Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-12-15

Porter's Report 5ust Completed.
WHAT GEN. WALKER SAID ABOUT krcKERs TWENTY
YEARS AGO APPLIES TO THOSE OF ropAY-RE-
LAMENTATIONS THAT HAVE BEES MADE
JUNE CENSUS vINDIcArEp-Srw YORK MuppLE
An important addition to the report Of the
work Of the census Office recently submitted 20
the Secretary of the Interior by Mr.. r. r. Por-
ter, the superintendent, has just been COM
pleted. 1t reviews at length the complaints
made In regard 20 the enumeration
Of the population. Referring to these
are periodically made against the results of the
federal census. He quotes what Gen. Francis
A walker said twenty yeare ago. follows:
The real faults of the census are generally
those that are not complained Of. The
individuals and classes Of citizens making the
loudest complaints are commonly not those
with respect to whom the census commits its
errors. The cities and sections that are most
noisy in their dissatisfaction are commonly
those which are best taken and for that very
reason. 1t Is in regions where apathy prevails
IN regard to the results of the enumeration and
1t Is In respect to individuals and families that
neither write for the newspapers nor
read them that the greater part of
the omissions of the census occur
WHAT WAS TRUE THEN rs TRUE NOW.
'What was true in 1870 in Philadelphia and
New York, which claimed from 10000 TO
zoe. 900 more population than was returned by
the census" Mr. Porter adds. lis equally true
today. In the face of an actual count Of the
people the vague and unsupported complaints
against the census from rival cities
with exaggerated ideas of their population
should have but little weight. Nevertheless
the census Office has in no case. no matter how
unreasonable. refused hearing. and as will be
ha met <rly xpb. al 10
grounds for questioning the results have been
presented has either carefully examined
all the defective work or gone over il a second
time. and so long as the decennial census
OF the United States has TO be taken under the
social conditions that have prevailed during
the last quarter of a century-conditions in
VolvlnS great movements of population, the
sudden uprising add rapid growth of numerous
communities and perpetual struggle for COM
mercial ard political supremacy between diff
ferent sections of our common country. 30 long
Will a census without such complaints be nn
imposslbi.ity. as in former censuses or in re-
spect to the present census.
DISAPPOINTED EXPECTATIONS THE CAUSE COM
PLAIST.
Whatever local disappointments the eleventh
census may have temporarily created have been
due not so much to the defective work of the
enumerators as to their failure to find the total
population expected or to the superiority as re-
spects numbers attributed to some important
rival. OF the nearly J0.0O0 enumerators who
have performed the exacting duties re-
quired of them under those varied
conditions which exist In country like
the United States, only an infinite: NAL per
cent have had their work so discredited as
either to necessitate its being done over by
Others or even to call for the adoption of an;
special measure for completing or otherwise
amending it. In several cases a careful re.
enumeration of the population has
m nd 10
Of the original cnumerators. Every re-enum-
Grafton or investigation has been based either
upon evidence of defective work on the part of
the original enumerators, properly presented
by the local authorities or other responsible
persons: upon evidence Of a fraudulent
enumeration discovered by the experts in this
Office in their examination of the schedules or
as In two cases, on account OF the loss or sup
posed loss by supervisors or enumerators of a
portion OF the enumerator's returns. No en-
tire state or territory has been Recommended
and in but one county out of all the counties
in the union has an entire recount been found
necessary or been requested.
WHERE RESUNERATIoSs HAVE BEEN MADE.
The list of counties and cities renumerated
include the following: Multromiah county and
Salem, Ore; Columbus, Ga; Helena, Mont;
Mauch Chunk, Pa; Tarrytown. N. Y; Fort
Smith, Ark; fifth ward, Schenectady, NY;
Iowa City, Iowa; first and second wards Of
winchester va: NallSDury, NO.: NasnDurn.
Wis: the district of New Mexico; ten districts
in Tacoma and three in Seattle, Wash; three
districts in Albany, n. Y.
Under the supervision Of special agents
names said to have been omitted in the official
enumeration We're included in the final emu
meration of the population of the following
cities: Syracuse. n. y, st. Louis, No., Dubuque.
Iowa, and Vicksburg, Miss.
THE JUNE ENUMERATION INDICATED.
Mr.. Porter states that remarkable vindica-
ton of the June enumeration was afforded at
Kansas City where at the urgent solicitation
of the Commercial Club and Clearing House
Association. a recount was ordered in twenty
four enumerative districts alleged to show less
than one-third the estimated population. The
Recommendation which thcreupon took place. Mr..
Porter adds, was made under the most
favorable conditions for a complete and accu-
rate count and the result showed falling of
of about twelve hundred persons from the
original count. upon which the Commercial
Club presented the request that the original
enumeration might be allowed to stand.
Special enumerators were appointed in sew
eral other cities to revise the work of enumera-
ton notably in Richmond, Va: Little Rock,
Ark, and Memphis, Tenn. In all these cases
Mr.. Porter says the local authorities have ex-
pressed themselves satisfied with the enumera-
ton as it now stands.
THE NEW YORK CITY TROUBLE.
Mr.. Porter gives a statement of the history of
the request of the New York authorities for
recount Of that city and states that Major
Grants application for a recount not being ac-
companied by proof evidence that the per-
sons enumerated by the police in Octo-
Der and mot included in the federal
enumeration in June were entitled
to enumeration in the city of New Yark during
the period provided by law for the taking of
the census the demand could not be granted.
He adds that on November IA he addressed
letter to the mayor asking him to furnish,
far the use of the Office, q statement
showing the population Of that city by
minor districts. according to the police enum-
the federal census. but no answer. he adds, has
been received to this communication.
SIGNIFICANT FACT.
Mr.. Porter says that it is very significant that
in only two cities of 100, 900 inhabitants in
which an entire Remuneration has been found
necessary, such Remuneration was called for
not because the enumeration fell short of the
public expectation, but because the enumera-
tors had fraudulently padded their schedules
as at Minneapolis or had made
extensive Implications by the enumeration of
persons in business premises and other nom
residential buildings, as at st. Paul A re-
enumeration in both these cities was ordered
and the result was to reduce the official returns
in the case Of Minneapolis from 1SS. l19 to l64,-
7SS and in that Of st. Paul from l42, Sal to 1885,
Sol.
Election Of Trustees.
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