The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1891-04-19
THE CENSUS BUREAU.
How the Stories Of IS, OO0, 900
Lives Are Recorded.
THE NEW ELECTRIC MACHINES.


=
census goes rapidly on, and today 3, so
heads are burning with figures and 1000
hands are working away herr In Washing
ton City on the reports that have come In
by the million from every nook and corner
Of the United Stafes- 1t has cost millions
of dollars to get these reports. and about
fffy thousand different men have been AZ
work during the past year in getting them
together. They cover all of our territory
from Alaska to Florida, and they deal with
the men and women Of today in every
quarter of this whole country. They tell
just what kind of people they are, give re-
ports of all their ailments and all their
good points. tell all about their property.
and, in short, describe everything with
which they are connected These reports
contain full particulars of the individual
and corporate wealth of the country.
They tell what ouE manufacturers and
farmers are doing, and they are In fact the
records Of Uncle Sans great account of
stock which he takes every ten years, in
which he figures up his men, women and
children, together with his farm animals,
and puts down on paper Just what every
thing connected with them Is and Is
worth.
l2SIE eAA y Sz0lA-xAklS3.
1t is impossible to conceive the immen-
Eity Of this stock-faking. The counting of
the people themselves was gigantic task,
but it was completed months ago. and we
now know that We have just about s., uO,-
GO of souls In the United States. Each
one Of these people, however, has history
and the story of every one has been writ
ten down on page of long foolscap paper
and has been sent here 10 Washington
City. There are IS 90, 900 of these pages,
and one of the census officers tells me that
If these were made Of the thinnest of writ
ing-paper and laid TAT one on top of the
other, they would make a pile of sheets
higher than the Washington monument
and SO heavy that it would take several
camei-back engines to carry them The
counting of the people from these Sins was
done within a few weeks and the count
was registered by electricity. Commits
sioner OF the Census Porter tells me his
machinery is such that he could count the
whole world in three months. and this
counting Is going on here in way that
has been done In no census heretofore
The Austrian government has Just
written asking about ID, and the German,
English and French are looking on with
wonder at our electrical census taking.
With these machines, Mr.. Porter's clerks
counted I, 00, 600 people . day. and he had
for time relays Of clerks 30 that the work
went on day and night. and the result Is
that this census Is being taken quicker
than any census of history. The tenth
census. that Of 1851. phhliA.ed nothing to
speak Of until 1855, and its compendium
Was not ont until that date. Mr.. Porter
tells me that he viii have the compendium
of this census published and in the hands
of the people before the next congress
meets, and this compendium viii consist
OF two large volumes about the size Of
Biackstone's Commentaries, and ii viii
contain the complete summary of all the
information gathered during the present
census The work Of the census Will alto
gefher comprise eleven large volumes, each
the size of the average law book, and these
viii give the figures and cancellations In
regard 20 everything in the United States.
COUNTING BIZ ELEcTxIcfry.
The greatest part of this work is done by
electricity. These millions of schedules
are handed over 20 hundreds of clerks. and
they by system Of numbers strike keys
in sort Of cribbage board machine which
punches holes in little cards In such places
as tell exactly what the schedules record.
The cards are twice as long as q postal
card and of the same width. By looking
at them the clerks can TEL. whether the
man was q soldier, a pauper or an idiot,
whether he was criminal or preacher.
or whether the card represents the record
OF a woman or child of months old. IL
will tell whether the woman is married.
single, widow or divorced. and each of
these records Is made by the touch
writing ont the full name, 1t is
shorthand run by typewrifing ma
chine. and IL is 50 rapid that one woman
pat down the histories Of fiffy Thousand
people IN one day upon nifty thousand of
these cards. These cards are of uniform
size Each N an. woman and child OF the
United States viii have one of them here
They viii be probably stored away and
indexed- and hundred years from nov
yogr caildrenss children viii be able 10
come here and 10 md out all about you.
10 rake up the record of yo1r diseases and
10 KNOW whether you were married, d.
vorcei- IN debt. insane and the Lord
knows what else After these holes sre
punched on the card, il Is taken 20 another
typewriIing machine run by electricity
before which smother brighr-eyed. nira-
hied-fngered girl sits and she by putting
the card under metal plate and showing
punch, records On 3 dial Just what there
Is on the.card- Al this time. little box
opens automatically for the cards that are
like one another, and in this way
the generalization Is done. It
IS done in such 8 manner that
IL cannot make mistakes and with
the least possible exercise Of hrsin work
on the part OF the operator In Is the
nearest approach Of material substance
being made 10 do the work of an inselii-
gent being have ever seen. and il Is esti-
mated that il viii save the government
hundreds Of thousands Of dollars. Each
Of these machines Is run BY elecsricitv.
They look Ike little cabinet organs, and
as the keys are struck. bells ring on each
OF the machines and the whole room
lIngles as though an hundred silvery
sleigh bells were being shaken at the same
time They were invented by = Young
man named Holierirh. who Was connected
with the last census and who gets S day
fo- the use Of each machine / under
stand that the Austrian government in
tends 10 introduce them into is census
taking, and the process viii probably be
adopted everywhere
COMMISSIONER roErEz's csxNKgY.
visited the different buildings Of the
census with Mr.. Porter, the commissioner.
He Is dArk-fsosd. hrighi-eyesl, black
haired. well-areSsea young man Of about
81. who has for the past eighteen wears
been aeiying IN facts and figures and
making money cut OF the digging. ATS
he went on the Chicago Tassr-gare<s.. and n
few years later Travelled al over the West
getting up inform alton for ths, rsver
about The Western states The FH.er-fs<ssn
paid him well for this. and he sold the
letters N h~raS form after 81 wac axx- - a