Census

Office at Washington, D. C, whose efficiency records were such as to

entitle them to preferment, should, in taking the civil-service examinations, be given credit for experience, the amount and relative weight
THIRTEENTH CENSUS. 99

of which should be determiiu'd by the Civil Service Connnission and

the Director of the Census.

Section 9 is so amended as to authorize the head of the Department

to act directly with the President with reference to the number and

appointment of the supervisors therein provided for.

Wherever personal services have been authorized in the act, and

the rate of compensation has not been fixed. I deem it advisable that

the rate of compensation should be fixed by the Director, with the

approval of the Secretary of Commerce and Labor, and sections 6,

15. 16, and 18 of the act have been amended to accomplish this object.

Section 25 is so amended as to permit the Secretary of Commerce

and Labor to inveetigate any complaint that may arise with respect

to the accuracy or reliability of the information disclosed by the

schedules.

Section 27. which empowers the Director to authorize all expenses

incurred under the authority conferred by the act, is amended by

inserting, in line 22, page 21. after the word " that ", " subject to such

regulations as may be prescribed by the Secretary of Commerce and

Labor." This amendment is prompted by reason of the fact that it is

not thought desirable that the expenditures in connection with the

authority conferred by the act should be expended without at least

the supervisory control of the head of the Department. In this connection section 30. which appropriates the sum of $14,000,000, or so

much thereof as mav be necessary, for the purpose of carrying out the

objects of the act, is amended by striking oijt. in lines 8 and 0. the

words " under the direction of the Director of the Census."

Section 28 of the act, as introduced, authorizes the Director of the

Census to make requisitions upon the Public Printer for such printing as may be necessary to carry out the provisions of the act. This

provision, if enacted into a law, would place in the hands of the Director entire control with reference to all matters of printing-in connection with the census work. The same section further authorizes

the Director to have printed by the Public Printer, in such editions

as the Director may deem necessary, preliminary and other census

bulletins and final reports of the results of the several investigations

authorized by the proposed act. or by the act to establish the pennanent Census Office, and to publish and distribute said bulletins and

reports without reference to the head of the Department. Such authority with reference to the requisitions upon the Public Printer and

the authority to publish and distribute results of investigations authorized by the act places in the hands of the Director of the Census

an unlimited power which, in my judgment, should not be given to

the chief of any bureau without the exercise of supervisory authority

by the head of the Department It certainly is a grant of power that

I strongly oppose, being given to any chief of bureau of this Department, and the section has been accordingly amended to meet this objection. Requisitions upon the Public Printer can be. and. in my

judgment, should be made by the head of the Department of Commerce and Labor, and the Department is equipped in this respect, as

in all other respects in which the act is proposed to be amended, to

perform the various duties without delaying or retarding the work

of the Census Office.

Section 30, which authorizes the Secretary of Commerce and Labor,

on the request of the Director of the Census, to call upon any other
100 THIRTEENTH CENSUS.

Department or office of the Government for information pertinent to

the work provided for by the act, is amended so as to give the Secretary authority to call upon other Departments or offices of the Government for the information desired on the request of the Director

of the Census, or whenever the Secretary of Commerce and Labor

may deem it advisable.

Section 31 is so amended as to make the certificate therein provided

for one from the Secretary of Commerce and Labor to the Secretary

of the Treasury, as it is not believed that the chief of a bureau within

a Department should make a certificate direct to the head of another

Department, and it is further provided that the Director of the Census shall be authorized to tabulate, compile, and publish the results

of the State censuses so token with the approval and under the direction of the Secretary of Commerce and Lalxw.

Section 33, which authorizes the Director of the Census to expend

in the year 1011 a sum not to exceed $50,000 in ascertainino; the feasibility of securing through census enumerators or special agents the

information required for making comparisons between the number of

domestic animals and the acreage of the principal crops on the same

farms of the country in succeeding years is so amended as to cause, the

sum authorized to be expended under the direction of the Secretary

of Commerce and Labor. ,

Section 37 of the act is so amended as to leave in force the act establishing the permanent Census Office, approved March G. 1902, as

amended by the act of .February 11, 1903, creating the Department

of Commerce and Labor, and providing further that nothing contained in the act shall be held in any way to impair or diminish the

power, authority, jurisdiction, supervision, or control over the Census Office, its officers, and employees, vested in the Secretary of Commerce and Labor by the act of February 14, 1903, entitled "An act

to establish the Department of Commerce and Labor." These

amendments, in light of what has already been said, are self-explanatory.

The Constitution provides that the President " shall take care that

the laws be faithfully executed." This mandate of the Constitution,

in accordance with the plan which has existed almost from the

foundation of the Governuient, and which has repeatedly received

the sanction of Congress, is carried out by the President through the

heads of the various Executive Departments established at the seat

of government, who are direct representatives of the President in

the execution of the laws. The setting up, therefore, of a bureau

within an Executive Department, which shall be independent of its

head, would likewise be independent of the Chief Executive of the

nation, and would constitute an administrative anomaly which it is

believed it is not the purpose of Congress to create.

In conclusion, 1 may add that the work of taking the Thirteenth

Census which involves the expenditure of approximately $11,000,000,

should not, in my opinion, be attempted under a law which vests in a

bureau chief unlimited powers with reference to practically every

feature in connection with the work independently of the head of

the Department of which the bureau is a part. The several bureaus

of the Department of Commerce and Labor are now fairly well coordinated, and if this bill as introduced becomes a law it will go a

long way toward absolutely defeating the good work already done.
THIBTEENTH CENSUS. 101

I therefore earnestly recommend that the bill be changed along the

lines of the amendments incorporated in the attached draft.

Very respectfully,

OSCAR S. STHAUS, Secretary.

Hon. EDGAR D. CRUMPACKER.

Chairman Committee on the Census,

House of Representatives.

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE AND LABOR,

, OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY,

Washington, Fehruary 12,1908.

SIR: At the request of the Director of the Census, I beg to submit

herewith for the information of your committee a copy of a report,

made by an advisory committee appointed by my predecessor to consult and confer with the Director of the Census in reference to plans

for the Thirteenth Decennial Census, recommending certain changes

in H. E. 7597, now pending before your committee.

In so far as the views and recommendations of the advisory committee are in conflict with the views expressed in my letter to you

of February 7, 1908, they are disapproved of.

Very respectfully,

OSCAR S. STRAUS, Secretary.

Hon. EDGAR D. CRUMPACKER.

Chairman, Committee on the Census, House of Representatives.

ITHACA, N. Y., February i, t90S.

Hon. S. K. D. NORTH,

Director of the Census, Washington, D. C.

SIB : The advisory committee appointed by the Secretary of Commerce and

Labor, May 10, ]!)04, by a circular letter, the essential part of which Is as

follows: "Upon the recommendation of the Director of the Census, I have the

honor to designate you a member of an advisory committee to consult and

confer with him lu reference to the plans for the Thirteentji Decennial Censtis

of the T'nlted States, with a view to eliminating the defects of previous censuses, determining its proper scope, and perfecting its methods," held a meeting

In Washington, January 12, 1908, for the consideration of H. R. 7597•" a bill

to provide for the Thirteenth and subsequent decennial censuses"•and has the

honor to submit the following suggestions.

The advisory committee recommended certain changes In the law, the nature

of which Is best Indicated by the accompanying copy whereupon the changes

which they favor have been Indicated. I will mention them in order, with

brief explanations.

Page 1, line 9. and page 7. line 13, the conimittee recommended that after

" Porto Rico " the words " and Guam, Samoa, and other minor dependencies"

should be Inserted In order to make the census of 1010 cover all territory under

the United States flag except the Pliilippine Islands.

Page 4, line 14, the t'ommittee was unanimously in favor of changing the

word " noncompetitive" to "competitive," on the ground that a competitive

examination would probably secure clerks of a higher grade of efficiency to

perform the office of the Thirteenth Census.

Page 6, line 25. the committee favored cliauglng the words " and mechanical "

to " 6r household," in order to avoid the ambiguity of the word "mechanical"

and to make more clear exactly what forms of Industry are to be excluded.

Page S, line 3, the committee favored adding after "district" the following

provision: "And provided further. That any sui»ervisor abandoning, neglecting,

or improperly performing the duties required of him by this act may be removed by the Director of the Census, and any vacancy thus caused or otherwise? occurring during the progress of the enumeration may be filled by the

Director of the Census." This provision the committee believed to be important, as enabling the Director to carry through the emergency work of the

census with a minimum of delay and as concentrating in his hands the power

of initiative and the responsibility needed for work of such a character.
102 THIRTEENTH CENSUS.

Vagc 25, lines 1-11, after some conferenee with the repwonttttTe of the

Department of Agrionlture on the conimittee. the committee vote<l unanimously

to recommend that section 33 be omitted, on the ground that it is not germane

to the main purpose of the bill and that there are no peremptory reasons for

securing legislation on this subject at the earliest possible moment.

Page 25, line 12, the committee favored omitting the words "and once every

ten years thereafter," on the ground that they believe it will be desirable at

future censuses to enumerate the population of the rhilippine Islands at the

same time with the rest of the population under the luited States Hag. They

were, however, of the opinion that there is no pressing necessity for taking

another census of the Philippine Islands at a date only seven years after the

excellent census of 1903, and that to do so might endanger or impair the work

of the census in the United States itself.

After suggesting these modifications the committee unanimously favored the

bill with all its other details.

It voted fpeclflcally its indorsement of certain provisions, namely:

1. The iuclnsiou of a census of mines and iiuarries (p. 1, line 4) with that

of population, agriculture, and manufactures, on the ground that the line between raaniifacturing on the one hand and mining and quarrying on the other is

a line almost impossible for the Census Office to draw or to follow, and that

the difficulties of doing so are steadily increasing.

2. The provisions in section 6 (p. 4, lines JV-12) and in section 18 (p. 1G,

lines 7-9) extending the field within which the Director is given discretion to

pay special agents or other employees on a piece-price basis, on the ground

that such form of payment is likely to prove In many such cases both more

equitable and more economical.

3. The increase in the maximum number of supervisors from 300, in 1900, to

330. in 1910 (p. 7, lines 17-18), on the ground that this would secure a more

effective supervising of the field work and would conform to the desire of

Congress that the number of supervisors should stand in a close relation to the

total number of Members in the House of Representatives.

4. The change In the date when the Thirteenth Census shall be taken and

for which most of its figures shall speak, from June 1. 1910, to April 15, 1910

(p. 11, line F>, and p. 17. line 8), on the ground that the difficulties of securing

an accurate census of the .resident population, especially in the cities, during

the month of June, are steadily increasing, and that there is a clear and a

growing balance of advantage in favor of April 15 over June 1, or any other

alternative date for future censuses.

5. The change In the population of the average enumeration district from

4,000 to 2.000 (p. 12, line 13), on the ground that this is simply a recognition

in the law of what the practice of the Office has found to be expedient and

almost necessary.

6. The last paragraph of section 23 (p. 19. line 17, to p. 20, line 10), as furnishing a legal ground for the claim of the representatives of the Census Office

to obtain the iuformatlon needed for the census, and to that end to have free

access to hotels, apartment houses, etc

7. The provisions of section 24 (pp. 20 and 21), stating more clearly than

has been done In similar laws the legal duty of officers of establishments engaged in productive Industry to answer the questions of the census schedule

relating thereto.

8. The provisions of section 25 (p. 21), furnishing a more effective guaranty

than heretofore of the confidential character of the returns as needed in many

cases and desirable In all to enlist that public confidence without which census

inquiries must fail.

9. The provisions of secton 31 (pp. 23 and 24), regarding the schedules of

State censuses taken in 1915, and each tenth year thereafter, on the ground that

the original schedules, or complete copies of the same, would have a greater

statistical value to the Federal Government than two-fifths of their cost of

production and that such a provision may tend to Increase the number of such

State censuses or make their scope and contents more harmonious with the

Federal decennial census.

All of which Is respectfully submitted.

CAHBOLI, D. WBIOHT. Chairman;

WALTER F. WIIXCOX,

DAVIS R. DEWBY,

WII.I.KT M. HAYS,

Cummittee,