The Vancouver independent. (Vancouver, W.T. [Wash.]) 1875-1910, 1880-01-22
Census Chat.


perintendeut Of the Census, recently
gave a New York Tribune reporter an
account Of The arrangements he has
made for taking the census. lie said ::
Owe expect to complete the work with
in the single month Of june, 1880, and
shall employ about 10000 persons to do
it. There will be two distinct depart
m-nts Of the census. First, tn. ouumer-
alton proper, which includes Che count
Of the population, w.tA the ordinary
social and vital statistics. Originally
the census was only for the purpose Of
determining political representation, and
each household was reported as Il unit,
with its members roughly classified, not
! even names and ages being taken but
the law OF 1850 gave wide scope to the
work, and called for the name, age, sex,
color, place OF birth, occupation, ability
to read and write, and 50 forth, of each
person. These constitute the main
labor Of the census, and its most valua
Die results. In other countries, where
popular representation is not involved,
these form the only purpose OF census.
This was the first country to institute a
periodical census, beginning in 1890;
England following in 1901.
As it not unusual to do this work in
so short a time as one month";
"Yes. Ana in the large cities it will
be done in two weeks, thus reducing The
errors arising from omission or duplica-
ton. heretofore, wllle the ehumer-
alton has had reference to Il single day,
namely, the lst OF June OF every tenth
year, ii has been extended over period
Of five months or longer. The conse-
queuco has been that, through their
moving about, many persons have been
counted twice, while others have NOT
ben counted at all. The annual mi
r.ati9ns during the last twenty years,
from north to south AMI from cast 90
west. have been a source Of cons 3ovab.e
orror. So q SO, has the haNi, of going
into the country in the Summer. Places
tAat in December contain tNo or three
I hundred inhabitants, mav in Angus,
/ have many thousands. bu,, at best, il
is next to impossible c".ire.y 81 avoid
duplication. Ih' place Whore p man
/ belongs is one Of tda most dill a- items
Tire enumeration, have to d.0' with.
. 1l. census macua- !, not Gt,o' ID
. do work requiring uier o.scr.aHat- 'A.
/ Where the WORK ss.roa over ~ 'lI{
/ % ,.He rs ,ire months the most c9m. 81
Mrn0e muts w1ull la.. 10 rr.v.:t'rror
when SO many opportunities are otraj
by tLe rapidly increasing Summer m.-
-,ation. In the summer p.cPio icav"
the South 10y hundreds Of tAonsaals,
while cities all over the country aye at
tina. seasonyery inadaqua yrepre-eutcd
The increase IN age between June Is
and the time the enumcrat comes
around is Theoretically unimportant, as
none are taken who are bonn after the
LIST but the law OF 1870 required the
date or birth to be taken, ana eliminated
even that error, which in the aggregate
amounted to many thousands and CON
stituted a distinct blemish in making
comparisons with other censuses erron-
neous. The rapid count also eliminates
error from deaths as well as births after
the day from which the census dates.
son what plan are the cuumcrating
districts determined z
That is another distinctive feature OF
Importance in the present census Those
! l,- = la,