The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-02-06
NEW PLAN FOR TAKING CENSUS.
Features of the House Bill Explained
by Mr.. Hopkins.

by MIR. Hopkins.
WASHINGTON, Feb. sit is stated that
President Mckinley wishes the Office of di-
rector of the census to be made Independent
of any other department of the government,
and the House committee has prepared
legislation to meet his views. Heretofore
the census has been taken by superintend-
ent who has been subordinate to member
of the Cabinet, usually the secretary of the
interior The President desires that the
Census Bureau shall be independent and
that the director, as it is proposed to desig-
nate the head, shall be responsible to him
alone. He has stated that if Congress will
enact the law to carry out this idea he Will
appoint as director a man fully qualified to
sit in the Cabinet The director of the CEN
sus will not be a member of the Cabinet,
but he will stand in the same relation to the
President.
Chairman Hopkins, of the House commit
tee in explanation of the new plan OF or
ganization, said Under the Senate bill
the secretary of the interior is practically
the head of the census office. He is selected
for that great Office by the President OF the
United States, not with a view TO any spe-
cial qualifications for organizing census
bureau and managing the same or for the
taking of a census. In fact, he may be a
great secretary of the interior and still the
most undesirable person that could be Sc
lected for the head of census bureau,
whereas a director of the census will be Sc
lected by the President with special refer
ence to his fitness for such work Such
man should not have his hands tied by d
secretary of the interior who may have lit
tie or no knowledge of such matters. If
the bureau is made a separate and inde-
pendent office there will be no divided re-
sponsibility. In the selection of a director
of the census the President will appoint a
man who has not only the requisite knowl-
! edge. experience and ability for such work,
but will select a man of great executive ca
pacity well.
ITO insure the greatest efficiency in the
work of taking the twelfth census, the
Senate bill, as we'll as the substitute pre-
pared, provides for in addition to the di-
rector, an assistant director of the census,
who shall be an experienced, practical stat
istician. The bill also provides that the
chiefs of the five general divisions OF the
Office shall be persons of known and tried
experience in statistical work. The bill
also provides for geographer, whose duties
it VIII be to aid the director OF the census
in dividing the country into suitable dis
tricts for the work OF supervisors and
enumeratorS"
The new plan departs in some important
particulars from the old methods of census
taking. In the tenth census the law pro-
vided for $50 supervisors and in the eleventh
census for lf5. The director OF the census
is authorized to employ one or more super
visOrs in each State, Territory and the Dis
trict of Columbia, not exceeding, however,
tlovea bI,D6rad i'm Number Tho a1ItbOriza fiOn
of three hundred will enable the director
of the census to conform his work more
nearly to the civil divisions of the several
States and in many cases VIII enable him
to conform the supervisors districts to that
of the congressional districts in the States.
The smaller districts that Will thus be given
supervisors will bring the territory OF each
more nearly within the radius of the super
Visors personal acquaintance and Will en-
able him to prepare more exact enumera-
tors districts. zach supervisor is charged
with the performance within his own dis
trict of the following duties:
ITO consult with the director of the CEN
sus in regard to the division of his district
into subdivisions most CONVENIENT for the
Durpose of the enumeration which subdf-
visions shall be declared and the boundaries
fixed by the director of the census to deSig-
nate to the directors suitable persons and
with the consent of the director to employ
such persons as enumerators one or more
for each subdivision, and resident therein"
THE bill provides" said Mr. Hopkins,
that the subdivision assigned 10 enumera-
tors shall not exceed 1900 inhabitants, ac-
cOrding to the estimates based on the pre-
ceding census or other reliable information.
1t is quite probable that in the division of
the work the director OF the census will
find 1t not only expedient but necessary to
limit the enumeration districts to much less
imam 4,UVO inhabitants, lnaSmuch as the Dill
provides that the census of the population,
which is to be taken in 1900 in rural districts
must be completed within thirty days from
June 1, and in cities of 5000 inhabitants;
and over the census of the population must
be completed within fifteen days. 1t is
therefore, apparent that the subdivisions for
the enumeration work must be small enough
in numbers, we'll as territory to enable
the enumerators to do the work quickly and
efficiently within the time limit"
The House
necessary to include in this census some
subjects which were embraced in the elev-
enth. Among those omitted this time are
Real estate mortgages, fish and fisheries
surviving soldiers, sailors and widows in
surance, transportation by rail irrigation
proprietorship of farms and homes Indians