Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-08-20

the place. 1t is stated, however, that
Prof. Atkinson's plans for next year will inter-
fere with his serving and it is probable that his
name will not be pushed. There will be some
dozen names considered by the nominating
committee and the choice will be determined
by balloting.
ECONOMIC SCIENCE AND sTATIsTICs.
An Instructive Paper on Mechanical Tabula-
ton by Dr. Billings.
Section I, devoted to economic science and
statistics, looked like . corner of the census
Office this morning. A complete set Of the cleo
trical tabulating machines from the Office,
operated by men instead of by the pretty girls
they are used to being run by, was placed in
the room in which the section met. They were
used to illustrate a very interesting paper by
DIR. John s. Billings, United States army, who
had charge Of vital statistics for the census and
who originated tho electrical mechanical tabu-
lating idea.
Dr. Billings said that the data collected by
the census for each living person, or in sys-
TENS Of death registration for each decedent.
might be recorded on single card or slip by
punching small holes in different parts Of it,
and that these cards might then be assorted
and counted by mechanical means according
to any selected grouping Of these perforations,
as was first suggested by him in 1880.
This suggestion was taken up by Mr.. Herman
Hollerith and by him has been elaborated into
practical shape the system which is now in use
in the population and vital statistics division
OF the eleventh U. s. census, and which has
been adopted for the compilation work Of the
recent Austrian and Canadian censuses.
For each individual living in the United
States June !, 1890, as shown by the census
schedules, the facts relating to sex, age, color,
conjugal condition, birthplace, birthplace Of
each parent, occupation, number of children,
&C., have been indicated on a piece Of stout
MANILA paper 65s inches long by 81 inches
wide, by punching holes in different parts of it.
same facts are reported, and, in addition, the
cause Of death and the month of death. The
place Of residence. by state and district. is in
dicated in like manner.
The number Of subdivisions which can be
distinguished in recording the different classes
pie, in forty-eight spaces it is possible to re-
cord the distinction for each of 45, 900 different
districts, as is actually done by the gang punch
system for the census. Two groups Of twenty
holes each will give 1000 subdi-
visions in combination by twos The present
sized card is sufficient to contain twelve groups
OF twenty-four holes Each Of these twenty
four taken singly will give twenty-four subdi-
visions; taken by twos, they will give 276: bv
threes. 2.024; by fdors, 1926, or a total Of
12,95O A million of these cards weigh about
5,0O0 pounds and occupy q space Of about 1872
cubic feet.
THE COURSE OF THE PUNCHED CARDS.
The cards thus punched are passed through
aachines in which an electrical connection is
made by the passage of a metal rod through
the cards wherever hole has been punched,
and the currents thus produced actuate a series
OF small dials on which the number of the data
IL recorded. About forty Of these dials are
usually used at once, each of which records a
single class Of facts For example, the first dial
may be set TO count males under one year of age,
or all white males under one year of age or ali
white males born in Pennsylvania under twenty
years OF age, or all white male butchers in
Pennsylvania whose mothers were born in
Germany and who are between twenty five and
thirty years Of age. II no record has been
punched on the card for age, birthplace, &C..
the machine does not record and the attention
of the operator is called to the fact that the
card is defective.
The machine not only records certain groups
OF facts on the dials, but has series of assort-
ing boxes which also have electrical connections
by means OF which the cards. as they pass
through the machine, can be assorted into
groups on any system required; as for instance
into groups OF ages, into groups of birthplace
or according to birthplace of mothers or ac-
cording to occupations, &c.
In the population division, after q little
training. the average number OF cards punched
per day by each operator was 766, some punch
ing 200 to 400 per day. In. punching death
records the work was q little slower, but ten
clerks averaged over 900 per day each.
THE ACCURACY OF THE WORE.
The accuracy of the work in punching by
each person was tested at the beginning in
what was called practice work, and no one was
allowed to enter upon the work of punching
until the percentage of error made in practice
work had been reduced to the minimum. A
certain proportion of cards punched by the
clerk in his particular section was each day
carefully compared and verified and the num-
Der and character OF errors made recorded and
reported.
In the work Of punching three classes of
errors may occur. First. some part Of the in
formation necessary to complete the transcript.
may be omitted. In all such cases, however,
the cards are invariably rejected by the tabu-
lating machines, and cannot be counted
until the proper corrections have been made
Second, the record punched on the card may
Se Inconsistent as, for instance, young per-
son less than ten years OF age may De re-
corded US a carpenter. Such incorrect tran
scripts. however, appear in the tabu-
lations, and will then, i.s a matter of course be
eliminated; third, the card may be so punched
that the error may be said to be consistent for
example, persons age may be twenty nine
years instead OF twenty-five years. Mr.. Hunt
culeI Oh tue OlVlSlOn, reports as the
result of the tests and checks which have been
made that the percentage OF this class of error
is entirely immaterial.
The number of cards which can he passed
through the machine in days work Of seven
hours depends on the number of readings which
have to be taken from the dials, which, Of course
depends upon the size OF the unit of area for
which the reading is taken. At the commence
ment the daily average number OF cards passed
through the machine for each worker, with an
average Of five readings copied off was, 3.404 At
the end Of July the average number for each
worker, with an average number of nine daily
readings, was 1000 Taking the ten most ex-
pert operators in July, the daily averages were
1873, 8723, 9,008 and g. 3s3. In the vital statis-
tics division the highest daily average for four
months was as follows: January, I2405. with
sixteen readings; February, 1912, with thir-
teen readings; March, l2.02l, with nineteen
readings; April, 1866, with eighteen readings
COMPARISON OF FIGURES.
With these figures may be compared those for
transcribing census data on cards and compiling
by asserting these cards, a. was done in pre-
pairing the statistics of the insane. deaf and
blind. The average number of individual rec
ords copied in script per day per clerk was
l64. For the last week it was 25Z. These rec
ords contain all the data on the population
In asserting these cards about 1,750 per day
would be distributed by one clerk and the real
ings taken.
The conclusion is that the data on population
schedules and schedules of deaths can be copied
from rs to SO per cent more rapidly by punch
ing than by transcribing, and that, with punched
cards and the electric counting machine the