Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-08-16
THE SCHOOLM ASTER.
Having Finished His Census Work
he Closes His School.
METHOD OF EXAMINATION.
Facts ~ 10 How the Great
Fsrcs e Clerks In the Census Bureau
WAS selscsed-Pros. Bl0dgeis Describes
Some Of the Details Of the work.


~ M Of the odd features Of the de-
{I cennial census in this country il the
. creation Of r.. great .s,. s; urea. Of .;
- experts and clerks required TO do this
work are gathered together in the course Of
about year, and then q process Of disin-
tsgration begins, which goes on with
more or less rspidity until a solitary clerk
10 Left to look after the records. At the pres
ent time the force Of the Census Office has
about reached its maximum. There are now
nearly I. 900 employees, divided somewhat as fol-
lows: 1000 clerks in the offices in this city, It's
supervisors, 725 special agents to collect
farm and home mortgage statistics, 1,100
special agents for the collection of statistics Of
manufactures and 800 special agents. Super
intendent Porter began the task of marshaling
this great army more than year ago. In June
last the special work for which the Office is
created, namely, the enumeration Of the popu-
lation OF the country, was begun, and the
results are now nearly all IN the
Census Ofice and the first count of
the population is about completed. For the
next three or four months the force of clerks
will be employed in tabulating the mass OF
facts secured and by early winter, about the
time the leaves begin to fall from the
trees, leaves for permanent vacation will
sus Office Office The rise and VIC decline
Of this great bureau Of the government is not
the least interesting Of the facts connected
with the census, although it forms no part Of
the printed records which remain as II mr.
mortal that an immense work has been accom-
plished.
Already one of the divisions Of the Office has
finished its work and the force OF clerks has
been transferred to the population division.
Next to the superintendent, Prof. Blodgett is
better known to the clerks when they first come
to the Census Office than any other official for
he is in charge Of the examination division,
and before him they are obliged to come and
stand an examination as test OF their fitness
for appointment. One Of the carly ques-
tlons that arose in connection with
the organization of the Office was to the
method of appointment. How should the
from the mass OF citizens who are always ready
and willing to serve their country. especially
when there Is a money consideration involved?
NOT UNDER THE CIVIL SERVICE LAW.
The census law left the manner Of appoint
ment entirely to the discretion OF the Secretary
Of the Interior, under whose care the office
was placed. But the civil service commission
ers argued that this force of clerks ought to be
appointed through them, and that in this
way an efficient force would be
it was shown that the work of the Census
Office must be done rapidly, and that the su-
perintendent, as he had only short time to
do the work, must have a certain latitude in
the power OF appointment, not only to enable
him to pick his clerks but TO get them without
delay. Elasticity was the word that was used
by Superintendent Porter in defining his idea
Of what the characteristic of census force
ought to be. The President agreed with this
view but the civil service idea was preserved
to the extent Of holding an examination
for appointment to the clerical po-
sitions. The work Of examination Of
candidates for appointment was started
by Prof Biodget. about year ago and last
December he began to holI daily examna-
tons, which he has continued until recently,
when the number of clerks required was
schoolmaster yet his authority
did not extend over the entire
force. For example, special agents and
statistical experts were not required to appear
before the schOOlmaster and answer his ques-
tions. Neither were clerks detailed to the
civil service who had already been polished in
the civil service MILL nor applicants who had
passed a satisfactory civil service examination
Employees In the last census. whose records were
good, also escaped Prot. Blodgett's clutches, so
to speak. for il the truth is known the pro-
fessor is one Of the mildest- mannered of men
and would prefer that every one should
pass rather than fail in examinations
To imagine for moment that Prof. Blodgett
delights in the number Of slain that have
fallen before his battery Of questions would
do him a grave Justice. However, that is
neither here nor there.
While out of the entire force employed I'M
der the Census Office more than one-half were
exempted from the necessity of informing Prof
Blodgett as to the extent Of the information
they had stored away in their craniums, still a
great many paid their respects to him
appointment The provoking part of it
all was that the candidates for appointment
found it necessary to secure the Endorsement
Of Senators and Representatives before they
could get a chance to be tortured by Prof
Blodgett. So, after all the examination in one
sense was a privilege, the requirements were
SO exactly similar to those Of the civil service
commission, that people who believed in the
old methods Of appointment were somewhat
disgusted.
THE DOORS CLOSED.
Now that the doors OF the examination room
in the Census Office are closed for good and no
more applicants will be examined except per-
haps few who have been unable through
sickness and other causes to stand the exam
ination for which they have an order Prof
Blodgett has an opportunity to look over
his record and ascertain the number
of the victors a. we'll as count the
slain. He fnds, AZ he informed O STAR man
the other day. that up to the first OF the pres
ent month he has examined !, 968 persons OF
this number l ,450 passed and 5ls failed.
II, however, is fact, and a rather painful
fact to the persons concerned, that all those
who passed did not get an appointment.
Superintendent Porter estimates that of the
number who successfully stood the test about
1850 received appointments. The entire cleri.
cal force now in the Office is not quite 1000.
and the clerks not selected from the list of ex.
amined we're those who came under the
different classes OF exempts as mentioned
above, such a. those employed in the old CEN
sus, those who had passed civil service ex-
animation for clerical positions, &c, Prof
Blodgett gave . STAR man an idea of the
method which he pursued in examining osndi-
dates. He said:
1.-The photography and penmanship were
determined from the written work. without any
special exercise in spelling or In penmanship.
The candidate had an exercise in copying an
exercise in writing from dictation and letter
to write, each about one hundred and twenty
words. 1t has been the aim to assign for letters
subjects Of which the applicants might fairly
be supposed 10 know enough to write intelli-
gently. The residence claimed, however. has
proved poor guide in judging what would be
familiar topics, especially as multitudes have a
legal residence in places which they never saw.
THE IMPORTANCE OF ARITHMETIC.
1.-THE questions in arithmetic were In gen.
eral Of form that occur: in the census work