St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1884-07-26

begins to be possible to realize the
magnitude of the undertaking. 1t is
the most detailed and complete census
ever taken of any nation, and it is Il
census of the largest nation of which 4
census has ever been taken. Therefore.
il is the greatest census ever complied
in the world.
The public is already pretty familiar
with the compendium" of the census.
which has been published some time,
and is the volume which will be of most
general use. There were printed 125. 900
copies of it, Il huge octave volume
seven or eight inches thick. It contains
statistical tables of population, labor.
products, illiteracy. etc, in great
minuteneSs of detail
The remainder of the census reports
the work can be done by the public
printer. They are in large guarto vol
umes of from 900 to 1000 pages each,
and they contain the special reports
prepared by expert statisticians and in
vestigators in the various departments.
The first of these, on population. the
second, on manufacture, the third. on
agriculture, the fourth, on railroad
transportation, steam navigation, tele-
graphs, etc. and tn: fifth and sixth on
cotton, have all been issued in editions
of $4,000 to 2o.o0J each. The seventh
volume is ready for distribution. and is
of more interest, Just now, at least,
than any of its predecessors. 1t treats
of taxation, the national debt and other
public debts, and the wealth of the
nation in general. The eighth volume,
on forestry and the lumber interests,
will take more time for production,
owing to the large number of illustra-
lions that are being prepared for it.
| The order of subjects for the remain
| ing volumes has not yet been fully
| determined. 1t is probable. however,
that the ninth and tenth volumes will
be filled with miscellaneous reports.
Among them will be the very elaborate
census of shpbuilding prepared By Mr..
Henry Hall, of the New York Tribune,
the report on newspapers and publish
lighthouses. by Mr.. North of the Utica
Herald, and the report on coke manu-
features and wages. prepared by Mr..
Weeks. Of Pittsburgh, editor of the Iron
igc. Other reports in these volumes
will be on petroleum and its products.
quarries and building stone, the seal
fisheries and NJ. Petroff"s report and
romantic story of adventure in Alaska.
These subjects may be found SO bulky
as to occupy three volumes instead of
tive.
A subsequent volume will be devoted
to the life insurance report of Mr.. Kyle,
and an exhaustive report on fire insur-
ance by an officer of the National Board
of Underwriters. Col. George f. War
ing OF Newport, r. l.. the well known
civil and sanitary engineer, has pre-
pared report on the social conditions
of nearly three hundred of the princi-
pal cities Of the country. 1t covers
their moral condition, sanitary condi-
ton. charitable and female institutions,
police and fire departments, societies
for prevention of cruelty. suppression of
vice, etc, and many other topics. Two.
if not three volumes will be required
for these reports, which constitute prac-
tically 4 municipal social encyclopedia
of the nation.
The water power reports of Prof.
Trowbridge will probably fill another
volume, and another will be devoted to
the gas. ice and water supplies of cities. |
Clarence Kings report on precious |
metals. Raphael Prmpelfy's on base |
metals and Elliot Lords on mining !
laws and social conditions at-iTaiTine
Districts will be grouped in two vol |
umes or Possibly three. Industrial i'm
n.!ements will be in the topics of a vol |
ume with nearly a thousand nlustra-
IONS
In one volume will be bound reports
on sheep and wool, hogs and fruit cul-
ture. Within the compass of two OF
three more. will be reports on pumps
and pumping engines, churches.
libraries. museums, schools and col
leges, fisheries (by Prof Goode),
oysters (by Ernest Ingersoll, of Con
necticut). and paupers, idiots and
criminals. Fittingly, the series will
end with reports, in one o. two volumes.
on vital statistics and mortality, bv
Surgeon Billings, U. S. A. There will
thus be probably twenty-four volumes
in all, besides the compendium"
The work of preparing the reports
for publication is by no means yet CON-
plete. Indeed, it will probably require
a year and half of hard work yet,
should there happen nothing to delay
it. The work of printing and binding
goes on as rapidly as possible, and if all
the reports were prepared in time and
there were no extraordinary delay, the
eighteen volumes could be
issued in about two years or two
years and a quarter. This seems
like long time to wait, until
1886 and 1887 for the complete
census of 1880. But it is rather more
rapid than the issue of the Encyclopedias
which is work of far less
technical magnitude than this. On
the census reports, not in
,luding the ''compendium," which is
IS big book almost as "Webster's ,
Unabridged Dictionary" will consist |,
# twenty-four volumes, averaging .
400 pages each, or about $4,000 :
loosely printed pages. - Washington ;