Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-05-13
THE NEXT CENSUS
Preparations Now Being Made for
That Great Work.
COLLECTING And COMPILING FACTS
Electric Tabu ating Machines and
How They Operate,
W ON d E RFUL ACCU RACY


4
Written for The Evening Star
If anybody thinks that it is an easy mat
ter to count seventy-tive millions of any
thing. let him try counting up to one mil
lion an experiment. He will find that by
| the persistent and regular expenditure Of
| breath and energy for twelve hours a day
| he can reach that result in week. The
| entire task. therefore, would keep him
steadily engaged for more than a year
| This simple test will give an approximate
idea Of the enormous proportions Of the
| task involved when the seVenty-liVe million
| units are scattered over some six million
| square miles of the earth's surface and
when it is necessary not merely TO cnumcT-
| ate them, but TO find out d dozen different
| facts about each one. Yet this is precisely
| the task that the directors of the next
| United States census must accomplish.
| Practically all the work Of collecting the
| material will be done in the course of three
months next summer. To carry it our in
| that time the census authorities are now
| engaged in collecting a force of nearly 90
| 900 men. OF this number the ma jurty-the
| enumeratoI be employed only for
| few weeks, a most for month. but
I the clerical staff comprising several thou
/
or more in compiling the results and pub
| fishing them.
To Work More Rapidly.
In the last two censuSes those of 1850 and
1890, the publication of the results occupied
from FIVE to seven years. In that OF 1890
the last Of the volumes on population was
not off the press until seven years after the
date of beginning the work. In that of 1850
the last of the volumes was published in
1889. This represented fair rate Of speed,
considering the dozens Of bulky volumes re-
quired to contain the data collected by the
enumerators. 1t seriously impaired the
value of some of the most important stats
tics however, since they We're out Of date
by the time they came into the possession
of the public.
In the act providing for the census of
1900 Congress has stipulated that the four
principal reports-those on population, NOR
taity, manufactures and agricultuTe-must
be published by July !, 1907 This de-
mands a rate of progress four times as
great as that of the last census To meet
the requirements Of the act, preparations
are being made on much larger scale than
ever before. The plans of the census Of
Metals contemplate the employment of a
larger number of clerks than We're ever
before enrolled for the purpose
We regard ourselves" said Mr. Wines
the assistant director, .as being for all
practical purposes simply a manufacturing
concern. a great publishing enterprise has
pttil luIHtl over 70 our charge fne work.
however, is one Of vast proportion. and ii
the requirements of Congress are to be
complied with We must go at ii on a large
scale and with all necessary facilities
That is what are now planning for TO
the best of our abilities, and We believe that
We shall succeed.
Collecting and Compiling.
The actual work of the census divides
itself into two parts-collectIng the infor-
nation and compiling it for publication.
For the former purpose 10000 enumerators
Will be employed. They will gather all the
data relating to population, except in in
stituuons where special enumerators Will
be appointed from among the officials of
the establishments. The data relating to
manufactures and mechanical industries
Will be gathered by special agents who will
be of higher grade and receive more lib
era1 compensation than the enumeratOrs.
The third method of gathering Information
Will be by correspondence, and the eXami-
nation OF printed documents Of all kinds.
This will be carried on in the central Of
fee.
1.-The old method Of computing the facts
contained in a census was by a laborious
system of hand-tallying. Every fact re-
lating to each person was indicated by
pencil mark under the proper heading, on
big sheets provided for the purpose. Ihis
plan was clumsy, slow and exceedingly la
BILE to error. Toward the end of the last
census il was superseded by the ne"
method or mechanical computation. Every
process formerly executed by hand Is now
carried out by the Hollerith machine many
times more rapidly and with much greater
accuracy. Their highest recommendation.
however. is that they enable us 10 count
combinations of facts.
In compiling the results of the enumera-
ton every person in the United States Will
be represented by a card. The facts re-
corded concerning each person are shown
by holes punched in the cards. Experience
has shown that the average number OF rec
ordS that be transferred from the
schedules to the punch cards by each clerk
in one day is 100. 1t is the intention of the
census authorities. soon the sched-
ules are received to set ! 900 clerks al work
with the punching machines This will
mean something like 1oaG11 punched cards
per day and should exhaust the entire num-
Der of 10000, 900 or Whereabouts in approxi-
matey one hundred working days. OF
course, a little longer time may be required,
or a little less.
Great Labor Saver.
The punching machine. which is the
principal time and labor saver of the new
apparatus, is something like a typewriter
in appearance. The punch is attached to a
movable key. which plays over a perforated
keyboard, arranged Ike the keyboard of
typewriter. 1t contains over 200 symbols
and is an exact duplicate Of the cards en-
ployed to contain the statistics of each per
SON For the most part these symbols con-
sist OF figures and easily understood abbre-
viations and the labor of learning to op-
crate the machine is hardly any greater
than that of mastering the typewriter.
AS fast as they are punched and sorted
according to sex, nativity or color, the
caros viii be taken to the machine room
ana run through the electric tabu.ating ma
chimes. To take OF all the Information con-