Mohave County miner., 1889-08-17
WASHINGTON LETTER.
Correspondence OF the MINER.

AhO Soboun Vi AofV "oo s&nOh ~ Sss~
United States marshals under the direc-
ton Of superintendent, who worked un-
der the Secretary Of the Interior. As the
marshals we're employees Of the depart
ment OF justice, the confusion was very
great. The act Of 1879, which governed
the census taking Of 1880, and will with
few notifications apply to that Of 1890,
was properly the work Of James A. Gar
field, Representative Cox, General Fran
els A. Walker and Eugene Hale. 1t pro-
vides for the centering Of the work at
Washington and the enumerations by
persons who are solely appointed, except
the supervisors, by the superintendent Of
the census.
The house to house count will COM
mence on the first Monday Of next June,
and will involve inquiries as to age, sex,
nativity, race, physical condition, and a
dozen other things. Forty thousand emu
merations will be in the ITS census dis.
tricts and for each of these districts the
President will in February appoint su-
peryisor, who will receive 1925 per month
and In addition thereto $1.00 for every
900 OF the population in thickly settled
districts and $1.i0 in others. The emu
merations will be paid two cents for every
inhabitaRt, birth and death reported |;
twenty cents for each farm and thirty
cents for each factory recorded, and for
every veteran Of the late war five cents.
In addition to these outdoor employees
there are many special agencies which
are very coy places for the friends Of
statesmen, involving little labor and no
expenditure OF ideas, the duties being
merely TO go 10 manufacturing establish
ments In cities and ask pointed questions
and put down the answers.
The amount Of information obtained
and the number OF subjects treated In our
census are amazing, Every field is
covered. Great Britain sends police
man aroaad in the evening to each house
with printed slip asking information
and in the morning he carries Ii away,
and the thing 10 done. But in this eoaa-
try census taking il invoicing everything
on hand. The work Of the tenth census
was embraced in twenty-five volumes,
and sotae OF thDse were not issued until
1887. Tl,e work bid lair 20 iast forever.
There was egen volume devoted 10 for
est trees. and two volumes OF long-windeh
essays Oh social subjects. Itwas damp
\ ing place for waste information. The
new census will attetnp. to be less am.
bitions, though the projectors Of the ecu
sus Of 1880 made the same promise.
saw in the corridor Of Superintendent
Porter's offices On Saturday the veritaf.6
original census office clerk. at least he
was so considered when the census Of
1 1870 was made, and would not be sur
prised 70 learn that specimens Of his
youthful penmanship are TO be found in
the musty records OF the census OF l79o,
still preserved in the Interior department.
In 1870 he was held in Office by Henry
Wilson, and in 1880 by Senator Hoar.
lie was promptly discharged at about tho
first general reduction OF clerks after the
taking Of each census, and was never seen
until the next one was announced. On
Saturday he seemed as chipper as ever,
asked me for some chewing tobacco and
was surprised to learn that did no, use
the stuff, informed me mysterionsly that
he had Porter down fine, borrowed"
ten cents. and drifted away poor old
wreck
When the man 9ho wants 10 know
goes TO the Weather Bureau TO find out,
and succeeds in interruptiny the inter
minable fight that is in progress between
the army officers and the civil alleged ex.
perts OF that Office, aong enough 10 get an
interview, he finds that he has had his
labor !or his pains. The other day |
asked one OF Professor Cleveland Able's
assistants for his theory as to the causes
Of the heavy rains since April lst. II
will give you the figures" he gracefully
replied, and his face grew serious, "of
course, the occasion for every phenomenal
precipitation is not certainly known, yet
may say in general Of this case al least,
that these recent precipitations OF rain
have been due to the fact that the con-
ditions for such rainfalls have been as
tonishingly favorable" And then the
poor blunderer who IL paid $500 for be-
Jogging himself and losing himself up
thoroughfares Of words, beaned upon me
in delighted surprise at his own wisdom.
So, in other words regardless Of expense,
the Signal Service announces that II has
rained more than usual because il has
been easier for il TO fall than it was, say :,
last year. You can procure all the fig
ures you want at the Signal office, rainfall,
temperature, barometer readings, any
thing but theories for forecasting the
weather or svading Galamitiss from
storms. =
The Signal Service may be Of some
practical value il ii is ever taken out Of
the control OF the army. II goes without
saying that the army is necessary evil
and whatever can be taken from its
charge and put on sound business basis
had better be taken at once. ...& =. =.
~.
Il HuehIen's Apnbea ,aive.