Centre Democrat. [volume] (Bellefonte, Pa.) 1848-1989, 1880-01-22
AMERICAN CENSUSES.

draft soldiers equitably and tax for
the support of the war correctly. In
the chaotic state of society, however,
the enemy occupying much of the
country, no correct census was taken
and an arbitrary basis was adopted.
In 1888 debate broke out on this
question in Congress, and when the
Constitution went into operation it
contained the principle of the census
rs the very basis of our Government
in the following words: Representa-
tives and direct taxes shall be appor-
toned among the several States which
may be included within this Union
according TO their respective numbers,
to be determined by certain prescribed
principles" A census was ordered to
be taken within three years after the
first meeting of Congress of the United
States, and within each subsequent
term of ten years, to be specified by
law.
The first census was begun to be
taken OH the first Monday in August,
1890, and closed in nine months, and
within fifteen months after it began
the President was TO lay before Con-
gress the tables and results. The sec
ond census was taken by the Marshals
of the Districts and the Secretaries of
the Territories. In the third census of
1910, manufacturers were ordered to
be included in the returns. In 1920
agriculture and commerce were in
cluded. In 1880 the blind, deaf and
: dumb, unnaturalized, &c, were to be
reported. In 1S40 twenty thousand
copies of the census were printed and
: bound. In 1850 the Secretary of the
Interior was put in charge of the cen
sus, instead of the Secretary of State
ut the same time the Postmaster.Gen
eral, the Acknowledgement and Secre-
tary of State had charge of the tables,
rs sort of Returning Board. The
subsequent statutes pertaining to the
census show the deep interest taken by
Americans in the measure, and the re-
ports of the population of the United
States have material influence in
sustaining our moral strength through
out the world. America has realized
the saying of Montesquieu that "there
is nothing so powerful as Republic
where the laws are observed, not so
much through fear or reason, but
from attachment TO them, for in such a
case there is united TO the wisdom of a
good Government the concentrated
power of the people"
OUR GROWTH.
Some remarkable figures were print
ed in the census of 1860, taken by Mr..
j. c. G. Kennedy. This gentleman is
the grandson of Andrew Ellicott, who
drew the boundary lines of Pennsyl-
vania and New York and all of the
Southern Territory as divided from
Spanish Florida. He was also Secre-
tary of the Land Office of Pennsylva-
mia. He laid out the towns in West
ern Pennsylvania, along the Allegheny
River, and DIR. Kennedy residing at
Meadville. married his daughter there.
Meantime his brother, Joseph Ellicott,
was surveying all the land in Western
New York, where he owned princi-
pality. DIR. Kennedy's son is man
of extensive reading.
He relates that in 1898 the value of
all property in the United States was
under siS0,000,000, and as late as
1907 the improved lands in the whole
country, including pastures, was under
100000 acres. BY 1870 we had
1863, 900, 900 improved acres, of value
of nearly s6,700,000,000. The pro-
duct of our manufactures in 1910 was
under 100000, 900, while in 1860 it
was s2,000,000,000. There was but
one bank in America previous to 1915,
the land bank of Massachusetts,, estab-
lished in 1740, and soon wiped out by
the British Parliament. When our
Government went into existence in
1889 there were only three banks, the
Bank of New York, the Bank of
North America, at Philadelphia, and
the Bank of Massachusetts,. Their
aggregate capital was s2,000,000 In
1921 we had SO banks, with capital
of s23,000,000; in 1880, $50 banks,
with si45,O00,000 capital in 1860,
,562 banks, with capital of s42l,-
100000. At the close of the civil
war there were 1,601 National Banks,
two-thirds Of which had been con-
verted from old State institutions.
The oldest insurance office in Amer
ca was established in 1924, and anoth-
er was opened in 1856 in Philadelphia.
At this time there is single Insurance
Company with assets amounting to
100000, 900.
The first canal in America was be-
tween Boston and Concord, twenty
seven miles long, and cost s350,000.
It was finished in 1889. In 1860 we
had 5,264 miles of canal, which had
coat of5O n0O 000 moat of IL in diause