Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1890-08-15
WONDERFUL CENSUS BUREAU WORK
THREE MILLION NAMES A DAY COUNTED
BY ELECTRICITY.

-
BY ELECTRICITY.
WASHINGTON, August 4.-McDowell' S
Mill is a low brick structure within
tones throw Of the Government Printing
Office At the back of the mill is large
Dom adapted to the storage of cotton bales.
Ct is in this apartment that the schedules OF
snumeratorS of the census are received on
heir arrival in Washington. They come
portfolios packed in boxes resembling
Try goods boxes. Hundreds of these boxes
ire piled in the room. In one corner there
S long table at which dozen or more
people are seated As the boxes are open
ID the portfolios are compared with the
bills OF lading and checked Off. About
53, 900 of these schedules had been received
up to July "a. Seventeen thousand more
we're expected between that date and
August 8.
After the boxes are unpacked and the
,chedules classified they are sent over to
he Inter Ocean building on Ninth street
1t is brick edifce of six OF seven stories.
There are fully thousand persons at
work in this building. Here the prelimi
,ary count of the population is being made.
The schedules are carried into the base
nent and distributed upon the floors. They
ire first compared with the daily reports
If the enumerators sent to the main office
while the census was being taken. After
his comparison they are distributed among
5he counters. The count is made by cleo
-ric machines. There are hundred OF
these machines upon the floor. A young
lady sits in front of each one. They re-
semble small upright pianos. There are
score of small indicators facing the
young lady in the upright portion OF the
instrument. A tiny keyboard stands to the
'ight filling the place OF the keys OF pl-
mo. These keys are numbered from to
20. With schedule before her the lady
strikes key indicating the number OF
persons in a household. The indicators
have dials and hands. They might be
mistaken for little patent lever clocks.
COUNTING BY ELECTRICITY.
There is an Indicator for each key, and
a check indicator that gives the sum total
as fast as the keys are struck. The sched-
ule of the enumerator lies upon the table
% the left of the operator The population
is counted by households. If a man lives
alone the operator strikes key |. The
unit hand of the check indicator does the
same. Say that the next family is one OF
eight persons, the operator strikes the key
ed at the touch. The hand on the dial OF
The eight indicator moves a jot, and the
check indicator checks another family.
The operator finds the number of each fam
lily on the schedule and strikes the key
correspondingly. At the end OF the day
the INDICATOR SIlOWS llOW uOuoClOluo
in all have been thus counted. No. tells
how many persons living alone have been
enumerated. Other indicators register
families of 3, 4, 5, and so on. By the AID
of one of these machines young lady has
counted $4,000 persons day. Inc ma
chimes work by electric currents: Eacl
key, when struck, closes circuit through
the electro magnets in its own indicator
and in the check indicator. The magnets
attract their armatures and these do the
work. The circuits are closed through
platinum points The electric bells are
in circuit with the indicators. They tell
when the contact is made. They sound
like the jingling of sleigh bells in winter.
HOW THE WORK is DONE.
The population is being counted on this
floor at the rate of 100000 per day. Tive
counts are made. Superintendent Porter
soon expects, to Increase the number t.
ton goes on night and day. At dead OF
night the tinklfng of the little bells can
be heard in the street outside. The young
ladies all work hard, each striving to out
do the other. The work at night is done by
young men. They do not count nearly as
many names as the young ladies.
The second count is to verify the first.
The machines cannot make mistakes. The
girls who run them, however, are not so
thorough. Once in a while they force the
machines to blunder. The same schedules
are, therefore, counted by different girls
on different machines.
COUNTING SPECIAL SCHEDULES.
The main census Office is on q street,
near the Pension building. The editice is
of brick and six stories high. 1t is here
that the returns are tabulated by specia,
classes. Lists Of the blind, the deaf, TIL
dumb, paupers, and criminal classes art
made, with special information about each.
In compiling these lists, machines invented
by former employee of the bureau are
used. The system is very ingenious. A
young lady sits at a little table upol
which there is a metal plate containing
24O holes. These holes are marked by let
tiers. 'sB." means black 'M'' male
En- speaks English; 80 K" free from.
disease; "Bu." guilty of burglary; "Wd.'
widow OF widOWer, according to the sex
and so on With the enumerator's specia
returns before her, the young lady place
a black card beneath the metal plate. Sh,
looks at the special return. The person
a negro. She shoves a punch through thu
hole marked B. The person is a male. Sh, |
punches the hole marked M. He speaks |
English. She sends the punch through thu |
hole marked En-. He is free from disease
The punch goes through the hole marked
O. X. He is guilty of burglary. The b
hole is punched. When the card is remove,
it appears something like the following: