Telegram-herald. ([Grand Rapids, Mich.) 18??-1892, 1890-08-25

EoE the Enumeration Was Taken
and Ihs RstaEns Counted
Chlpmaa's wlla Prediction itspubii-
eaas Hspsfsl-AI ks=s 90 Iaaiaaa
Harry satita - sFkiuk zoe J4Paa
-Earrissns hoaoE.

WAsHIseTos, Aug Z5.-inere = no
man uh0 las been quite 80 badly abused
ina short time as has Robert B. Porter.
The saperntsudent oE tle census. Ac-
cordug to the Democratic papers, ana
some ot tle 3 .gruallsd people OF this
great alt glorious Republic, Mr.. Porter
musl be very eiosely fe Ated @ the gem
rleman sith the clOvsn hO0t. IL vas
represented that Mr. Porter vas sitting
up gats cooking the returns, 80 as %
increase the Republican vote 10 the
next Congress. snd shas .n places where
there vas a Democratic gam falling
of vas made 60 appear. It must have
been apparent o. even the moss ignOI-
aas thar no matter what Mr.. P0rtars
pred iecuons were c was absolutely I'M
possible for hum to change a single tg-
ure IN the census, simply because he
really has nothing to 90 with the re-
turns. aud taey pass through so many
hands that unless every body is disaOu-
est a packed census IS ou, OF the ques-
ton. Tue men who set the machinery
lu motion, the euumerat0rs, OF course
would not try and nase the population
smaller than L really Is, because they
were paid according % the number of
names they turned in, ana the more
names they got the more money they
earned. When the returns were re-
cGlvcd 40 the census office they were
turned over % lot OF clerks vino
counted the names by electric ma
chimes. Il Is absurd 20 think that they
would leave out or add 20 the returns,
they could not discriminate, and all
they mad % DO was 10 count the names
as they found them. All the work Is
80 thoroughly revised tnat an error IS
almost ImpO sole, and the count Is as
near accurate as human ingenuity can
make 10.
The count of the population was
practically completed last week, and
the result bears out the prediction
made by Mr. Porter some time ago that
the population OF tAe country would
be about o., 600. 900, and as TINS 3 about
the ngure gwen by the late :. :. Cox,
who Was a great authority on census
matters, It can be accepted - be-
ing correct Mr.. Porter deserves
great credit TOR the rapid work
dOne by his Office. Ten years ago
the population WAS not kl Gown until
March, nine months after the census
was taken. This year it IS known IN
August. or SIX weeks after the census
WIS fiu shed. OF course a good deal of
this rapid work Is due 20 the employ
meut OK electrical counting machines.
wlch work faster and better than
clerks, but fully as much OF the credit
attaches to the ability OF the superln-
tendent. lie has organized MS Otlcein
the most complete and thorough man
uer pos, bic, aud being good Judge Of
men, bee has called TO ms assistance cx-
perts who have been OF the greatest as
s.stanCe Co hIm. IL IS worthy OF note
that the census Office $ the only one OF
importance. the only one, IN fact, De-
l,eve. WhlCu 5 not under the operations
OF tue civil service laws. You remem-
her, of course. tac dreadful howl which
the Democratic press raised because the
appO utmeDt Of All the clerks ana Otti-
GERS OF toe department WAS 20 oe left TO
the superintendent, instead of having
tncu ground out by the Civil Service
Commission. IL was SAID that the office
would be filed with decGTe1 and
trOkcu Gown Republican politicians.
and tn1t the result would be p bungled
and unreliable census. IL is true tlat
tho clerks did uot have 90 pass civil
serv cc examination, bat before they
were appointed Nr Porter had them
examines lv .ari appointed in ais