The times., 1899-03-12

giving a general outline of the policy that
viii be followed in taking the census of
1900. The statement, which is the first that
mas been given out By the new officers, was
prepared jointly by Mr.. Merriam and Mr..
Wines, and is as follows
A. to prospective appointments to Office. the
-eFFicc' Of no more staff officers can he utilized
al present, and there will be no others selected
within certainly thirty days Prot Henry Car
nett, the weifknown geOgrspiier Of the Geological
survey, who was the political aud statistical
=eoSrapher OF the last census. has been asked to
take charge Of the work for the coming
census, and II the theological Survey j. willing
! to spare him sufficiently TO undertake this work
he viii be ihtriistcd with it and given an absJ-
iutely free hand
Until the schedules come back TO the office
from the enumcTators in July 1890. there wiil b.
II" clerAs wanted save such small skeleton force
as will be needed to take care OF the corre--
ponGence and office work preliminary to the tax
ing OF the censuS. When the schedules com, back
there will be a large force oi employees appoint
ed All applications for Office viii receive con-
,idelation. and large number already have be~r
received and placed on file
While the impression lia, gone abroad that the
census - 10 be i refuge Tor incompu oney. tho
truth and the actual tac's that all applicants
VIII be sailiected to examination before appoint
nent. whi'h viii he q, rigid as the examinations
before the Ciyit Service Commission. No political
Influence will be sufficient 10 put an cmploye on
the work To he assigned him the Director is not
satisfied IN advance. And. furthermore ii any
employe is found to be incompetent on ttiII
such employe will be discharged regardless OF his
or her political backing.
The examinations OF employees will he direct
ed not 50 much ioy the testing OF their gcnr,al
information and capacity IL Will be 10 their
ntness for the work to be done, for example,
no coPysJ who cannot write OF spell Satisfactorily
viii be appointed calculators who cannot cal
culate.
First of all. after the general administrative
officers selected there must be 800 supervisors
appointed, and in their selection consult ion will
be- had with senator's and Representatives, in the
respective states IL may be announced also that
Senators and Representative who do not belong
TO the Republican party viii receive the same
faiT treatment and consideration along this linz
that Is given Republicans These supervisors ill
he appointed by the President and confirmed by
the senate. None OF these, as now contemplated.
a.e to be recess appointments but the list viii
be ready for submission to III. Senate the open
ing OF the next session. The supervisors. in turn
will appoint 10000 enumeTItOTs TO do the actual
work throughout the country, but the list ef Ip
pOintmeutS OF enunerdtOrs first mast have the
approval Of the Director of the Census. After ap
proval, they will be immediately furnished tine
necessary blanks and instructions.
This will be no small task. Assuming the popI
latiOn OF the United States this time to be- |
in round numbers, s0,OCOO1O people there must
be 100000 sheets issued for the population |
schedules alone. Adding TO these the other |
schedules there viii have tu ne in the aggregate
not less than half million -Ich sheets in print
ed form issued. All this mass of paper viii have /
Ia be manufactured and printed without delay. /
In counting the population every individual viii /
bc represented by separate card and there will |
have be manufactured and printed not les than
IJJOJJDD0 of theSc cards. 1le probability Is that
a system OF machine calculating which admits Of |
counting facts in combination and which work
cd well in the last ceusI7, will be adopted fus
that OF 1900. The office viii have to select from
the various devices the most satisfactory. and
sufficient number to do the work must then be
manufactured Tie work will be pushed with all /
possible speed consistent with accuracy. and every
effort made 10 avoid dragging the work along
unnecessarily.
Taken all in all, the complete number of ap-
pointments that will be mIdr in the course OF |
the census will he over 4j,UOn. These include
eighteen twenty stlH ohvrr>. 3nD supervisors.
10000 cnumeratoTs, and about 5000 clerks and |
other employees here
Mr.. Merriam has gone to his home in
Minnesota to arrange his private business.
1t was stated that it would be at least {,
month before any additional appointments
would be made with the exception OF Prof
Henry Gannett. Of this city, geOgrapher |
On Mr.. Merriam's return Mr. Wines will
go to Illinois to arrange his private af-
fairs