New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1892-05-17
MORE CENSUS FRAUDS.
A NEW CHAPTER IN THE STARTLING TALE
OF CRIME
OVER THREE HUNDRED THOUSAND FICTITIOUS
AND DUPLICATED NAMES PUT on THE
ROLLS FOR NEw.YORK AND BROOK
LYNLTHE DISCLOSURES OF
A TRUE CENSUS
TABLE.
IRON A STAFF CORRESPONDENT OF TIE 1nIBuSE'l

IRON STAFF CORRESPONDENT or TIE 1RBuNk'J
Albany. MAY lG.-Secretary Rice has not yet
made any statement in answer TO The Tribunes
charge that he made a false and fraudulent ePo''
to the Legislature Of the facts contained 10 inc
enumerators' rolls concerning the popnla'lon y.
the State Of New-York He has not YET oheIeu
TO show the rolls, any other OF the recorus u
the Enumeration Bureau. He maintains 'de aV'i-
tude Of indifference which has characterized ,'''''
since he began to show himself in his T~ o',o''
a. q man who was willing 10 commit any cri"0
for the benefit of his political party.
In the correspondence hitherto printed by The
Tribune nothing has bech said concerning the
accuracy or inaccuracy of the work done Dy ue
enumerators The charges thus far made rea'e
ONLY TO the work of computation done ny Vnc
clerks OF Rice's Enumeration Bureau from 'ho
data which the enumcrators sent In. II has pech
charged, and, by the silence of the accused OH
Gals and by their refusal TO show the roiis
which would prove just what the iact Is. IL H''
been substantially admitted that the rolls WIZ
so altered by the bureau clerks. 'unGer tne ulf'o-
ton of their superior officers as to make IL appear
that enormous masses of persons propaoS us uid"s
.s oso 600 were returned by the enumcratorS as
citizens whereas they were in fact returned as
aliens: that thousands of the alien inmates Vi
charitable and penal institutions were similarly
marked and counted as citizens that 2o,o'V was
arbitrarily added to the population OF lHooNiSh
about an hour after Rice sent i'll his report 10 tne
Ieoisla,ure. and that, on the night of April 20,
iust before the report was completed 1ase anu
forced notifications were resorted to to compei
- ,oooor, of different sets of figures which
I'D mot bv honest arithmetic be made to agree,
.x,een or eighteen clerks being engaged IN these
fraudulent operations for a period of four or hvc
hours and the results of them extending INTO the
.or,nutations of the population OF ABOUT twenty
different counties.
Theso charges were brought by The Tribune
ION days ago. The Deputy Secretary, Mr.. bene-
dict mot them with lame and hating dehlai
accompanjed by a blunt REFUSAL whlch ne mas
since many times repeated, 20 subject the charge
and tho denial also 10 the test OF an actual eNaih
nation of the records. In presenting the charges
IL WIS said by The Tribune that now lar the
original returns of the enurierators aHordcd uie
basis of an honest count OF the population was
not then known: but that inasmuch as theS
wen, the fruit of great political crime. the theft
of the LEGISLATURE; and indSmuch as great po-
Ntical crime had been born of them, the theft of
representation in the Legislature for the benefit
of Tammany Hall and the Brooklyn Democracy
and inasmuch as they were the work Of the man
who was most conspicuous in the commission OF
both these gross outrages it required the faith OF
a fool TO believe that the returns themselves were
honest.
The more they are studied, the more clearly does
it appear that they are fraud almost from the
first roll to the last. They were taken by par
tisan enumerators from one end of the State 10
the other am told that in Rices great army
of enumerators. 5000 in all, there was only one
Republican. He was the enumerator Of an election
district up in St. Lawrence County from which
~ mot
single Democratic voter living there. The census
was taken in the month of February, when SHOWS,
even heavier than are usual in this State at that
period Of the winter season, were on the ground
and when many Of the country districts were
almost impossible. 1t is easy to prove,
as l shall prove. that from the rolls
Of these country districts thousands OF names
were omitted. Putting aside the metropoli-
tan district, and considering only that part Of
the State which is above the Harlem River. il is
practically true to say that nowhere. excepting
in the counties containing large cities, where the
enumerators could get around easily in spite of
the snow was the enumeration fair and honest.
II is easy to prove this. Nothing in this world
of change and growth Is surer than the arithmetic
of vital statistics On that arithmetic the life
insurance companies do millions upon millions
of business. Their actuares calculate to II
dot the average length Of human life and the
possibility Of gain or loss in all of hundred diff
ferent schemes of insurance based on so much
money for so much risk. No problem in Euclid
is more beautiful or scarcely more exact than a
life insurance table Similarly given the con-
ditions Of change growth in community where
on average may be ascertained in the size of the
families and where the inflow of immigration is
known, an estimate of the population for series
OF years can be reached with astonishing precision.
TV A~Ll- =
proves the great fraud Of the Rice census
From the records in the State library in the
Capitol. it has been possible to make an estimate
Of the population in 802 according to the ratio
OF increase decrease between 1875 and 1890.
This is, taking the State census of 1919. the
Federal census of 1880 and the Federal census Of
1900. the ratio Of increase or decrease in each
county has been ascertained. Applying that
ratio TO the two years between the Porter census
and the Rice census. the gain or loss for those
two years has becn computed In tie table
below have considered each OF the counties in
this State containing large city-the county of
Albany, containing Albany; OF Erie containing
Buffalo; OF Monroe, containing Rochester: OF
Oneida, containing Utica; of Onondaea, contain
ing Syracuse: Of Rensselaer,, containing Troy OF
Kings. containing Brooklyn, and of New-York, con-
tanning Ncw-York City. These those parts OF
the State where despite the winter weather, Il
fair census could he fairly TAKEN where the
population naturally at home. and where the
cnumerators could 20 around from house Ia hOust
without difficulty interruption. The cond
tions In each Of theec cities 10 the facility witt
which the enumeration could do his work wcr,
identical lie could 20 around Albany, Buffalo
Rochester, Utica, Syracuse onl Troy easily rs
around Brooklyn and Ncw-iork. In es;imating
what should be the population in 1892 il each OF
these communities, the mathematical conditions OF
computation are also identical. From 1850 T.
1890 Albany increased in population 1868 Eric
Increased 03.097; Monroe increased 44,6S3
Oneida increased 7.441 Onondaga increased 2s
$40; Rensselaer, increased 0,ls5; Kings increased
$4,000, and New-lorS increased 10000, Tho
for f,ro nch a,f