The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1890-05-13

magnet so ar angel that, when ar
electric circuit is closed through it,
/ it moves the hand ahead one point.
As The cards are rapidly passed
through the machine tney first tele
gr1ph to one counter and then an.
otter, according, for example, as they
repre>ent boys or girls Some other
Counters wi at the same time count
how many could a AMI, how many
cOu d not, and so o. +; 50 You will
ste that this ma;tins really does a
humber of things at tie same time.
When all the cards for a given dis
trict have thus been passed through a
machine the results on the ditis ere
written down and sent TO The printer
as part of the census repOr
In the actual counting end sorting,
after the punching had been done,
one of these electric machines will
count in five hours as msny cards as
could be counted by the Old method in
fitty-five hours, or equal 10 the work
of one person for eIgnt days, counting
seven houns as a days work. Surely
this is great saving of time and of
expenses, while al the same time en-
abling the census office to tabu'ate
many interesting fac which may be
found Oh The SCHEDULES, but which the
great cost of tabulauDg by hand has
prevented heretofore.
ODD FACTS SOUGHT.
The next In importance to the count
of the people, come the vital statistics
aud the statistics of the special classes,
for after we know the number of or
population, its aracteri tics, distri-
button and parentage, the question of
its health and physical condition
naturally comes up for consideration.
All facts rela,ing t. marriages, births
and deaths are Obtained by the emu
meratpr, by calling upon something
like eighty thousand physicians to aid
in ihe work and 10y copying the re-
ports of the registers Of births, deaths
and marriages in states where these
fac s are ga'hered by local officials.
How m my readers of the Youths
would be abe to answer
the question, if put to them of-hand
"How many minor civil divisions in
the United States, such as cities,
towns, townships, counties, school dis
tricts. DC. have the power to raise
taxes and incur debit" Do not an.
swer all at once. "a good many
thous nd" / hear someone say.
There are no less than 10000 such
minor divisions of the country.
Surely, it is important to know the
total amount of money raised by tax
alton for local purposes and the total
amount of debt which has been incur
red by all these taxing and debt-cre-
ating powers. In order to do this the
census office must deal separately and
Individually with the local officers and
of these myriad local d.
visions. Over $50 clerks are at this
engaged On this branch of the
census work alone.
In this short article it would be
to give even cursory idea
Of the iunumerable methods employed
by the census office experts or
''shsrps," as they are now called, in
the varied facts for their |
reports. The main thing, |
after such inquiries are taken out of
the hands of the enumeration, is to
prepare correct lists of all the estab- |
Iishmen's in cases of manufacturing,
Of al mines in that o: mining, of all
The fishing villages and fishing ports |
in such inquiries relating to fish and
ihseries.
Even the poor Indian must be in
vestigated. What boy is not inter-
ested in the Indian, though, fear,
as a rule, boys are not much inter
ested in the social con ition of the
Indian as they are in the stories of
his adventures and conflicts with the
white man. The census Office will
not 90 into these facts, though no
doubt the large body of special agents,
whose duty it will be to visit all the
and sections of country
where the Indians still roam, would
be able to tell some interesting and
startling s'ories when they return.
The present census will probably
cost in the neighborhood of $40 OO0,-
900. and when it is completed it will
mark another decade in the material
progress of the country. Before au-
other census year rolls around, the
readers of this article will be men and
women, interested in the political and
social welfare of the Republic, and,
h.