The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1891-04-19

THESE S1Xty-nV6 mllI0n CarQS mas TO De
numbered so that we can tell where it be-
longs. There are only two big patent num-
bering machines in the United States and
the owners of these wanted the job of num-
bering these cards. They said that one
man with hand machine could number
only three hundred cards a day and that it
was impossible for the government to get
along without their machines. They asked
an eXorbitant price and they thought we
would have to pay it. l tried the hand ma
chimes and found that instead of three hun
dred, smart workman could number
thirty thousand and we have some who
number forty-two thousand day. The re-
suit Is that we can number million and
half day and we do it for bagatelle COM
pared with what the other men wanted.
But let US go up and see."
at this moment, we stepped upon an ele-
vator of the kind you find in the mills for
the raising of wheat and were pulled up to
the second floor. The din increased as we
went up and the noise was that of nail
factory when we stepped out. About one
hundred men sat at long, rough tables all
in their shirt sleeves and each having
heavy metal stamp in his hand. These they
brought down on the cards for all the
world just like the postoffice clerks cancel
the stamps on the letters, save that each
stamp fell on card and gave it number,
and this numbering was consecutive and
the cards were ready to be taken up to the
census Office for use,
NINE MILLION TALES OF WOE.
Taking a cab, we next drove to the big
geSt chamber Of sorrow in the United
States. Imagine a room about fifty feet
long, twenty feet wide and fifteen feet high
and pack this with long tiers of shelving
running in aisles through the centre of the
room and reaching from the floor to the cell
| IN q Mol "a ysro1 nf m
vault it at the roof with fire proof cement.
fill these shelves with great packages of
files so that they burst out into the aisles and
| let the files consist of thin slips of paper
not much bigger than a postal card but
each covered with notes and figures. These
are the records of all the mortgages of the
United States. The name of every man
who has mortgage debt is recorded on
one of these files. The date of his mortage
is there, the rate of interest he pays and in
some cases the reason for which it was
given. There are nine millions of such
records and 1t is safe to say that eight mil
lion, five hundred thousand of them keep
the men who give the mortgages awake at
night and worry them from day to day.
Each one of those slips could tell story Of
hope and misfortune. Each one of them is
full of pathos and the collection is the most
remarkable that has been ever gotten to-
gether by census or anything else. When
Mr.. Porter suggested it, he was laughed at
but the more Congress thought of his sug-
gestion, the more interested they became in
it and the result is we have now record of
the personal Indebtedness of the whole
United States. 1t took q small army of
special agents to get it but these agents
overhauled the records in every state and
territory, they travelled on horseback and
on foot through the most sparsely settled
parts of the country and the information
gained has been tabulated in such way
that you can get the exact number and
amount of mortgages in the different states,
the rate of interest paid and the number OF
acres mortgaged. When the reports are
published, this bureau will bring forth
some very astonishing facts. 1t will show
for instance, that nine per cent, of the lands
in Iowa are mortgaged and that the farm
ers pay from one to twenty per cent, for the
use Of their money, while in Alabama the
interest rate ranges as high as forty per
cent.
HOW THE TOWNS ARE GROWING.
"Tell me-" Mr.. Porter, said I, 'some o.
the most striking things you have discovered
in your collection of the census.n
''Well one,n replied Mr.. Porter, sis tina
i the people are leaving the country and go
t ing to the cities, and another is that oul
l native American women are decreasing II
2 numbers year by year as mothers of child
/ rem. The largest families in the United
States and especially in New England ar,
those in which the mothers are Of foreign
: birth, and | believe that the growth of cite
i has decreased the rate of increase in oui
3 population. The birth rate in our cities il
q VIGOROUSLY low and tendency IS to small
L. families, especially among the well-to do
During the past ten years the cities hav
been growing at the expense of the countr.
Y and in Massachusetts, for instance, fully
| of +l0,o
d In 1920 only one man In twenty lived Il
n town, and in 1890, twenty-nine people GU
b of every thirty in the United States live
S in the country and away from villages. L
|. 1860, one man il SIX was living in the cities
d Ten years later one man in every five live
/, in the cities and now out of every ten mer
a women and children in the Uuited State:
Q three of these are living in cities or village:
r The change is astounding and the tendenc
n seems to be increasing the city populatio
II right along. There are number of cause
:, for it. The people want life for their brain:
, They like the society Of their fellow me
n and the tendency of modern civilization
It to combination. The success that men VIII
G go from the country have in big commerce;
n enterprises, In manufactures and in publ
d affairs of the city tempts their fellows
# leave their farms, and the result is as
n have stated"
q THE BOOMING WEST.
g "Where has been our greatest increa:
. during the last ten years."
1 SIN the west" replied Mr.. Porter. 9Th
. Pacific states and territories grow yer
. rapidly and the increase in the wester
y states has been about sixty per cent. TT
u north Atlantic states have grown abol
= nineteen per cent, and the north centr
!, states about twentyeight per cent l bt
= lieve that the average percentage of i
:, crease is in round numbers, about twenty
~ five per cent, and the country is grown
- right along. We are giving very full ST
a. of statistics this year of all matters relatir
- to foreign immigration, and we will Sho
y among other things that the numbers
~ Jews among US are increasing. The pers
- cutions in Russia have driven great mar
~ ~ Jews to this country and we are giving
-. better set of statistics regarding the Anne
20 lean Jews than has ever been received b.
- fore. We have reports from about 10. OF
-. families and 1900 of these live in Ne
- York and Brooklyn. There are about 4, On
80 Jewish families in the eastern states al
- there are 1900 families living along Il
- great lakes. l believe we will give bett
~ sources Of information regarding the sout
10 ern states than we have ever had befo
40 and we shall show that number of the
~ states are increasing rapidly in population
~ In some of them the increase has been vel
~. small and in two of the northern state
~ ~ Maine and Vermont, the population hi
y been stationary. Florida has increased
~ per cent, Arkansas 40 per cent, and Tex
w 40 per cent. Kansas has increased AZ p
lu cent, Virginia per cent, and Kentucl
70 per cent. New York has increased
per cent, in the last ten years and it h
grown about as much proportionately
be Iowa has, and little less proportionate
-, ~ than Georgia and Louisiana. And so
a. = goes over the whole Union We shall gil
~ The latest facts about all the states, and v
a., show that number of the states ha