New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1888-07-23
THE CENTENARY CENSUS.


the bill making an appropriation Tor 'he CEN
tenary census, as that of 1890 VIII be. Inc
Senate should not fail to pass the bill before
adjournment the time is none 100 long lor
the preliminary work which must precede the
actual enumeration. Few persons have any
conception how vast an undertaking a census
is and what an enormous amount OF work IS
necessary in advance which the public never
gets a glimpse Of. 1t is probably true also
that few realize how pre-eminent the United
States has become in this important branch OF
Government work. One instance Will sniflce
Belgium is the only European country, as Mr.
Cox stated in his speech the other day, that has
endeavorcd to collect through its census the
statistics of industry. It's first effort TO 90
this. in 1913. was considered unsuccessful, al
though the facts were published. secopu
attempt twenty years later was such failure
that the results were never pubhshed. "A thiru
effort was made in 1880 and the volumes COW
ering the industrial statistics have just APP
peared There has been considerable COM
plaint regarding the delay in the publication
of some of the results of our last census, but
this shows that the more important branches OF
the work were disposed Of much more eXpe-
ditiously than in other countries The statistics
of population and Of industries in the census
of 1880 were issued very promptly. The real
delay has been in publishing the reports OF
some of the special agents. That census was
n great work. and attracted the admiration OF
statistcians throughout the world. The 1act
that Mr.. SeatOn, who was in charge, became IN
sane under the pressure of the work is melan-
choly proof Of the exacting nature OF It, One
of these days we snail probably have perma-
nent bureau devoted to this subject, and then
it can be handled more scientifically and with
less Of the strain of hasty preparation.
The Eleventh Census need not be so eX-
tensve as the last, because so many subjects
were exhaustivey presented then. For eX-
ample, Professor Sargents splendid report on
the forest trees of America is permanent III Its
character and need not be repeated. The same
is true of the reports on the watcr-pOwer OF the
United States, transportation, the production
Of petroleum. wages, prices Of commodities
etc. Other subjects which were specially treat
ed in the last census arc now under the charge
of various bureaus. The Department Of Labor
covers wages, strikes etc, and the Geological
Survey various scientific features of the min
ing industry. Only seven publications are
provided for, and the expense is limited to
Sc, 600, 600, which, considering the increase in
population, will not be relatively greater than
that of the last census. One important feature
of the new census is to be an effort to ascer-
tain the Indebtedness not merely of States and
municipalities but Also approximately, of the
people. Some of the States have already en-
deavored to do this. Michigan, for example,
succeeded in obtaining the statistics Of mort
cages upon nearly six-tenths Of the farms Of
the State. 1t will not be possible of course
to make an exact enumeration of all mortgages
on real estate and it seems TO be well under
stood that any effort to deal with this subject
in an inquistorial manner would arouse pop
ular prejudice. and so damage the entire CEN
sus; but no doubt much valuable information
can he obtained upon which careful estimates
may be based, and thus much light will be
thrown upon a subject of vital interest
Mr.. Cox made some striking deductions from
the statistical charts Of Mr.. Edward Atkinson,
which were presented to the House and printed
in "The Record" They show a wonderful
national development and a still more wonder
full field for It, which is still untouched In
the fifteen years from 1870 to 1885 our pop
ulation increased 4S per cent, the production
of grain So per cent. consumption of cotton SO
per cent, consumption of wool SO per cent,
production of hay 90 per cent, production Of
cotton / O9 per cent, production Of iron 1i3
per cent, and miles Of railroad 1913 per cent.
Yet the land in actual use at this time for grow
ing maize, wheat hay, oats and cotton en-
braces only 212 500 square mes-but a little
more than the area Of Texas. The cotton
factories of the world consume annually
~ 900, 600 bales Of cotton of American weight.
Allowing one bale to the acre, the worlds sup
ply Of cotton could be grown on less than
200 square miles, or per cent of the area
of Texas. The imagination faters in the
effort to conceive what our Twenty-frst Census
will show