New-York tribune., 1876-02-28
THE STATE CENSUS.
A DEFENSE OF ITS ACCURACY

DEF r.NSE OF IFS AtI IhA'i
CAUSES OF An INCREASE IN POPULATION ihAi
HAVE BEEN ovERIOORED-rHE FIGURES fo"
NEv.-yORK CITY NOT TOO LARGE.
TROyJ THE REGULAR CORRESPONDENT of Iii1 i"no'''
A1p.Ny. Feb. 26.-Now that the Committees
o Anportionment have chosen their clerks ana nessen
gers and are ready to 80 10 work. the q"esho Vi 'ne
tstTorthiness of the last has renewed interest
This ouestion has already been raised by hepupic'1
I'm both Houses OF the legislature and directed ce
at the enumeration Of the population ana the 'oei' "
the cities New York in particular MI "oouh III 'no
Senate and Nj Carroll L. Smith in the Assembly! nave
already assaled the accuracy OF that enumeration,
charging that the increase shown in the nuinper Vi
voters in NewYork City dispropOtionate to the III
crease in population and could not he free nom error
Whether this is an expedcnt TO Justify the Republicans
in refusing 10 grant New City its proper represents
ton in the Legislature and in perpetuang the rotten
borough system which has ruled the Legislature remains
TO be seen Meantime the officials in charge OF the cen
sus make interesting statements tehdng 10 Viho
cate the thOrOughness OF their work
Two general causes, making marked increase III lhe
number OF voters since 1865 have not been commented
on heretofore considerable number OF eoored persons
have had the right Of suffrage conferred upon them py
constitutional amendment since 1862 and OF these
must be remembered there was large influx into the
state after the of the Then, too, at the time
of the enumeration in 1865, large number of the New
York volunteers had not yet returned from the ed and
were stn In the South and Southwest, being either still
upon duty having been merged into the regular army
or the navy the 1st Of june 1869 During the nrst
months Of the year number Of regiments had oeen sent
TO the field from this state, which did not return until
September, 1865. or later.
The census officials say that, far from believing that
the City of New-York has returned undue number OF
voters to population the disprOporon II exists any
where rural towns in comparison with the etles
of The tables of the preliminary report on the
census show in increase or decrease ID
population ) which excltes suspicion bnt Is
easy OF explanation For instance the town OF chiffon
shows marked decrease, which found to result from
the closing OF an manufactory and, on tho other
hand the Town Of Waterylet, IN Albany County SHOWS
734 inhabitants and 1892 voters, while the vote cast
in 1875 was only 3,79s The dsproporton explained
by the presence large settlement OF Shakers VINO
never vote while the Large number OF voters due 10
the fact that many workmen are employed in the Cen
traI carshops at West Albany the car annfac
turing shops Island and the lumber Industries
Of West Troy, which are all in this town Large
settlements OF shakers at Canaan and New-Lebanon eS
plain like apparent dsproportion in those towns The
towns where agriculture is almost the only pursuit
where many transient labores engaged who never
vote do not show so large proportion Of voters TO pop
uation in Summer resorts such as Saratoga sharon'
Trenton Rlchfed, Avon, and towns upon Long Island
and near New-YOIk, or towns which contain railroad
shops or are railroad centers such Salamanca, or-
'''''H'
factures are carried by male labor there is large
ratio Of voters to population many OF the voters being
transient Good examples OF these towns are fshkil,
including Matteawan and Wappingers Falls, German
Flats with the large factories at liioD, Ecot including
jamestown, and numbering many Swedcs among It's
population. ROsendae MOriaE including the iron works
of Port Henry, Johnstown, Amsterdam and Hoosick.
Cohoes on the other hand where female labor is prnci
pay used shows the lowest proportion OF voters TO pop
ulation exhibited by any city Of the state
In the enumeration of the population Of New-York
City the Twenty-tLi and Twentyfourth Wards were
included which annexed only year before ana
the population Of which should therefore be deducted IN
any comparisons Deducing this from the entire popu
lation as reported in 1873, which il l046Oj7 leaves
100000 for the population with 223JQ4 voters, - ne
600 population IN i've years whereas IN tDe years
between 1858 and 1870 the increase ia the Guy was
ton of New be 1886, the sentative pop
ulaton ,649 and the number Of voers l2sgI5 ihe
ratio OF population under this census there
fore did not vary very largely from that oil tue census o
one Of the charges brought against the ccnsus has
been that Of undue Increase OF natufaized voters by
state WAS shown 10 be 6}2 1856 by that s6i 3994G3
and by that of 1873, 329679. In the first of ticse
decades the falling OF was $4,000 IN the second oh}
600 though there has been large falling oil III lnm
grafton Of late years ana only small proportion OF IN
migrants settle IN this state In 80? the number OF
voters was 632 746, and IN ls6j Increase of
III 900 in ten years OF this nearly iwothirda-neary
ulation from s65 1875 the next decade, wac 9OO
and 3l4 600 and Of these laleF l10'5'J were
naturaliZed YOteIs- less than Oncg1Dt
OF the accuracy Of the cepsU 1t is urged that tQeI.
be little doubt. The records of tue NATURALIZATION
courts will it Is believed establish the truth OF tle e
ures with respect 10 tic number Of naturazatonS Be
sides, the enumerators were, IT s SAID OF mdch pees
class than usual many professional and educated
men being ont OF other employment More tlan thr
Dr. Franklin D. HG1gh VINO SuPGTmtendenm a the the
census Of 1898 and 500 did the like service 1919,
and Col j. j. DE Forest, wEO Dr. HOuehs principal
assistant 1850 supervised the counting aud arrange
ucnt Tor publication.