The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1880-06-09

What the Supervisors Report of the First
Day-I2c,O 900 Names Taken-A Young
Woman's Small Victory.
VI xu.-aa

What the Supervisors Report of the First
10000 Names Taken-A Young
/ Woman's Small Victory.
New York World, June B.
Supervisor of the Census Adams, at his
Office at No. 80 Liberty street. yesterday
ceived postal cards from all but about half a
dozen of the 6S1 census enumerators OF the
city, informing him how they had got on
with their first days work in this city.
These postal cards are especially provided
for the purpose, and at the close OF each days
! work each enumerator informs both the
I Superintendent of the Census at Washington
and Supervisor Adams how many hours he
spent at the work and how many names he
colIected-1ith remarks, in Mr.. Adams
case, if there be any 10 make. Thote
! returns for Tuesday show that about
120 600 names were taken in this city, aud
/ as the canvassers get two cents a name
a to.sl expense OF 50 400 was incurred by
the Government. The experiences 81 the
eBumerators was as var Gus ss possible. They
encountered very little determined oppos!
/ ton and point-bank refusal to afford infor-
nation, but in many cases detected an in
ciination to extract amusement from Uncle
! Sans great statistical effort by badgering his
enumeTator. Women generally impaired
4 the inform alton, and while they were as
| general rule careless In their recital OF the
\ facts called for by the schedule. they were
/ overwhelmingly profuse in points" for
which the United S atss had forgotten to
! provide blanks. The ten women enumers
! tors having posts along Fifth avenue had
/ not the easiest task after all. TIE o0uVen-
4 tioDal mo; at homs" was sent down
\ to them egain and again, and when
/ at last the mistress of the tou.e va d.scov-
! cred the chances were that she referred the
! enumeration TO the head of the household ct
/ his business place down town. SEEING q
] man or woman with what is apparently
1 book SCENTS portfolio under his arm, tbs
! wise servant often adopts the Fabian tactics
\ of unlocking the bell wire and letting him
or her ring till he or she goes away faint and
weary. There is one case OF an old man who
had gone into the task with enthusiasm, but
whom one days experience convinced that
the work Yves beyond his powers of patience
and who resigned. A younger man was ap-
pointed. One man laid mp with rbeuma-
tism, another with pneumonia, and third
with q broken leg, have been excused.
No case of improper conduct
by a canvasser has been reported. AS near
as Mr.. Adams could judge from the cases
reported, there were not more than dozen
where it will be necessary to employ the arm
| of the law To compel come reluctant or sulky
person to give information. One enun orator
came down to the office to ask whether a
'longshoreman was a laborer or not. lie
had put the 'longshoreman down as such,
aud wss threatened with a mobbiDg by an
| indignant praciicsr of the art, who n,isted
that slowing a ships cargo is skilled labor.
| The maiD.. trouble encountered is in getting
people to understand precisely that the work
is that of taking the census, and that the III
formation received Is not TO be used In any
way to harsss those who give it In one or
two Cas- es the c4nvassers write to Mr.. Adams
to say that people are afraid the information
would find it's way INTO the newspapers. The
proprietor of a Sixth avenue saloon told the
canvasser to go to reighboung region and
enforced the order by going to loosen dan
gerous dog The police Will attend to his
case, no doubt. In large tenements the en-
tire house forms itself into committee of
the whole and assists the enumerator-more
or less. In East Fourteenth street one can
vasser found almost every door OF large
tenement locked, and began nearly all of his
inquiries by way of the keyholes. What
is your age?" Is the second question OIL the
list 1t should be put last. and then the
enumeretor would have a better average
chance. One buxom woman gave her age as
thirty-three, and later on remarked that
her eldest son was twenty-four. When this
presumable discrepancy was pointed out to
her che refused to alter her statistics In any
particular. One canvasser got to house just
as the household goods were starting eway on
a cart from the door, and family moving
IN came along at the same moment he
wants TO know which is his family. In the
Twenty-first Assembly District graduate
OF the NOrIndl OOlleSe WhS hppOlniou Cdl
vasser and politician had the adjoining
election District. His recommendation GER
tilted that he had run" The District and
knew it If anybody did. The two found
themselves on Tuesday morning on the
same stoop, bent on the same errand. After
each had demonstrated to the other that the
other was wrong they came amicably down
to Supervisor Adams, and ii turned out that
the young woman was right The enumer-
ators in MacKerelville and among the shanty
population of the west side had hard lines.
1t was necessary to try every structure for
inhabitants, for the architectural canon that
an edIfice should indicate its purpose by Its
exterior does not hold here. A lumber
yard and even a park bench are
gaTded as houses by the enumerstor. Two
cases we're reported where wives did not
know the business of their husbands, and
many cases where they didn't know their
husbands ages. A family at No. 101 West
Forty-eighth street was especially com
planned OF as refusing names or admittaDce.
In many cases OF sickness in a family the
canvasser was invited to call again, which
he tried by persuasion to avoid, seeking to
get the information at his first visit La all
cases to-day where caDyassers are found to
have sent no caro- of progress at all 1t will be
inferred that they not at work, and "a
messenger will be sent to them. With fair
weather and at the rate of progress made, Ii
Is more than likely that the entire canvass
will be over we'll within the time allotted to
it. The recent heat, which has sent many
people of to the country, has upset the
progress Of the work somewhat, but the
percentage is very small. From all the in
formation he had received from the can
vasseIs, Supervisor Adams says that he finds
the trouble to come from two classes-the