The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1893-05-20
THE CENSUS OFFICE.
One of the croatec4 Curiosity
Shops in the Land.
OF Omcinis WHO Found That
Ccnsus-Taking Is Not an UnalIoycd
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS of
Great Men.
Especial Washington Letter.


One of the greatest curiosity shops of
the present and for the future is the cen
sus Office. The amount of information
gathered by the divers means of the
eleventh census is not only valuable but
in many senses curious and absurd If
the data in the various bureaus of the
census Office were accessible and if
they were not official secrets SO that
they cannot be published, one might
fill whole library full of funny, val
liable and pathetic facts.
One of the curious things, and, in
fact, there arc many curious things
which are not funny. is document
from prominent citizen of Indiana
which states that the gentleman who
made it ont is the head of family ana
that his business is prosperous. lie
says that his name is Benjamin Harr-
son, and the business upon which he
was then engaged was fulfilling the
duties of president of the United
States; the residence in which he was
located with his family in the city of
Washington was not mortgaged, and
that he had sufficient income to sup
port himself and his family. All these
statements and many others equally
amusing are made upon Il slip contain
ing printed questions for distribution
throughout the country by the collect
ors of the census statistics. President
Harrison filled out his in due form in
1890 and it is now on file.
n gentleman who writes very fine
hand and signs himself Grover Cleve-
land says that he is an attorney at law
and is doing II prosperous business
which is sufficient to support himself
and family, which, he says, consists
only of himself and his wife; but from
reliable information the country ut
large is we'll aware of the fact that
the Cleveland family has been in
creased since that slip of paper was
made out for the census agent; and
that Mr.. Cleveland is no longer engaged
in practicing law.
There is another slip made out in
autograph form stating that the indi-
vidual is named rutherford Il. HAYES,
that he resides in Ohio. and that his
business is farming. lie assured the
census agent and the government that
he was making u fair living for his
family, and that his house is not mort
gagged; and so forth. There are n,
other cX-prcsidents now living or we
would have Il number of their auto
graph statements.
There is another slip which is made
out in the strong and bold handwrit-
ing Of James G.. Blaine, who states
that his home is in Augusta, Me-. but
that the business in which he was then
engaged required him to reside in
Washington, where he was secretary of
state for the United states govern
m.3,t.
Thomas l.. Bayard, of Delaware, an
nounccs that he is an attorney at law
and Is doing a prosperous business
sufficient to support his family. Mr.
Bayard was secretary of state during
the former Cleveland administration,
and writes a very good hand, indeed,
for q statesman of such promincnce
Melville w. Fuller states that his
residence is in Washington, ID. c.. and
that his business is chief justice of the
supreme court, that his residence is not
mortgagcd and that he is making n
good living for himself and for his fam
lily. Mr.. Fuller is very small man
physically, but he writes as big a hand
as Goliath, of Gath. could have written
if he had known anything about pen
manship.
l.. Q. c. Lamar, who was secretary
of the interior during the first Cleve-
land administration, and formerly one
of the greatest senator's from the
south, filed out census slip stating
that he then resided i'll the city of
Washington, and his business was that
OF associate Justice Of the United
a u |