The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1899-11-11
CENSUS REFORM.
Senator Baker Thinks System
Is Too Expensive.
Would Have Work Done by the
Assessors.
ACCEPT THE RETURNS.
Government Would Have Only
to Compile the Figures
POnderOus Machinery About to
Be Put in Motion.
CCEPT THE RETURNS.

Senator Baker believes there should be /
reforms of a radical nature Inaugural
ted with reference to the national cen
sus. THE expense is enormous" said
Mr.. Baker to a Journal reporter today,
and should be curtailed.
4 do not believe said Senator Ba-
ker. that it is at all necessary for this
government to employ the great army
of men to take this census. The ex-
pense is something immense and could
easily be diminished in several import
ant points.
Il do not understand why it would
not be feasible for the government to
accept the figures obtained by the
states. The assessors take the census
every two years and their returns are
just as accurate as those which will be
procured by new men, Why could we
not accept the figures obtained by the
assessors and then have the govern
ment pay for the tabulation of those
returns for the purpose of getting to-
gether such information and statistics
as are desired
THE government could well afford to
make an appropriation of $4,000 for
each state with which to pay the e11-
penses of having the assessors returns
tabulated just as they will be tabula-
ted at Washington by an expensive bu-
reau. The federal government could
raise the appropriation for the various
states to 800, 600 and then save large
sum of money compared with the pres
ent system of doing this work L hope
that by the time the next census is up
on US there will be some more ecOnOml-
cal method OF dealing with this ques-
ton"
The enumerators will be paid for
their services in accordance with the
amount of work they are called upon
to do. This will probably give each one
an average Of $50, based upon the fig
! ureS of the last census. when the total
I amount Maid the
/ the neighborhood of two and a half mill
/ lion dollars. Each of the supervisors.
/ upon the completion of his duties, viii
! receive a hundred and twenty-five dol
/ lars and a certain sum in addition
! thereto, according to the number of
people that have been enumerated in
! his district. The law stipulaIes that in
/ the aggregate no supervisor shall be
/ paid less than thousand dollars.
\ The amounts paid to the enumerators
( and the supervisors may seem like 4
/ good sized sum for Uncle Sam to invest
! in the work of counting people but it
/ is a very small item indeed When COM
! pared with the total cost of taking the
| census.
In former years the counting was
done with paper and pencil, and re
CURED great many months of tedious
! work. Now it is done by electricity,
| and in the space of a hundred days all
] the facts relating to IS million people
} VIII be counted and tabulated. As soon
! as the returns begin to come into the
census office the facts recorded on the
/ schedules will be carefully transcribed
on cards.
There will be a card for every in
| diVidual, and all facts pertaining to
| that individual will be noted upon the
| card; so that by the time all the sched-
uIeS nave been received and Transcribed
| there viii be as many cards as there
/ are people in the United States, and the
estimated number is seventy-five mil
[ lion. This quantity of cards, if placed
/ in piles one card fiat upon the other,
/ would make ninety-five towers each as
high as the Washington monument,
which is five hundred and ffty-fve feet
tall
The facts relating to each person are
not put on the card in writing, but are
indicated by holes punched into the
/ card. Each hole, according to its posi-
! ton on the card, stands for a, certain
( fact. A hole here viii indicate that
the person IS a male; a hole there Will
| signify that he is married, and a hole
| at another point will denote that he is
| white; and so on with each fact per-
tanning to that particular individual.
| The punching of the cards will be
done by special perfOrating machine,
which is easily operated. and in the
J hands of a Skillful operator viii trans
| cribe from the schedules the complete
record OF seven hundred persons a day
! which means the punching Of about
twenty thousand holes in six and a
| half hours One thousand of these ma
/ chimes win be put into use, which viii
enable the census Office to prepare q
daily average of seven hundred thou
sand cards.
The amount of Office work that the
bureau is called upon 10 perform in the
preparation and publication of its re-
ports, to say nothing of the great mass
of incidental labor, is truly enormous
and will probably cost Uncle Sam, fol
clerk hire alone, something over five
million dollars before the work is finish
ed. The Office force is composed about
equally of men and women, the major.
ity of whom are paid about fifty dollar:
a month each.
Next to this large item of expense OF
account of the salaries is the cost Of
printing, which Will be not far shOrt
of two million dollars by the time al
the reports and special bulletins and
pamphlets are issued, and taking intC
account the millions of copies of Office
! blanks. letter heads, envelopes seized
ules, circulars. etc. When the expenses
| of the twelfth census are summed VI
| Uncle Sam will probably find that j
| has cost him about fifteen cents for eV
| cry man, woman and child in the United
| States, or a total of between ten ant
| twelve million dollars.