Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1898-06-27
TONUMBER THE PEOPLE.

1Or numbering tne people OF tne eartn
Il is the Intention to select day in the
year 1900, and have an army OF census
takers start out on that particular day
in every quarter of the globe and count
the heads OF every person upon whom
me sun rises. The reports are sll to be
-ent in to a central establishment at
Berne, and so the greatest census tax.
ing on record will be completed by the
actual counting of the people OF the
Gord.
Some say that the scheme is not pos
5ible of accomplishment, but it will be
done, and no effort will be left unmade
and no expense spared to have the re.
turns accurate. To guide them in
their task, the census takers will have
toe estimated population made by John
Bartholomew, F. r. G. s., OF Edin-
ou,g, who has figured out that in round
numbers the population Of the
world is l,44G, $50, 900, divided as
follows: Judo Germauic or AryaD,
545, 300, 900; Mongolian or Turaiuran,
$50 900, 900; negro and Bantu, $50, ,000,-
uC9; Hotteutot and Bush, 0,000; Ma.
ay aud Polynesian. 35,000,000, and
American Indians, 100000,
TO improve on this estimated popula-
non by actual counting Of the various
races Is the work that the census-taker
who start out from Berns will have set
:or them to do. They expect that the
most difficult Of their undertaking will
be TO count the millions OF China and
the vast hordes of savsges in the inte-
rior of Africa. How they hope to pre-.
vail upon the fierce tribes of the Dark
Continent to submit to the counting
process, when those savages have re-
sisted ali previous efforts Of the white
man to make friends with them, the
promoters OF the census scheme do not
say. Neither are they on record with
any explanation OF the means at their
command for overcoming the scruples
of the half civilized races in the heart
of the Chinese empire about allowing
che plying curiosity of the white man
% be grauied without fight aud the
shedding of blood.
II is asked whether or not the
census-takers intend to make the COM
plete subjugation of the savage
tribes of Africa an incident of
the census taking; how they propose to
break into the secIusion of the Asiatic
mountain trbsman's domain without ali
armv at their backs; whether or not they
Will include explorers OF repute among
the men they will send to count the
ne pple of the unknown regions beyond
the Himalayas or in the land OF eternal
ics that surrounds the North Pole.
TGese difficulties are but few of the
many that suggest themselves to those
who question the success OF the attem mpt
TO number the people.
In answer to those who point out the
difficulties to be looked for in counting
the people of the Chinese empire,
those who favor the plan to take u
census of the worlds population point
ont that Ii Hung CDang has been con-
suited, and has given his enthusiastic
endorsement and promised to render
any assistance in mis- power. AT present
no friend has arisen 10 the heart OF
Africa to offer safe passage through
that land of mystery to the man VINO
comes with pencil and pad to number
the Inhabitants. This of all lands it is
important to include in the census-tak-
ing. for the figures given OF the num-
hers of its inhabitants change
every time an explorer dives into the
interior. and after lapse of time
emerges to tell the world he has dis
covered new race of people number
inc q few millions to be added to the
known population Of Africa.
West of India are the vast lands that
Alexander overran in his conquest
Afghanistan, Persia, and Turkey, IN
Asia. How many scores of millions or
even hundreds of millions may they
not contain? Many of the uplands OF
Persia are practically unknown to the
civilized world, but they can support
great population. No one knows how
many people Arabia contains.
Nobody knows how many E'qul'
maux there are dwelling in the lands
If eternal ice that encircle the North
Pole: many of the islands OF the vast
Pacific swarm with inhabitants living
on the open bounty of Nature, whose
free and careless life has captlvatedi
the imagination of hignly-cultiva1ed,
man like Robert Louis Stevenson; ana
when the census is completed, II 1t
nroyes practicle, what will it probably
show the total population of the globe
to be?