National Republican., 1880-08-25
CENSUS OTREG ISrERED BoNDHoLD.
ERS.
A Tribute to Treasury bookkeeping.

Tribute to Treasury bookkeeping.
The democratic organ is so eager to 1rg
mud at the republican officials that it never
stops to consider that heretofore every effort
to crticise falsely has resulted In setting forth
the more plainly that auy change of public
servants would be loss to the country Pos
s'bly it has never given so good an opportun.
| ity TO prove the efficiency aud care which pre-.
| sldo ovOr the troussry department as In tho
paragraph printed yesterday IN regard to the
census Of bondholdcrs." 1t said;
The census clerks now engaged ottho treasury IN
| complrg statistics with reference 10 the amount
nhd holders of United States bonds outstanding,
nave brought to light matter ofinterest not gen.
orally known. There are records of the bonds but
kept in such shape that 10 discover an Individual
account entails tircsome delay and labor. The
treasurer can, upon short notice, furnish the total
amount oI bonds outstanding, but In individual
/ eSts purchases arc entered promiscously In the
record nud no index Is arranged 70 aid In finding
| them when desired. The census conpilers are re-
quirod - prepare their lists alphabetically and the
| lull address and amounts of bonds held are also
| ta6en in consequence of the badly KEEP. records,
| which contain millions upon millions OF bonds
disposed Of It may be readily perceived what an
unenyiable task Is before Them. II is believed
That this branch of the work will be considerably
iorrGd to.
Below Is the reply Of the census bureau,
| which would never have boen written if the
malicious falsher had not made the occasion :
The wealth, debt and taxation division of
| the tenth census began an investigation to as
certain the ownership of tho registered bonds
of tho United States, which aggregate nearly
| 81, ,l75, 900. This work is done by force
OF census clerks in q room In the treasury dc.
partment. BY the courtesy of the secretary of
the treasury the latest schedules of quarterly
| dividend of interest have been placed at the
| disposal of the superintendent of the tenth
census. Tho examination in progress
when completed will show where the
Indebtedness of the country Is owned ;
how much in each state aud territory,
how much in every city containing
more than 10000 inhabitants, and how much
in foreign countries. 1t will also show sen.
arately the amount held by banks, insurance
companies and other large corporations. An
interesting feature Of this report will he that
| 1t Will contain u statement Of tho number Of
| holders OF gwen amounts of bonds $780,
Sl,0GO, $4,000 etc, whatever tho amount may
| be; also the number of male and female hold.
ers respectively.
| 10 relieve any apprehension which might
otherwise be felt as to the secresy of the
treasury records, it may be stated that the
names of the holders arc not known oven to
the clerks engaged in the work, but only the
number and amount of each account. 1t Is
expected that the report, when published,
Will correct misapprehension quite current
namely, that the bulk of the debt is in tho
hands Of large bondholdcrs. The number of
persons who hold bonds in small amounts is
surprising.
Mr.. K. 2. Porter the special agent of this
department Of the tenth census, in charge, ex.
presses the greatest admiration for the per-
lection and accuracy of the treasury schedules
which are not even in manuscript, but are
printed to avoid any possible error in the
transmission of checks, through the mis-spoll-
ing of the name or address of any individual
to whom interest is due. The printed alpha
betical indexes to the ledgcrs containing the
individual accounts are curiosity, on account
Of their extent aud thoroughness. The in.
dividua accounts fill $50 volumes, yet in one
minute the clerk, who has them in charge can
tell whether any person whose name is given
owns any bonds Or not, aud how many and
what amount of bonds of each separate issue