The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1891-12-30
THE CENSUS WORK.
It lis Almost Completed 'ana is tho
Best Of All.
MORE EXHAUSTIVE AND ACCURATE
Than Any Previous ccnsrs..Uniust
Criticism by the Democratic Press
..snperlntendcnt Porter's business
Aictho,ls..Tio Bureau Not q politi.
cal Machine.
sxetal DlpaleA d he Inss,lLacacst.

sJNClu1 DLIbIICH 10 NC IIltiiytlCtf. s....
WASHINGTON, Dec. 20.--Thc census
work is fast nearing completion. Not
withstanding the large number Of
alleged errors in its results tho present
census is by far the most exhaustive
and accurate OF any previous ono, A
majority OF the complaints come from
cxagerating boomers, who advertised q
bigger show than appeared wlnnGthc
curtain went up. Othof complaints
were made from political motives. The
Canadians found fault with their census
OF this year because tho increase in
population for tho last decade had only
been reported as 1l.GG per cent. Our
I per cent OF increase was twice MS great.
What errors were made were due to
the faulty aystem under which tho CEN
sus is taken. The temporary nature OF
tho bureau is very disatlvuntagcous. Ii
tho census year found we'll equipped
Office with force OF thoroughly trained
clerks many otherwise necessary errors
wouldtbo obyiatcu.
r. . y =
81 AMAN IN THE RIGHT PLACE.
Any one thoroughly conyoraant with
Superintendent portcrs methods must
cay that he is tho man Tor tho place,
The discipline OF the office Is the best
A clork there does more work each day
Z and ola better quality thauis done in
any other department. "A casual visi.
tor can notice this. In fact clerk
official life depends upon his excellence
as q clerk. Tho Elollcrith electrical
system OF tGbulation has saved tho gov
crnment thousands OF dollars. Rcsu Its
have been obtained earlier than in any
previous census, and. the value OF stu
tistics are greatly enhanced by their
freshness. There have already been
published on special subjects about
$500 pages Of bulletins for the eleventh
census, as against 200 for the CORE
spending time after the taking OF the
tenth census. Copy for the compen-
dium and bound volumes is nearly
ready ior the public printer and the ac-
ton OF Congress.
NOT ApoLITIcAL MACHINE.
Tho Democratic press has accused lIr.
Porter OF being partisan in his appoint
ments, when twenty-three ont OF thirty
OF his principal experts were connected
with'the tenth census. and were APP
pointed irrespective OF their party allil.
iations and wholly because OF their lit.
ness for the work. A partisan press
preiudiced the people against tie lawful
questions propounded; and then at
tackled the census because they were
not all answered. The accuracy OF the
census figures has been questioned, but
it can be truly said that the greatest
lesson the employees have learncdfrom
the instructions OF their official supe-
riors is that OF pains-taling accuracy.
Mr.. w. c. Hunt, OF Boston, one OF the
best statisticians OF the country, is tho
special agent in charge OF population,
and Mr.. Howard Sutherland, Of St.
Louis, 4 man of fine executive ability, is
chief OF the division. The reputation
borne by these gentlemen ought to be n
sufficient vindication OF the conduct of
that division. Which is fully up to
the standard established throughout
the bureau. 500