The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1899-10-31
.BURY|NG DOUBLE TRACKS A. / ATKINSON RETURNS
PREPARATIONS FOR THE CENSUS
COMPLETE.
Enumeration Here will be by Race and
not by Color as it is on the
Mainland.

Alatau T. Atkinson, United States
| Special Agent-in-C Chief to take the CEN
sus of the Hawaiian Islands, returned
by the Gaelic this morning from Wash
! ington.
THE preparation for the Hawaiian
| census" Mr. Atkinson said, lis practi-
cally complete. The officials of the CEN
sus bureau devoted a great deal of at
| tention to the subject of my work, and
! facilitated it as much as possible.
Director Merriam, Dr. Wines, Deputy
director; Mr., Hunt, chief statistician,
| and Mr.. McCauley were extremely
courteous and gave me every opportu-
nifty to make satisfactory arrangements
! FOR the work to be done.
| "Tho Hawaiian census will be taken
under six chedules-populatiOn schools
churches, fisheries, agriculture and tine
sugar industry. In a general way these
| schedules conform to those that will be
used in the states. In enumerating the
| population there will be no Classifca-
tion of 'colored people, but the people
of the islands will be classed as of the
various races to which they belong.
| The agricultural and sugar industry
schedules are varied to suit conditions
in the Hawaiian Islands. All the blank
forms and circulars to be used in this
work will be in the English language,
so that the persons employed on the
work must understand English and the
| language of the people among whom
they are to work. About 100 special
agents will be employed, and I hope
the returns will reach Washington by
| the end of next August. Those to be
employed will be chiefly of the islands,
and they will have to understand at
| least two languages.
II saw proofs of all the schedule
| blanks before l left Washington, but
only one, the schedule blank for popula-
ton was printed. This provides for a
house to house enumeration of every
| individual living in the Islands June /,
1900. 1t calls for the race, sex, age,
nativity of parents, citizenship, occupa-
ton, education and ownership of house
| of each person. In the case of adults
the census will show whether they are
married. single or widowed, and in the
case of mothers how many children
they have borne.
zone of the most important features
of the census in the Islands as I look
at it, and one which was given the
greatest consideration was the decision
| to enumerate by race and not by color.
On the mainland the enumeration will
be by color. I insisted, however, that
there was no color line here and that
enumeration by race was not only the
most scientific but the method that har-
mOnlZeu Wlln our SOCIAL anu pOhllCdl
| ideas and conditions. But 1t was with
difficulty l secured this arrangement,
the enumeration by color being so firm =
ly fixed by custom in the United States.
1.-THE organization of the census office
here will proceed as soon as the local
government assigns suitable offices.
There will be two special agents to as
sist me, and in the actual work of emu
meratiOn beginning next June there will
be about 100 employed"
Mr.. Atkinson spent twenty-seven
days in Washington, this itself giving
some indication of the throughness with
which the census matter was gone into
by the Census Bureau. From Chicago
he came to San Francisco on the fastest
train that ever crossed the Continent.
1t left Chicago at $3.50 p. m. October 49,
and arrived in San Francisco at 11:lJ
a. m. October 22