Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1900-02-19
CENSUS DIFFICULTIES.
Census Taking Is By No Means a Political
Picnic.


eleventh census cost more than $11, 0OO,-
900, and in the twelfth census an office
force of more than 1000 for about two
| years, and a field force of over 10000 for
| from two weeks to a month, will be
employed. Then, too, the Hollerith tab
ulating machines, by which the popula-
ton is counted and the returns tabulat-
ed, make demonstrating a huge indus
trial process. The ensus office becomes
a factory; the director of the census a
captain of industry, who, If he Is to be
successful, must possess all the direct
| i've energy and genius for organization
| which characterize our most successful
| manufacturers and railroad presidents.
Among the troublesome problems
| which have Ito be solved by the census
| office are the legal questions which con-
| tinually arise. The Indian census, for
instance, fairly bristles with legal diff
| that a special report upon the In
| dams should be made. A volume of 700
| odd pages was published, %profusely IL
Illustrated and touching every point of
the Indian problem. For once in his
tory "Poor 10" was accorded justice.
The volume was so pretty that the edi-
ton was soon exhausted, and NOW the
department of the interior has not even
a copy for the census office itself.
But the law providing for the twelfth
| census makes no special provision for
| an Indian census; nor does 1T authorize
| such a special report as was made ten
| years ago. 1t is at this point that the
real difficulties of the censu office re-
garding the Indians begin.
The Indian population, then, cannot
| be treated by itself and described in a
| separate report. 1t also seems illogical
/ to class the Indians among the ordinary
| population of the United States. The
| Indian tribe is in many respects a dis
| tinct nationality, although since 1871
| congress has been doing its best to de-
| stroy all traces of tribal independence
| or self-government. Moreover, the tri-
| bal Indians are not citizens of the Unit
ed States. The reservations upon
which they live are not legally parts Of
THE state or territory which surrounds
| them, and state and territorial laws do
I not apply to the reservation or to the
| Indians upon it. Acts of congress do
| not apply to reservation Indians, unless
such application is explicitly authorized
in the act.
Under such conditions it seems impos-
sible for the census office to- class In
| dams as a part of the ordinary inhab-
| itants of the states and territories. On
the other hand, it is equally impossible
| to ignore them and omit them entirely.
For the constitution of the United
States says that Representatives shall
be ap%portioned among the several states
according to their respective numbers,
| counting the whole number Of persons
in each state, excluding Indians not
taxed"
This fastens upon the census office a
duty that seems plain enough. But as
a matter of fact, it would give the at
| torney general Of the United States
| some hours of work to explain exactly
| what is meant by the apparently SIM
| Pile phrase, Indians not taxed" The
uncertainty in the phrase Is in the
meaning of the word taxed" The tri-
bal Indian, like other inhabitants Of the
United States, is subject to the internal
revenue duties and the various stamp
taxes now imposed by the United
| States. If he uses a bank check he must
| stamp 1t; If he manufactures a box Of
cigars, he must stamp 1t. Is he taxed"
| thereby?
Just what a tax" lis in the meaning
I of the constitution has never been def
/ nitely decided, although the question
has been before the supreme court many
times. The famous income tax cases
hinged upon this very point. Ex-Sena-
tor Edmunds and Joseph H. Choate,
now ambassador to England, assisted
by some of the most eminent lawyers Of
America, successfully argued that an
income tax was a direct tax, within the
lIlCeiIlIIN5 vi IlIC SOAl0tNIuIiOlns IICy
General Olney, James c.. Carter and
other prominent lawyers gravely ar
gued that an income tax was not a
"tax," but an excise or duty. At the
first hearing of the case the supreme
court was evenly divided upon many
of the points at issue. At the second
hearing the decision was rendered with
four dissenting justices against the five
who concurred in the opinion Of the
court that an income tax was a direct
tax.
Whether or not a stamp duty Is a
tax, and If 1t is, whether 1T is a direct
tax; whether Indians not taxed
means Indians not directly taxed, or
whether it may not mean Indians not
taxable, are questions that must be de-
cided by the census office before 1t can
form it's plan for the Indian enumera-
ton.
The last question has been a subject
Of debate aver since Indian censuses
have been taken. In 1890 there were
about $4,000 civilized Indians living
among the general population OF the
United States. Such Indians are citi-
zens Of the United States, but many Of
them are too poor to pay taxes. Are
they to be excluded from the popula-
ton according to which representation
in congress 10 apportioned? Every Chi
nese and other allen Of whatever sort or