The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1890-06-22
ORIGIN OF The CENSUS
Records Of EnumeFations Reaching Back
to The P~atflarchal Age.
How the Citizens OF Greece We're
Counted Under the Direction
of Solon-Moses Took
the First One.

The most ancient statistical record Of
the kind. says the indianapolis Journal, is
that OF Moses in the wilderness. That
enumeration must have been exceedingly
simple, as shownb by the first chapter of
the fourth book OF the Pentateuch. Take
ye, says this account, 1.-THE sum Of all the
congregations Of the children Of Israel
after their families. by the house of their
fathers, with the number of their names,
every male by their polls, from twenty
years old and upward, all that are able to
go forth To war in Israel; thou and Aaron
shall number them by their armies"
The names of the chief
tors are also given, those who
assisted Moses and Aaron be-
ing 1.-THE renowned Of the congregation,
princes of the tribes of their fathers.
heads Of thousands in Israeli Then the
enumerators assembled all the congre-
CATION together on the first day of the
second month, and they declared their
pedigrees after their families by the house
OF their Fathers. according to the number
OF the names, from ~ years and upward.
by the polls" This enumeration must
have been an affair soon over. requiring
probably not more than a days time, be-
ing merely n counting of the heads of the
lighting men. There was no counting of
women, or children, or old men. or erin
piles, and ''the Levites were not numbered
among them" Those who did stand up
to be counted numbered6 03, $50.
There u record OF n census in China as
Tar back as the year 542 Il. C., and of one
~ Japan the last century before Christ.
Under the constitution of Scion the citi-
kens OF Athens were divided and regis
tered into four classes according to the
amount of their taxable property or in
come. The Koran census was burdeneti
with more statistics h any Of these
glmnIsa taana ...
Scrvius Julius, sixth King of Rome, and
was an ALTAR of much solemnity. IL Is
not at all likely any man or woman was
found sufficiently lost To- fear of
consequences To make faces AT census
officers, or withhold desired informa-
ton. Every citizen had To appear upon
the Campus Martius and declare upon
oath his names and dwelling and the value
OF his property under penalty of having
his goods conflscated and of being
sconrged and sold for a slave. There was
no trouble about having such "A census
full and complete. Ii had the benefit, too,
OF making the people counted anxious 10
IND the census man, while he was not
put to the labor of going from house 10
house To ind the people. Augustus Caesar,
had the population numbered, greatly en-
larged the scope Of the census and inn
proved the method of taking il.
The census Of modern Europe is com
paratively recent. No exact popular
cnumerations were made i'm the severn
tcenth century. but in the eighteenth
great progress was made in the progress
OF statistical science. In Russia the TAX
ing OF the census in "A crude way began i'm
l.IUo. aud In l1lH. undo Peter the Great,
though Improvement had been made
females were omitted from the
ton. Census taking in Prussia dates
from the time OF Frederick William III.
The Prussian census Of to-day is very ex-
act aud complete. IL is taken by civil
officers in one day.. by means Of printed
tria was taken in lisa. and for lO years
was taken each three years for military
purposes only. In Sweden the science of
statistics has been particularly cultivated.
and Belgium ranks among the first ma
tons of the world in completeness of its
national statistics. In Italy the returns
OF this character are very complete, the
rangc OF inquiries having been greatly
extended. The movement of the popula-
ton u determined from civil registers
kept by the municipal authorities. In
turkey enumeration is imperfect, the
chief object of taking il being 10 provided
basis Tor taxation and CONSUMPTION. In
France the first census of which re ,oris
are cxtant was taken in 100. OF course,
as ~ everything pertaining To statistics.
work OF that kind is thorough in
France. The first census of Great Britain
was taken In lSl. and embraced the sex,
but not the Y Of all subjects. The fam
lilies and occupations were classified. so as
To exhibit the number employed i'm agri-
culture, IN trade. and manufactures or
handicrafts, and those not comprised In
the classes. Blanks or h~ouseholders'
schedules are now left all over the king
dom by an army of enumerators, and these
are required To be filed up on the night OF
April ?, and are collected 10y the ennmer-
ators the following day. The police assist
in enumerating d houseless population.
The army and navy are returned by the
naval and military authorities.