Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-09-28
QUESTIONS TO BE ASKED
Census Director Merriam Confers With the
President.
Information Which the Bureau Will
Try to Obtain With More Details
Than Before.

Ex-Gov Merriam the director of the GEN.
sus, has had several conferences at the
White House recently as to matters per-
tanning to his bureau. Among these. 1t Is
said is the subject of questions which are
to be propounded to the 70,000.o00 people
of the country next June. They have been
decided upon by Director Merriam and will
soon be printed. They have met with the
approval of the President. it Is said.
In general the endeavor has been to make
the questions simpler than before and to
reduce their number. This is in accord
with the views of the census committees of
the two houses of Congress. Several OF
the questions which aroused the most an
tagonism in 1890 have been omitted alto
gether.
Objectionable Questions.
The chief of these was the inquiry of
each person whether he or she had any
acute or chronic disease. and if SO, for
what length of time he or she had been
affected. If information on these points
could be secured with accuracy and COM
pleteness it would be of the utmost value,
but people generally declined to answer
them in full, and some lawyers held that
the question was unconstitutional. They
also said that the courts might not punish
any one who might decline to answer. The
newspapers were full of criticism Of this
question
For about the same reasons the questions
relating to the defective classes, in mind,
hearing sight etc, have been dropped ex-
cept in so far as the institutions having
these classes in their care are concerned.
The trouble was that In house to house
canvass persons would not give out with
any great freedom facts as to physical all
ments in their own families. Particularly
was this the case as to mental defects.
oely, -hntI 10
a prisoner, convict, homeless child or pau
per has been dropped.
Questions of Age.
Some questions, on the other hand, have
been made more elaborate than in the last
census. Especially Is this true in regard
to age. 1t has heretofore been the prac-
tice in all censuses to ask simply for
persons age at his or her last birthday.
Next time. in addition to that, the enume-
rators will ask of each person the month
and the year he or she was born. The trou-
BILE with the old question was that too
many even numbers were, through ignor-
ance or Indifference, furnished.
1t is obvious, it is said, that the number
Of fifty-year-old persons ought to average
about the same as persons forty-nine or
ffty-one years Old. AS a matter of fact
those who report themselves having
been thirty. forty or fifty years old at the
last birthday is considerably greater than
ror is greatest among negroes. Among for
eign-born whites it is greater than among
native-born whites
Increase in Population.
Another question which has been extend
ed is that relating to the number of chill
dren born to each mother, and the number
still living at the time the census is taken.
This has been made into two questions for
greater distinctness. The same Informal
ton was sought in 1890. but only that part
of it was worked out which related to the
number of births.
Until the net result of the increase of
population is known Ghe excess of births
over deaths) it will be impossible to tell
how rapidly the different races and ele-
ments of the population have increased. 1t
is generally believed that where the birth
rate is the highest the death rate is also
very high, which makes the actual increase
of population less than would be supposed
This question will be of particular interest
in the south, where the relative increase
of the white and colored races is matter
Of door,