Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1880-05-28
How Enrland Fakes Her Census.

now Eng 1hnO t1Aos HcI OoASuss
: In Great Britain d ceiistis has been
taken every ten years since 1901, and
the system is now one Of the most per-
feet IN existence. Until near the close
of the last century there was no real
method, and all previous destinations OF
the population Of the United Kingdom
were mere guess work. It scents the
more strange that such should have
been the fact; considering that, in the
American colonies, entimerahons Of the
population had often been made by or
der Of the home Government. In 1850
q beginning was made in Scotland by
rJohn Sinclair, who, through his per
sonal efforts in enlisting The cooperation
Of all the clergymen of the Establishde
Church, collected returns which were of
great value, although necessarily incom;:
plete. After seven years he completed
his compilations, and published the re:
suits in twenty-onei volumes, probably
the greatest statistical work ever Under
taken and carried through by one p1i-
vate enterprise. Under the system
adopted in 1851 the system IN Great
Britain is now taken in one day, the 31st
of March. In 1851 3O,610 entlmerators
were appointed I'M England and Wales
by, the 2, 100 district Registrars in thoss
countries, each enumeration having
distinctly defined district assigned to
him. In Scotland the thirty two Sher-
ifs appointed the temporary Registrars
generally parish schoolmasters and
8, 100 enrmerators: For the smaller
islands the Government appointed 257
enumerators, and in ireland the censts
was taken by the constabulary. Some
days before the census day printed
schedules were delivered at every
these were printed IN Welsh. fot
the benefit Of the lower classes. These
schedules contained questions about
the name, relation to the head of the
family, condition, age, sex, occupation,
and birth place of every person IN Great
Britain, and also to the number of deaf,
dumb and blind: Measures we're taken
to secure accurately the names OF night
laborers, persons out of the country,
travellers, seamen; soldiers, etc. These
schedules were all filed up in the night
Of March 30-31, and We're taken up at an
early hour on March 81, the collector
filling UP the parts that had been left
blank through their negligence or In
ability: All unoccupied houses and
buildings in course of construction were
also noted: The floating population
persons who spent the night in boats
and barges, in barns, sheds, etc., were
required to be estimated as nearly as
possible. The enumerators we're al
lowed one week to make their returns in,
all transcribed, and the Summaries and
estimates completed to detailed instruc-
tons: The district Registrars had to
complete their revision of the returns of
their subordinates in fortnight, paying
particular attention to nine specially de-
fined points. These revised returns
were again revised by the Superintend
ent Registrars, and then transmitted to
the Census Office. The census was the
most successful, In quickness and accu-
racy, accomplished IN any country up to
that time, and the same system has been
pursued, with little variation, ever since.
The digestion of the census reports by
the central authorities is conducted
most thoroughly, and the compilations
are of the greatest value to statisticians
and economists. The British system
served as. a model for many other
countries, where the census is now ia
ken in one day by means of printed
! schedules.