Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-05-06
Superintendent Porter Throws Light
On the Great Job in June.
ELECTRICITY Is NOW AN AGENT
Wonderful Counting and Sorting Machines
Ready for Duty.
THE ODD FACTS SOUGHT BY UNCLE SAM


tended vision, to survey this vast domain of
ours, he could watch with interest the army
OF 4o, ,OOO enumerators, equipped with port
follos OF schedules. march forth on the i'm
portant errand to count the population of
the United States.
Surely, you have big job" hear my
reader remark, says Superintendent of the
Census Porter, in the New York World.
Yes, it is big job to take the census of a
country with $4,000, 900 of population,
especially if it be taken on the scale re-
quired by the Congress of the United States.
1t takes lots of organization and good deal
OF money. It must be done rapidly and
everything has to be in readiness so that at
the tap of the drum on the morning set for
counting the people every one is ready to do
his share of the work.
GROWS WITH THE COUNTRY.
It should be remembered that the census
Office is not permanent bureau of the Gov
ernment. but an impromptu branch OF the
Interior Department, organized under the
direction of an officer called the Superin-
tendent of Census for the express purpose Of
doing this work. The Superintendent of
the Eleventh Census began his work on the
morning of April II, 1889, having been ap-
pointed by the President of the United
States in accordance with the provisions of
an act of Congress, approved March 1, 1889,
for taking the eleventh and subsequent GEN.
suses. On that day the Census Office con-
sisted of superintendent, a clerk, one mes
senger boy, two desks, a ream of white paper
and box or two of official envelopes,
and sundry other stationery. To-day
tho Cansua Offico omnlnva 200 rlarkr
500 special agents and 175 super
visors. Next June the census force will
consist of 10000 enumerators. 1000 clerks
and probably 1000 special agents. Then it
will gradually decline until the last report
has been printed, when the superintendent
and the small force then around him will
fold their tents and silently pass away and
become merely an 'infnitesimal part of the
great population which they have enumer-
ated
COUNT CITIES IN FIFTEEN DAYS.
The law requires that the population shall
be all counted in 10 days in cities and in 30
days in country districts. Few who have
never been inside of a census Office have
any idea of the labor necessary even to
make rough count, to say nothing of the
classification OF the population into all the
different groups required by the census law.
The eleventh census will be counted by
the aid of electricity. At first this seems
rather startling statement, but If any of
my readers would only come to the Census
Office and see the electrical counting and
sorting machines now at work on some of
the special data the thing would be made
clear to them at once.
Now you will see that the enumerators
have furnished the Census Office with quite
nto init af
ing in the United States, but these records
are not in convenient form for counting or
tabulating. We, therefore, first prepare |
card for each person, on which we record |
the different facts regarding that person |
with a machine something like typewriter, |
only that instead of printing letters or |
figures these machines punch round holes. |
These cards will be about the size OF postal |
cards, and If stacked in one pile would make |
a column over 10 miles high, and will |
weigh fully 1SO tons.
AN INGENIOUS COUNTER.
The Census Office will have to know how
many boys there are 10 years old, how many |
IL years, how many 12 years, and so on, and |
the same for the girls. Again, it must know
how many could read, how many could |
write, how many were born in New York,
how many in Pennsylvania, and many other
things. To obtain this information from
these punched record cards we use the cleo
trical tabulating machines. You see it
would be impossible to make machine
which could read writing or printing, but
our little typewriters punch holes instead,
and such holes can easily be read by
machine. This is done as follows: The
cards are laid one by one in a machine
like printing press, only, in
stead of type, little needles or points are
brought against the cards, so that where
here is hole in the card the little pointer
goes through and touches q drop
,f quicksilver below, which closes an
electric circuit, or telegraphs to little
counter or register. These counters look
Tery much like clocks, but instead of the
works of clock we have an electrO-magnet
10 arranged that, when an electric circuit is
losed through it. it moves the hand ahead
me point. As the cards are rapidly passed
through the machine they first telegraph to
me counter and then another, according. for
as they represent boys or girls;
ONE other counters will at the same time
cunt how many could read and how many
ould not, and so on; so you will see that
his machine really does number of things |
t the same time. When all the cards for
iven district have thus been passed through
he machine the results on the dials are
written down and sent TO the printer as part
i the census reports.
In the actual counting and sorting, after
he punching had been done, one of these
lectrical machines will count in five hours
s many cards as could be counted by the
Id methods in 55 hours, or equal to the
york of one person for eight days, counting
even hours as a days work Surely this
5 great saving of time and of expense
Thlle at the same time enabling the Census
)tfice TO tabulate many interesting facts !
Thich the great cost of tabulating by hand {
as prevented heretofore.
ODD FACTS SOUGHT.
The next in Importance to the count of !
ne people come the vital statistics and the t
tatistics of special classes, for after we n
now the number OF our population, Its ]
distribution and parentage,
he question of its health and physical con- i
ition naturally comes up for consideration. z
III facts relating to marriages, births and r
eaths are obtained by the enumerator, by Z
illing upon something like so, 900 physi- s
ans to aid IN the work, and by copying the Il
'ports Of the registers of births, deaths and o
arrIages in States where these facts are C
altered by local officials. g
How many OF the readers of the youths n
apartment would be able to answer the v
uestion, if put to them off-hand, How b
ANY minor civil divisions in the United b
tates, such as cities, towns, townships, 81
'unties, school districts, etc., have the a
over to raise taxes and incur debit" Do r.
OF answer all at once. "a good many S
lousand, hear some one say. There are q
o less than 150, 900 such minor divisions of Z
lie country. Surely, it is important to p
now the total amount of money raised by tt
Ixation for local purposes and the total S
mount of debt which has been incurred by
Il these taxing and debt-creating powers.