Morning journal and courier., 1880-06-04
The Census Taking.


 bang and vowed to gracious that when the
 next census time came around he would be
 among the missing as far as applying for ! position was concerned. f'Why,'' said he, stat house after house had to sit down and explain to the good wife and mother that I was sworn officer of the United States Gov ! ernment, that would under no eircumstan- ces reveal the information received; that was not seeking to entrap people into lunatic asylums or State prison; that had wife and | children myself and was responsible to the Mayor and police, in short that I must have my questions answered. It was like pulling | laws require us to gather great deal of in ! formation which by some is misunderstood. With all the dispatch could use it was slow getting over the ground, and I don't see how we are going to cover our allotted territory ! in twelve days. To be sure this extreme \ difficulty of getting information is the excep Ftion and not the rule, but once in awhile we | strike a spot that pans out hard. Much good | nature is often exhibited, however, and bright spots appear among the dark. We I find it especially so at tenement house or ! two family house, where, as soon as we have broken the ice with the first family, the rest ! come easy. They assist us by following us \ to the bannisters and shouting Come down, here's the census man, and by filling in the interim between questions with hilarious re- marks and small talk generally. At many residences on the other hand we find ques- tions answered as readily and quickly as we can ask, and we are detained but & short | time.
 Those who take the census in the country will generally have harder work than those | in cities and villages. Besides having fur ther to travel they have no less than 100 questions to put to every farmer in addition | to those above enumerated, as follows:
 Name of the person who conducts the farm, owner, rents for fixed money rental, rents for shares of products acres of land titled, \ acres of meadow, pastures, orchards and vineyards acres of woodland and forest, acres of other unimproved land, value of \ farm, including fences and buildings, value ! of farming implements and machinery, value ! of live stock, cost of building and repairing | fences in 1879, cost of fertilizers purchased l in 1879, amount paid for wages for farm | labor during 1S79 including value of board, weeks of hired labor in 1879 upon farm, in \ cluding housework estimated value of all | lands mown in 1879, acres of grass land not | mown in 1879, tons of hay harvested m 1 1879, bushels of clover-seed harvested in | 1879, bushels of grass-seed harvested in | 1879, horses of all ages on hand June 1, 1880, mules and asses of all ages on hand June 1, ! working oxen on hand June 1, milch COWS on | hand June 1, other cattle on hand June 1,
 number of cattle dropped in census year, number of cattle of all ages purchased in l 1879, number of cattle of all ages sold living | in 1979 number of cattle of all ages slaugh- | tered in 1S79 number of cattle of all ages 1 died, strayed and stolen and not recovered in | 1879, gallons of milk sold or sent to butter ' and cheese factories in 1879, pounds of butter made on the farm in 1879, pounds of cheese made on the farm in 1879, number of sheep on hand June 1, 18SO lambs dropped in 1879, ! sheep and lambs purchased in 1879, sheep and ! lambs sold living in 1879, sheep and lambs [ slaughtered in 1879, sheep and lambs killed \ by dogs in 1879, sheep and lambs died of dis | ease in 1879, sheep and lambs died of stress of weather in 1879, heeces shorn and to be l shorn, spring of 1880, pounds weight of feeces 1 shorn and to be shorn, spring of 1880, num- ! Der of swine on hand June 1, barn yard poultry on hand June 1, exclusive of spring | matching, other poultry on hand June 1, I elusive of spring matching, eggs produced in l 1879, acres of barley in 1879, bushels of bar ley in 1979 acres of buckwheat in 1879, bush [ els of buckwheat in 1879, acres of Indian corn ! of oats in 1879, bushels of oats in 1879, acres 1 of rye in 1879, bushels of rye in 1879, acres of wheat in 1879 bushels of wheat in 1879, 1 bushels of Canada peas in 1879, bushels of 1 beans in 1879, acres of flax in 1879, bushels | of flax, seed in 1879 tons of straw in 1879, pounds of fibre in 1879, acres of hemp, | tons of hemp, acres of sorghum crop ] in 1879, pounds of sorghum sugar in 1879, gallons of sorghum molasses in 1879, pounds of maple sugar in 1879, gallons of maple molasses in 1879, acres of broom corn in 1879 pounds broom corn in 1879, acres of | hops in 1879, pounds hops in 1879, acres Irish potatoes in 1879, bushels Irish potatoes l in 1879, acres sweet potatoes in 1879, bushels | sweet potatoes in 1879, acres tobacco in 1879, pounds tobacco in 1879, acres apples trees in ! 1879, bearing apple trees in 1879, bushels apples in 1879, acres peach trees in 1879, | bearing peach trees in 1879, bushels peaches | in 1979 total dollars value of orchard prod ucts of all kinds sold or consumed in 1879, ! number of acres of nurseries in 1879, value | of produce of nurseries sold in 1879, acres | of vineyards in 1879, pounds of grapes sold in 1979 gallons of wine made in 1879, value of produce cold from market gardens 1 in 1879, pounds bees honey in 1879 pounds
 beeswax in 1879, cords of wood cut in 1879, l and value of all forest productions sold or 1 consumed in 1979."
 1 Some may think these questions useless
 and vexatious but these should bear in mind | that correct answers to them will be for the general good and no ones hurt, and that they are not nearly as searching and exasper | ating as those asked in the last State census. It will be great assistance to the enume era l tors if all heads of families will at once write ! out and leave at their houses replies to the 1 interrogatories, or at least such of them as ! those at home cannot promptly and acc IL
 rately answer. Where any one lives is con-
 sidered a house, and family is any number | of persons with common table. hotel or an asylum is reckoned one family but in | flats and tenement houses there are many families as separate tables.
 Yesterdays Bridgeport Farmer says: The census enumerators in this city have now be- | come pretty well versed in the details of their | work and are making excellent progress Su- pervisor Disbrow thinks they will finish
 within the allotted twelve days. They re- port to him every evening 8 summary of the Statistics collected during the day, and at 1 the same time frequently get his con struction of doubtful points in their directions. Those in the district outside
 of Bridgeport send in their returns by ! mail, and often accompany them with letters,
 asking instructions regarding the official in | structions. Between his correspondence | with the inquiring enumerators and his cor
 respondence with Washington, Supervisor | Disbrow is a very busy man. with 160 \ men pouring in questions upon me" said he | this morning, q am like the small boy on
  hay to him." Some of the questions asked | are rather curious. One enumerator, for in stance, wanted to know if man who was partly blind and wore spectacles should be l put down a blind man. Another wanted | to know if a man who was hard of hearing | should be entered as deaf, and another if
 man who received aid from the town came
 under the head of paupers. MT. Disbrow replied that person who could see at all wasn't blind, that one who could hear wasn't 1 deaf and that one who helped earn his own | support was not pauper The enumerators met with some annoyances and have some | vexatious experiences, but are usually treated l civilly and helpful1y. Only two cases have | been reported where parties refused to admit
 them or to answer their questions.
 Committee on Ordinances.
 | The Committee on Ordinances held a meet | ing yesterday afternoon
 A vote for clerk resulted in the choice of 1 Adolph Asher.
 1 On the petition of the Board Road Con- missioners for change in the ordinance re-