Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1900-05-24
CENSUS QUERIES.
There Are Reasons for Every Question
That Will Be Asked,


The blank schedules to be used in the
next census are now being distributed
by the census office to the enumerators,
who will start to work on June /. The
schedules contain questions which
some persons may think prying, pur-
poseless, or excessive in number. But
their number and character have been
determined by congress, not by the CEN
sus office, and all of them have been
asked in previous censuses. The only
important change since 1890 is that
some questions have been abandoned.
People are often offended at the ques-
ton, GLOW old are you?' and are apt
to wonder what use the government
can make of their replies. Taken as a
whole, the replies are as important as
any class of information the census Of
flee collects. Age returns penetrate and
elucidate every other branch of statis-
teal knowledge. They show where child
labor is prevalent, and where tn. pro-
portion of persons able to support
themselves is large or small. They re-
veal the great number of coloreC chill
dren and the short life of the negroes
under present conditions. They make
it possible to ascertain whether the av-
erage length of life is increasing or de-
creasing, how many men the nation
contains who are capable of voting or
of bearing arms, and whether the rela-
tive number of children is increasing
or decreasing.
In Mohammedan or semi-ciViliZed
countries like India .householders are
often unwilling to answer h question
regarding the sex of persons in the
house, but in civilized countries, where
the sexes are regarded as on an equali-
ty, such unwillingness does not appear.
The answers to the questions show
that in nearly all cities the females out
number the males, and that the same is
true of most of the states along the At
! lantic coast. The belief is widespread
| that, taking the world in general, there
| are more females alive at any given
time than males, and that If it were not
for immigration there would be more
| females in the United States thar
males. But census statistics show that
we cannot explain the great excess OF
males lover one and a half million) ir
the United States by immigration alone
| for when the foreign-born are left o u
of account there are still above 600, OO(
more males than females.
Few would dispute the necessity fol-
asking questions regarding race. All ar.
| guments regarding the future of any
particular race in this country, like the
Indian, the negro, or the Chinaman
must hinge upon the returns in the
census. With the Indians, moreover, i
is of the highest Importance to learr
what success the policy of the govern
ment has met with in establishing
them apart from their tribes and reser'
vations, and whether such Indians are
increasing or decreasing.
Some mothers may shrink from stat
ing the number of children they have
had and the number who are living
But from the to these ques
lions the country will learn whether thu
native American population is holding
it's own, or whether, as some have
claimed, it is being gradually supplant'
ed and displaced by the children of re
cent immigrants.
In the light of such explanations, ant
H.. ca-r 80 49, ,,o,@ nj r,,nc
tions have peer touched upon, II may
perhaps be clear to the public that nj
J question has been ordered by congress
or has beer asked by the census office
which. if properly and correctly an
swered, will not lead to suggestive in
f%erences regarding the American people
and their work.