Los Angeles herald., 1890-06-08
THE PUERILITIES Or rur crsSus
QUEST .eNs

Ah1 "'oi a started in on Mon
DAY last upon tho work of taking the
oi l' 10. The task to the mar
sliais mas oeen rendered unnecessarily
'iiiicl,' and the accuracy of the returns
!. l.ipei' led by the large number OF ques-
''oi' the enumerators are required to
'' &, Some of them might well have
ceen left out, and some of them are OF
such character that they will be
resented by the persons catechized. 1t
is not everybody suffering from chronic
disease who will blazon the fact to
stranger, even although he come armed
with the authority of the census bureau
to exact an answer. Whilst it would
be advantageous, in the sense OF
furnishing vital statistics to the country,
to know exactly the state OF health OF
the people, and the relation OF ephem-
eral to chronic diseases in the communl-
ties, it is obviously impossible to gather
this kind of data with accuracy, and If
not accurate it possesses little or no sci
entific value.
There is another question which is
not only delicate one to put to indi-
viduals, but which will receive either an
evasive or false answer in the majority
of cases. We refer to the in
quiYy to man who owns the house
he lives in, whether it is mort
gagged or not. This question not
only is grating upon the feelings of some
people, but it will strike many as pry-
ing into private affairs which the gov
ernment has no right to do. The ques-
ton is moreover an avoidable one, and
should not have been placed in the list
of inquiries. The only object of public
character for which it could have been
included in the category OF census ques-
tions is to find out the relation OF the
| debtor to the creditor class of the cOun-
subject are of great value, and important
as bearing upon financial legislation.
But why make personal inquisition OF
q matter that is of public record? Every
mortgage in the country is OF in the
counties where they are made, and a
very slight amount of labor would en-
able an enumerator to get at the grand
total and the distribution on farms and
town lots of the mortgages in each
county in the union. 1t is needless to
say that unrecorded mortgages will not
be revealed for the very reason that
they had not been recorded. As this
species OF information could be had
from the official records, why
make the enumerator undertake
the vain and ungracious task
of trying to worm it out of individuals.
Then when it comes to the great raft OF
questions to be put to farmers, they
will prove impossible of accurate re-
sponse in nine cases out of ten. II every
farmer had bookkeeper and kept an
accurate account of every transaction of
the farm, he would hardly be able to
give satisfactory answers to the ques-
tions set down for the enumerator to
ask.
1t will be found when the reports are
all in and the census clerks begin to
classify the data and make it up for pub
lie information, that there will be dis
crepances so wide and so striking as to
cast discredit even upon those classes OF
returns that are generally accepted as OF
sufficient accuracy to build positive
theories upon, and from which to de-
duce practical lessons for legislative pur-
poses.
The census bureau has tried to do too
much, and in doing SO has made a mis-
take that will tell against the value of
their work in its best and most impor-
tant features.