The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1900-05-29
YEARS Of WORK
How the Census Electrical
Machines Count.
The IS, 200, 900 People in The Nation Will be
Enumerated With Incredible Rapidly =
by These Machines.

by These Machines.
| fcneciaI Disnatch TO The Chicago Record
from a STAFF Correspondent
Washington. May 1S.-Down at the
Census office are q THOUSAND or mere
| electrical machines that can ;imost talk.
and the labor hey save is Impossible TO
calculate. But for them it would require
5000 clerks several years TO t;.bu!l'e and
classify and compute the Information sent
in by the 80, 900 enumeratOrs regarding
the -. coo, 900 people who compose THIS
great and glorious republic.
The first thing TO be done when the
returns Of the enumeratOrS are sent III
upon large sheets of paper will be to
transfer the information they contain 10
strong manila cards about four by eight
inches in size. The cards are impersonal.
but each bears a number and represents
q citizen of the United States. Eighty
million cards have been provided. Upon
this card are 24O symbols, which repre-
sent every item of that could
POSSIBLY be reported by an enumcrator
under his Observation-Disclosures, age,
cClCr. sex, occupation, number of chill
dren. etc. For example, the w over
at the left-hand upper corner OF the
card means white; b" black; Oh,
Chinese: Up" Japanese; In Indian.
IN the next row NJ represents male
and 'F'' female. Over in the other cor
ner are the signs for place Of nativity,
which can easily be Identified, the upper
letters representing the States and the
lower ones foreign cOuntries-"En.,'
England: IS. A." South America; DIX"
Denmark; ST. Switzerland; Pip"
Philippine islands.
This card is placed upon a machine
that resembles che of those tracing in
used for transferring maps.
and the keyboard corresponds exactly
to it's lettering. The operator, CHANGING
at the return of the enumeration. moves
the key over the board and places it care
fully upon the spot represented by the
symbol wanted. This causes a little
knife to pierce a hole in the card at
that precise spot, and when the operation
is completed the card resembles the per-
fOrated sheets that are used in orches-
trions and automatic pianos.
When all the returns from a census
district have been transferred in this
manne from the enumeratOrS' sheets to
the cards the latter are packed away in
a tin box, properly marked, each box
being large enough to hold 1000 cards,
and it can be easily stored away with
other canned Statistics. each box bearing
a label Indicating it's contents.
I do not think l can describe the emu
merating machine so that the reader
can understand it. 1t is about the size
of an upright piano. Upon the upright
part IS d set of dials, like steam regis
ters. one for each Of the items embraced
in the population schedules. When the
operator runs through this machine the
manila cards as above described and
closes an electric circuit by MOVING Il
lever, a little rod runs through each hole
in the card and causes the dial 1T the
other end Of a wire to register one.
Therefore when the operator has COM
pleted the pile of cards and has run
them all through the machine the infor-
nation they contain has been accurate
ly transferred to the several dials, and
the operator can take the totals off on
a slip of paper prepared for that purpose.
Inc dlals will show how many of the
people represented by those 1000 cards
were born in Ireland and how MANY in
Ohio; how many are married; how MANY
are naturalized citizens, and all the 9TH
er answers to the inquiries imposed bv
Congress upon enumerators.
The economy of this remarkable meth
Oh was illustrated beyond a question in
the last census, and can be appreciated
When 1t IS known that Alexander Maui
rice, one OF the clerks in the last CEN
sus, averaged 1880 cards a d~ay-ahou,
six and d half hours Worthwhile his
highest record for any given day was
10 ,071 cards.
Anybody who will compare this work |
with the old-fashioned tally sheets, with
closely packed lines of figures, which
used TO drive some of the census clerks
Dllnd and others crazy. can realize the
value OF the enumerting machine, which
could not make an error under any cir |
cumstances. 1t is estimated that in the
last census these machines saved not
less than $500 ,00O in clerk hire. Both
were invented by Herman HOliarith. 2
of Columbia college. New York
who was a clerk in the census of 1890
anc also IN That of 1890, where he in
vented Doth devices with the assistance
OF Or. Billings, now librarian Of the
United Libraries of New York: Henry
Gannett OF the geological survey and
others who took an interest in his work
He has since perfected the apparatu;
and is now preparing to place 600
machines and 25O enumertine
in the census office Mr. Ho1,
inventions have been adopted bv
Germany, Russia and Canada
and are now being adapted to railway
accounts. Both the Pennsylvania and
the New York Central Railway companies
nave introduced them and are finding
them very useful.