The Portland daily press., 1890-07-04
ORIGIN OF THE CENSUS.
Moses Took the First One in the
WIlds of the Desert.

The most ancient statistical record of
the kind is that of Moses in the wilder
ness. That enumeration must have been
exceedingly simple, as shown by the first
chapter of the fourth book of the Penta-
touch. "Take ye," says this account,
''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 90 years old and up
ward, 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 enumerators
are also given, those who assisted Moses
and Aaron being "the renowned of the
congregation, princes Of the tribes of
their fathers, heads of thousands in
Israel" Then the enumerators 'sas-
sembled all the congregation on the first
day of the second month and they de-
clared their pedigrees after their fami-
lies by the house of their fathers, &C
cording to the number of names, from
twenty years and upward, by the polls"
This enumeration must have been an af-
fair soon over, requiring probably no
more than days time, being merely a
counting Of the heads of the fighting men.
There was no counting of women or
children or old men or cripples, and ''the
Levites were not numbered among
them" Those who did stand up to be
counted numbered 603,550.
THE CENSUS IN CHINA
There is record of a census in China
as far back as the year 2042 B. c., and
Of one in Japan the last century before
Christ. Under the constitution of Scion
the citizens of Athens were divided and
registered into four classes according to
the amount of their taxable property or
income. The Roman census was bur-
dened with more statistics than any Of
these simple enumerations. It origi-
mated under Servius Tullius, sixth king
of Rome, and was an affair of much
solemnity. 1t 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 de-
sired information.
Every citizen had to appear upon the
Campus Martius and declare upon oath
his name and dwelling and the value of
his property under the penalty of hav-
ing his goods confiscated and of being
scoHged and sold for slave. There
was no trouble about having such CEN
$ full and complete. It had II. lIa:Gs,.:, .e-
.ic, 100, of making i5ane people to be count
ed anxious to find the census man, while
he was not put to the labor of going
from house to house to find the people.
| Augustus Caesar, who had a great head
for detail, when he had the population
numbered greatly enlarged the scope of
the census and improved the method of
| taking it.
| The census of modern Europe is COM
| paratively recent. No exact popular
enumerations were made in the Seven
teenth century, but in the Eighteenth
| great progress was made in the develop
ment of statistical science. In Russia
| the taking of the census in crude way
began in 100, and in 1719, under Peter
the Great, though improvement had
been made, females were omitted from
| the enumeration.
IN EUROPEAN COUNTRIES.
Census taking in Prussia dates from
| the time of Frederick William H. The
Prussian census of today is very exact
and complete 1t is taken by civil Off
GERS in one day by means of printed
| schedules. The first census in Austria
was taken in 1854, and for 100 years was
taken each three years for military pur-
poses only. In Sweden the science of
statistics has been particularly cultivat-
ed, and Belgium ranks among the first
nations of the world in completeness of
its national statistics In Italy the re-
turns of this character are very COM
| plete, the range of inquiries having been
greatly extended. The movement of the
population is determined from civil reg
listers kept by the municipal authorities.
In Turkey enumeration is imperfect, the
chief object of taking it being to provide
a basis for taxation and CONSUMPTION.
In France the first census of which rec
ords are extant was taken in 100.
OF course, as in everything pertaining
to statistics, work of that kind is thor
ough in France. The first census OF
Great Britain was taken in 1901, and
embraced the sex, but not the age, of all
subjects. The families and occupations
were classified, so as to exhibit the num-
Der employed in agriculture, in trade
and manufactures or handicrafts and
those not comprised in the classes. Blanks
or householders' schedules are now left
all over the kingdom by an army of emu
merators, and these are required to be
filed up on the night of April 2, and are
collected by the enumerators the follow
ing day. The police assist in enumera-
ting the houseless population. The army
and navy are returned by the naval
| and military authorities