National Republican., 1883-01-31
SOAP And THE CENSUS.
These and Other Important Matters Engage tho
Attention Of Congress.
The Views Of Various Senators on Gen.
Walkers Work.
TIE Additional Appropriation Voted and the Tariff
Further Considered.
A Late session-sonp, Castor OIL, and
Other Commodities Considered.
THE SENATE.

lend army tents to the directors of the COM
petitive drill at Nashville.
Mr.. Kellogg introduced bill to authorize
tho secretary of the navy TO transfer to the
secretary of the interior, for entry and sale,
all reserved lands not needed for naval pur-
poses.
Mr.. Sewell, from the committee on military
affairs, reported favorably the house bill to
amend the statutes at large relating to con-
tracts under the War department..
Mr.. Williams, from the committee on rail-
ways, reported favorably substitute for the
senate bill to authorize the Southern Pacific
and other railways to unite to form a contin-
nous line of road between the tidal waters of
the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans.
Mr. Grover, from the committee on military
affairs, reported favorably the bill to authorize
the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway company
TO extend it's road on to the United States
lands at Fortress Monroe.
Mr.. Blair presented the memorial of the
students of the Hampton institute, Indian
and colored, for appropriations for the educa-
tion of their respective races
Mr.. Garland said he had intended to ask
the consideration of the bill in relation to the
proposed cotton centennial exposition in 1884,
but he would give way to the senator from
Maine (NIr. Hale) who desired to have the
joint resolution acted upon providing for
continuing the work of
THE CENSUS.
Mr.. Hale then called up the joint resolu-
tion appropriating, as amended 100000 for
the continuation of the work until the end of
the present fiscal year.
Mr. ingalls, remarked that impressions not
favorable to the value or the variety of the
census work had gained general circulation.
He believed IL had been projected upon a plan
far too extensive for practical purposes and
from cursory examination of the titles of
some of the proposed volumes he was satisfied
that they ought not to be published as part of
the census, though they might be worth pre-
serving with the Franklin archives and the
Rochambeau papers, for the benefit of future
historians and antiquar ians. He hoped that
careful investigation would be made to as
certain whether any further expense ought to
be incurred for the printing of this vast mass
of manuscript. The entire work was to con-
tain some 10000 pages, and he believed that
large proportion of this would prove not to be
proper census material.
Mr.. Hale said he had shared the feeling of
which Mr.. ingalls, spoke in relation to the
work of the census office, and had been restive
under the necessity of again and again call
ing for appropriations to finish the work, and
when the subject of the last deficiency was
referred to the committee on the census (of
which Mr. Hale is chairman), that committee
made an investigation, and obtained from the
acting superintendent a complete statement of
the present condition of the work, and a state
ment in detail of the amount of money that
would be required to complete each volume
Further, finding that the superintendent, Col.
Seaton, was SO i'll that he could not be de-
pended upon to continue the supervision and
realizing that something must be done in an
authorized way to satisfy congress and the
public that the work was to be brought
speedily to an end for n comparatively small
sum, the committee had suggested to the sec.
retary Of the interior TO send for Gen. Francis
A. Walker, the father of the system under
which fha Wi q fol lraO nd Ea, Wall
has responded to the call, and would continue
in charge Of the work until it should be COM
pleted.
Mr.. Hale read q letter from Gen. Walker,
stating that he had found the work much
further advanced than he had Anticipated,
and that on or before the twentieth of Febru-
ary there would be in the hands of the gov
ernment printer the three volumes ON popula-
tion, manufactures, and agriculture, respect
lively, and also some 1,500 pages of quarto of
solid statiscal tables half of them relating to
railways, telegraphs, and the steam marine of
the United States, and the other half to the
mortality of our people. Inanother letter,
written to Secretary Teller, Gen. Walker
promised to continue the work in cordial CO.
operation with the present superintendent
and that his services would be rendered with
out any wish for compensation. As to the
suggestion of the senator from Kansas Mr.
1ngalls), Mr.. Hale did not believe that it
would be good economy now to reject or de-
cline to print any of the work which had cost
so much, and all of which would be valuable
In some degree. Tho committee recon-
mended now an appropriation of 100000 to
continue the work until the end of the fiscal
year, but another appropriation would proba-
bly, be required to complete the work.
Mr.. salisbury inquired the amount of the
appropriations heretofore made for the census
work.
Mr.. Hale replied that it was $l,572, 600.
tlA IL lnI I,n, IL, A.
same plan as the ninth census the increase of
population and wealth would have brought
up the cost of the tenth census to about these
hgures but this last census embraced not
only the matters contained in the ninth, but
also many new ones.
Mr.. ingalls, did not complain of the aggre-
gate cost of the work. He understood that
the per capita cost of the ninth census was
about nine cents, and that of the last census
would be only fraction higher. The most
serious criticism upon the work was not that
1T cost too much or that the statistics were too
comprehensive; it was that they were not
trustworthy. 1t was averred with great
deflnitencss that they had been "doctored," !"
and that discrepancies occurring by reason of
the minute subdivision of the work had
been restricted" by processes of eonga-
tion and amputation respectively, as one
or the other would best serve. 1t
was alleged, for instance that when 10 an
peared from the agricultural statistics that
there was good deal more flour than there
was wheat from which it could have been
manufactured the discrepancy was summarily
corrected by cutting off certain aggregate
number of pounds of flour and distributing
that diminution arbitrarily among the states
manufacturing flour. So il was stated that
the forestry and lumber statistics (stll in
manuscript were grossly defective, and that
instead Of the supply being as nearly ex-
hausted as the figures would show, the fact
was that one tract in Minnesota was omitted
entirely, and that from another tract reported
TO contain seventy-fve billion feet more than
four hundred billion feet have been sold since
the census was taken. He did not mention
these statements to assert their truth but to
call the attention of the superintendent of the
census to them to let it be known that in the
opinion of the senate the duty of the superin-
tendent of such a work was not merely to SUI
perntend the publication Of the bulletins
that had been prepared, but first to ascertain
whether they are worthy of being published
Mr.. Hale said that the allegations men
TONED by Mr.. ingalls, had been brought to
the attention of the census committee but
not in any definite or responsible way There
might be something in them or there might
not.
Mr.. ingalls, said he didnot intend to permit
himself to be made an agent for the diffusion
OF unreliable or detrimental aspersions upon
any public officer, but the statements relating
to the forestry statistics had been made in a
journal devoted to the interests of that
branch of industry.
Mr., Hale said that Gen. Walkers attention
lnA To n A.