The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1890-07-30


Wss tina @ ansus Cssssuily ra,ssn
No one supposed thai the eensas would
show a very great boom in fke population
Of Somerset county. but It has I,een taken
for granted that the figures would show a
healthy growth Now that an unofficial
report Of the work Of the enumerators has
been made public, il would be waste OF
time 20 deny that there IS considerable dis
appointment over The figures given for some
OF the districts as well as the total for the
entire county, and it is question in the
minds Of some whether the work has every
where been done as cIeanly as it might have
| been.
| There is other data outside OF an actual
count upon which toIerably accurate guess
can be hazzarsied as 10 whether a commu-
nifty is gaining or losing in its population.
and when these tests are applied they do not
IN all cases bear out the figures given for the
census The heated contests that We have
In our Presidential elections are always cal
culated to bring out fall vote-and they do
every tirne-and when district shows an
that there has also been an increase in the
general population, and the Presidential vote
of 1885 shows a material increase over that
oflSso in nearly every district in the county
The returns Of the number of taxable inhab-
itanis made each year by the different as
SCISSORS afford another test; and while pos
sibly there might be some omissions, there
is very little danger of any Of them being
padded And when the election returns
and the returns Of the assessors both show
an increase, il is safe TO assume that the CEN
sus figures also should show a correspond
ing increase. Do they?
Some of the districts do show gains, which
if even nearly maintained all over the conn-
ty would have carried it beyond the forty
thousand mark, with something to spare
But others show only very small increase
and some Of them an actual loss. As an
example, take stonycreek township. The |
vote Of 1888 shows an increase over that of |
1880 of s5 votes
In the latter year the census showed i've
inhabitants for each vote in Stonycreek |
township, and at this rate the increase in
population in lsss should already have /
reached 400. But as the census in 1890 shows
an increase of only 81 since 1850. it would |
look as though there had been a general ex-
odus from the State Of Stonycreek since
1880.
But what have the assessors to say about
this matter Well, comparing the assessmen
of December 1850 with that of December SO
the latter return shows gain Of Il in the
number of male taxables showing that the
increase was still there at that date. and
moreover that 81 ofihis gain was among the
freeholders, who are usually men of families
The hegira must have taken place within |
the last six moRths
Allegheny ard New Baltimore in 1888 |
had increased their vote As. The assessment |
in December 1850 shows an increase of as in
the number of male taxahles, and which |
would indicate gain of about 200 in the |
population. Yet the census figures. if we |
have them correct, show loss of $50 as
compared with 1880 and there are other dis
tricts in which comparison would show /
the same results
ogle and Paint show an increase OF 20 in
their vote of So over that of 1880. The cen
sus figures show gain Of 80 n the popula-
ton gain somewhat in keSPing with the
voting population.
The seeming shortage that we see in the
other two districts may be explained on
some other theory than that the enumerators
seem to have missed good many people
But we would like 10 see the explanation
w.
SOMERSET, Pa. July %. 1880.