, 1880-07-25

~A@N~A*AA@N
The progress OF the American people i
not moredenoted by the growth III population
and increase in business, as indicated by tht
succession Of decennial censuses, than it i:
BY the improvement in the methods pursued
and the results achieved in these enumera
tions. The constitutional provision for ar
enumeration Of the population once every
ten years was originally designed to afford
an equitable basis for the appoitionment Of
| representation in Congress and Of direct
taxes in case any should be levied. But ever
since the first enumeration was made, and
especially since 1910, the work of taking the
census has had an enlarged scope. "A writer
in the North An,crtcd1l Rcuiew for August
traces some of the notable improvements in
the present law governing the census Of 1850.
AS early as the beginning OF the present
century studious men dlscerned' that: the
periodical *enuinerarion might be made to
yield important: information is to the social
and Industrial status iiof the, country. and
Congress was memorialized more than once
to extend the work to that end. Efforts were
made In all the enumerations after the first
one to enlarge the scope of the census, but it
was not till 1S4o, we are informed, 4" that any
reasonable measure of exactness was OBJ:
tanned" 1T was in 1s49 that the law was
passed which created the Office of Superin-
te'ldent Of the. Census, and made the social,
industrial, and civil statistics an integral part
of the work. 4. good idea OF the great prog
ress that has been made in this direction may
be found In the statement that the results of
the first census were compile d in a pamphlet
n r1nrr and n+n ,F =
while it required three Immense volumes and
an expenditure of s33oo,0o to present all
the information gathered In the demonstrating
Of 1870 FEE ''' Il - - -7$ -
The law Of 1850 is believed to be a vast im-'
provement in many respects upon that Of
1870, and it is confidently expected that the
census Of this year will yield information of
greater value to. POLITICAL economists, statis7
tlcians, sociologists, aud business men than
any previous inquiry has Afforded: Hereto
fore the execution Of the work was intrusted |
to the United, States ;Marshals, who, super:
vised it IN addition to their ordinary duties.
This recessftated d geographical diyisionfor |
the purposes Of enumeration corresponding |
to the judicial districts. The result was that in
certain sections the population was too dense, I
tA44N la OtAGA oECllUI1o u
details. Under the present system
the District Supervisors were appointed by
The President, the districts were mapped out
with, special reference to! the work in hand,
the enumerators were appointed without re-
gard to their partisan attachments, and there
was an elaborate and Thorough preparation
or covering the whole ground completely
md accurately. One of the requirements Of
Ills years work was that every enumerator
hould report daily by postal card the
mount Of work he had done to: both the
at Washington; and the
supervisor Of his. own district. This: pro
1slon Served at once as an incentive to ill-
ustry and as a check upon the enumerators
verywhere. Most Of the notifications in
be law were suggested by Gen. Walker, the
supervisor, OF the Census, whose previous
xperlence tand natural gift for this kind Of
'ork have made him peculiarly valuable
gent. :'::'"~ !, 80: :.;*.@. +. ): -, !
It remains to. be seen whether OF not too I
|uch has been undertaken to secure sta.
stIealS accuracy in the various subjects in
uded in the plan of enumeration. There is i
1e provision Of the law, however, which t
arrants confidence that the results will s
as complete and satisfactory as could be u
sslred. /: We refer to that change inthe sys- a
m which authorizes the Superintendent to i
ltndraw the schedules for manufacturing i
ld:social statistics from the ienu,nerators 81
the several subdivisions. ar1d iutruust fhe II
lection ofsuch statistics to special agents, "
Va1llng l : himself Of this authority the tt
lpee:r1nteendent +: &c has: appointed experts to =
-G nfH 49, Il. l