The Hickman courier., 1872-11-23
The Census.


i The following paragraphs are from
Superintendent Walkers census re-
port:
The cordiality with which the
nress and the country have recogniz.
ed the publication of the prime re-
sults of the census has afforded am
ple compensation tc the Superinten-
/ dent for all the effort that has been
required to accomplish the compile
ton of the work of compilation
within two years from the conclusion
of the enumeration. There is no
reason, however, WHY, with such
notifications of existing laws as
would insure that the material
should come originalk to the Census
/ Office in the proper shape for tabu
lation, the entire coQahlation should
not be concluded within year from
the da4a of the first secsiDt. 1t is
| possible for any 80 ss.slio has had
such painful occasion as the present
Superintendent to observe the work
ings of the census law of 1855 to
characterize it otherwise than as
clumsy, antiquated. and barbarous.
The machinery it provides is as unfit
for use in the census of the United
States, in this day Of advanced stat
istical science, as the smooth-b bore,
muzzle-loading Queens arm" of the
Revolution would be for service
against the repeating rifle of the
present day. 1t ought not to be
possible that another census should
be taken under this law; such
thing ought not to be seriously pro-
posed. The country has suffered
more than enough already of discred-
it and of loss on account of the
watched insuficiency and inappro-
priateness of the provisions of this
i'll constructed and grown statute.
l do earnestly recommend that
the attention of Congress be espe-
cially invited to the propriety and
expediency of an Immediate census,
TO be taken in 1875, in preparation
for the approaching centennial cele-
bration of the political birth of the
nation. 4 census of the United
States taken under a sysi EN-, and
with a management which would Sc
cure the publication of the result by
the 1st of June, 1876, would be a
noble monument to erect at the end
of a century of the nations life. 1t
would mark off the first grand stage
N an industrial and social progress
altogether unprecedented in history,
and serve as the starting point Of a
fresh career which we have, under
Providence, reason to believe shall
be greater and hap pier yet.
Another consideration which |
strongly influences me in this re-
commentator, is the belief that
census in 1875 would, in all proba-
bilify, secure the taking of the Fed /
eral census thereafter.,pt II intervals of
five years only. The .lteryal of ten
years fixed by the CoIstitution has
been found to be far ,top long for all /
the uses 10 -vslaS.sh s-sssSsx statl=-.s.ss of |
the census are put, eSsept only for 1
the redistribution of Congressional |
representation.
So rapid are the internal changes
of the country, often lines setting
calculations at nought, SO fierce aud
vast the growth of the nation as
whole, that the hiatus in the sta
tistical information at the com
mand of the Legislator, the
pamphleteer. the journalist, and
the social and political philosopher,
FIVE or six years after the date of the
census, becomes positively painful.
Whoever Will call to mind the esti-
mates as to the population and
wealth of cities, States, an; sections,
which Immediately before the occur
renee of the last census were prop
erly put forth, were made the mate
rial of political and Industrial spec
ulation, and were even taken as the
basis of State aud national legisla
ton, viii hardly be disposed to ques-
tion that the cost of census once
in five years would be amply repaid
by the light it would shed upon the
condition of the people and the pro-
gress of the nation in population
and wealth. Were the country once
to learn by practical experience the
advantages of a quinauennial enum-
GRAFTON, it is not likely that longer
period would ever thereafter be al
lowed to intervene between the Fed
eral censuses.