The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1890-05-26
CENSUS QUERIES.

Mr.. PORTER, the superintendent of the
census, evidently thinks that the American
people are like stoughton bottles, so far as
the f.ier feelings are concerned, though he
expects them to use their tongues quite
freely. He also assumes that because he is
a government official his subordinates are
licensed to go into every family and indi
vidual closet in the nation, and drag forth
the skeletons which have been carefully
guarded with all the skill and cunning and
pride with which the average free born
man or woman is blessed. Heretofore the
queries propounded by the enumeraters
have-so closely bordered on the impudent
that every ten years the masses are on the
verge of a riot or bloody revolution, and
can be restrained only by the assurances
of the press that everything will come
right with the passing away Of the month
of June. Mr.. PORTER, however, is not CON
tent with the prying into home secrets that
has been practiced, and proposes to get
right down to bedrock, as it were. He
has added a number of questions to the
usual list and all these relate to
matters which the average person
is firmly opposed to talking about.
For instance, one may be af-
fiicted with an acute or chronic disease.
and may know all about it, but he or she
will not take kindly to the suggestion of
explaining the case to a stranger, nor does
one quite understand why the details of
his case should be carefully preserved in
the national archives. Mr.. PORTER also
nronocec thot avary in dix-iduol oboI1 l,l,rb
ingly or otherwise, divulge the amount of
his mortgage Indebtedness, and whether r
not the house in which he lives is owned
wholly or in part by him, and what rental
he is paying for the property in the form
of interest On borrowed money. There are
some men who do not tell anything about
their financial affairs, even standing off the
prying commercial agencies. How these
men will receive the impudent interroga-
ton points sent out by the superintendent
Of census can better be imagined than de-
| scribed. 1t is to be hoped that there will
be no disturbances of the peace as the re-
suit of the enamerator visits next week.
But Mr.. PORTER does not stop with these
queries, ugly as they may seem. He pro-
poses to compel every man and woman, old
and young, that his agents can run down
and corner, to say whether or not they have
any defects in mind, sight or
hearing, whether in our families there are
any paupers or convicts, and whether we
live in our own houses or are tenants of a
grasping landlord who is liable TO turn us
out upon an unfceling world for non-pay-
ment of rent or other cause deemed by
him good and sufficient. 1t is thought that
Mr.. PORTER is unacquainted with the peo-
pie of the wild and woolly west, however
familiar. he may be with those on the At
lantic side of the continent. If he had
known the character of the people of
Nevada, for instance, he would have
eliminated from the schedules the offensive
questions, or he would have asked that each
enumerator be accompanied by platoon of
pugilists and officers expert with the
pistol.
| When one studies the schedules and reads
the questions to be propounded, he won
ders why the superintendent did not in
clude queries as to where individuals buy
their hosiery, as to the length of time the
average citizen wears shirt without wash
ing it, and how long fellow with small in
come and extravaganza habits can
stand off his washerwoman with
out gaining unenviable notoriety in the
community. 1t is not known Just what
authority or power Mr.. PORTER has to en-
force. answers to his queries, but we i'm
agine that good deal of the information
which he seeks to obtain will be so incom-
plete and misleading as to he useless for
any purpose. People will simply refuse to
so into details as to their private affairs,
even though the request is accompanied by
al assurance that the information will
never be made public.