The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1890-10-08
THE CALLS CALENDAR.
OCTOBER, 1890.
MORE CENSUS BLUNDEks.

1t is difficult TO realize that MI. POrter'S
returns Of the population OF this country are
correct Many people must have escaped
enumeration alt ngelher. They found, they
say, 1,2Oi0O2 people all told in California.
1t will be remarked that the odd 80" be-
tokens very exact work All the same citi-
Zens of San Francisco who note the steadily
increasing crowds that thr0ng the cable-cars
and the 1eTry-boatS, and mo are utterly un-
able to reconcile such plain facts with an
alleged population Of $4,000. Will be in
Clined to believe that the State return, Ike
the others. is unreliable, and that the State
contains nearly 100000 more souls than Por-
ter could find.
When we look into details we run up
against anomalies which are not susceptible
Of explanation. II is possible, though not
probable, that such northern and mountain
counties as Del Norte, PIumaS, Sierra and
Trinity have fallen off in population since
1850 But it is not TO be believed that Yuba
declined 10 per cent in population in ten
years, or that Butte, which is one of the
finest agricultural counties in the State, fe l
back per cent. Butte grows almost as fin
grapes and as fine oranges as San Bernar-
dino. 1t IS no easy matter to buy cheap land
there, yet this census -taker would have rs
believe that it Is losing population. Tehama
is another county which is a garden II en-
braces both sides Of the Upper Sacrament,
Just at the point where the alluYial soil is
richest; yet we are hidden to believe that it
is stationary, and is gaining no people.
Some things are too incredible 10 be put into
print, and this is one Of them.
So with the towns. Mr.. Porter alleges
that Petaluma, which is a center of a mar
velously fertile district, with excellent roads
running into the rich valleys of Marin
County on one side and Sonoma on the
other, and with constant and rapid COM
.municatiOn with the city, has only increased
10 per cent in ten years. The suggestion
would be ludicrous, if it were not so out
rageous. Santa Rosa, in the same district
and only a few miles distant, is credited
with an increase Of A per cent, which is
probably not far from the truth; but the
causes which s.imu ateG Santa Rosa S growth
must have operated equally at Petalum a.
The difference IN the returns must have
been due to the dil gence of the enumerators
in the one case and their negligence in the
other.
As the official returns dTibble out indigna-
ton at the palpable errors of the census
gains head in the East, and is pretty sure to
crystalline into an effort to repair the mis-
chief which Porter's work is calculated to
cause Other communities will follow the
example of Oregon. Minnesota and New
York. An accurate census is required for
trade and industry. Everybody is con-
WINGED that Porter's census is inaccurate.
Whether he was negligent and careless or
whether his agents sighted their work is
not now TO the purpose; the practical ques-
ton OF the hour Is, how shall his blunders
= be corrected?
Twelve States of the Union take semi
decennial censuses, and Dakota, which took
a census in 1885, when il was Territory,
will probably increase the number to four
teen. Would it not be good idea for Cali
fornia TO fellow the example,? 1t would not
cost very much TO count the people of the
State through the agency Of State officials
If their returns should confirm those of AIr.
Porter there would be no more to be said,
and we should have to make up our minds
that we are not growing as fast as we i'm
agined. But if, as wellinformed persons
believe, they would show that the Federal
census was so ineiiciently conducted that a
considerable number of the people escaped
enumeration justice would be done to the
State, and the idea that Its attraciiyeness to
settlers had ceased would be dispelled.