The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1890-06-10
SOME REFUSE TO ANSWER.

The census enumerators of New York
seem to be having any amount Of trouble
and in q spirit Of retaliation they are
making trouble for those who annoy them.
According to dispatches good many ar
rests were made yesterday Of persons who
refused to answer the questions pro-
pounded, and of course the defendants Will
be prosecuted to conviction. We hope
some of them will fight the matter in the
courts &c the bitter end-fght it as long and
as far as they can, and thus have the ques-
ton settled of to what length the govern
ment can so in the matter of prying into
the private affairs of individuals.
We do not say this Cor the purpose of
influencing any of our readers to decline to
answer any question in the schedule. We
have advised the answering OF all ques-
items, believing that it is better to do
so than engage in a controversy with
the government, which would necessarily
be expensive and full of trouble for the
person though he might triumph in the
end. So far as we have learned the people
of Utah have not withheld replies, but
have been frank with their answers and
courteous in their reception and treatment
of the enumerators. At the same time we
do not believe the government has the legal
right, and it is certainly without the
moral right, to demand the information
which is asked. We do not believe, if a
test case shall be made, that the govern
ment will be sustained. To say that the
census authorities can compel person to
tell regarding his indebtedness and about
his diseases, his record in the matter of
offenses against the law and prison ex-
periences, is to say that the government is
paternal in the fullest and most detailed
sense, and that it can go into the Individuals
life to any extent that impotence, curiosity
or vindictiveness may suggest. The gov
eminent may force a man to tell the hour
when he retires, the time at which he rises,
whether he eats much or little, what his
idea is regarding onions as food; it can ex-
anime his person for peculiarities of form,
marks and complexion; can inquire into his
preferences as TO blondes or brunettes, and
SO on without limit. And if it can inquire
into these things it can legislate concerning
them, making laws regulating diet, hours
VI SAOSP, frequency VI UdbuluS, dS I16 pa
rents would do for the child. The govern
ment is paternal, but not in the sense, nor
to the extent, indicated by some of the i'm
pudent and offensive questions found in the
census schedule.
Men cannot be blamed for resentine the
demands made upon them, for these
demands are not merely ANNOYING,
but are insulting. If everybody
does not refuse to answer and defy the gov
eminent it is because everybody cannot
afford to make the fight that would follow,
and his better judgment tells him that it
will be cheaper and easier to give the in
formation sought, or give what purports
TO be the information, than to quarrel.
We are glad that some have had the
courage to invite the contest. and if they
will carry the fght to finish it is pretty
certain in future census questions will be
restricted to Legitimate subjects Of inquiry,
and to matters which, to know, will be
beneficial to the world.