Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1900-05-10
Irials Of a CinGns Enumeration.

Lancaster Grant county and in ia
the entire district viii soon We ID tA
grasp Of Richard Meyer army z
census enumeralor, While Tie pub
he may Gnd much That il disagree
able III the questions 81 the cnamera
tor. Tire ollicie himself w.l net has
a happy lot
The most difficult task of ccu-a
enumerator IS To obtain information
about tile ages II people. It's as-um
cd that a woman may llc about hei
ace and man about the fish be
catches without committing sin, 5ut
the phenomenon goes still further
Young people usually want 70 beeon
sidered old, middle-aged people report
themselves younger than they arcand
very old people will add few year,
to their actual age Children under
Is throw their ages forward to IL,
girls stretch point to be 8 and boys
10 or more always like to be consider
ed men. Therefore the age returns
Of census are usually more incorrect
than any other, and it is impossible to
determine accurately whether the
average duration Of life is increasing
or decreasing.
II is impossible for the same rea-
son. to ascertain the death rate the
number Of men Of military age OF the
number Of women capable q bearing
children. For example, il i, interest
ING to know whether the period &
collaborating among the differ nj
classc- of people is longer OF horter;
whether negroes die earlier than
whites whether the laboIing part 81
the population live longer than those
Of scdcntary occupation; whether
criminals are recruited from the
Younger or older clement Of society;
whether the employment Of children
is increasing or decreasing aud many
other estimates whose value is threat :
ened by the inaccuracy OF the age
statistics
Experienced enumcrators have
found that the tendency Of people i,
TO represent themselves younger than
they ACTUALLY are. This impulse seems
to be irresistible between the ages Of
- and 90. The greatest proportion
Of errors is at he Goth year, but the
greptest number is At the 30th year
or 10th year. Al thi, fatal Rubicon
people usually falter. In $50 there
were 6ls.6Il person, reported rs 30
year, Of age, L051556 rs - and $50
s53 persons as ll Among women
5oo,11l were reported to be Io 29a.-
o71, So, and 22f.55l Il
with fairly steady 'lew III mmi-
grafton and stationary embarrassing
population there opght always Is Is
fewer persons of q given agc Than Of
any single agc preceding less people
80 year, old than - and So en-. But
census age tables invariably show the
reverse At the last ccnsu, 2lo, $50
persons were returned as59 year old,
while the number returned 1T 90 was
502.7sS.
Where the immigration i, Slight
the persons OF a given age at one CEN
sus must necessarily be less than tie
persons ten years younger at the pre-
ceding census. Thus in 1890 the per
sons % years old were necessarily
fewer in number than the persons -
years old in 1850. because the 25-year
class Of 1890 is composed OF the sur
yiyors of the l5-year class in 1850.
These are facts, but English women
are not abashed by facts In England
the number Of women returning
themselves a. between % and - wears
Of age IS ALWAYS greater than the num-
Der of girls reported Al the preceding
census from 10 To - years old And
vet people can't b. born - wears old.