The evening times., 1900-06-30
REACHING Tee TOTALS
WashingiOn'S Population to Be
knOWn Next Week.
Last Names cn the Districts List Be
ing Added--RoIEs Close Tonight,
Made The Work of Counting
Can lie Completed in Day.

Washington people some time next week
will know just how many residents live
in the District. according to the official
census returns. II is believed by some
persons that the number will come close
10 27C.C09. but that figure is only a guess.
The census officers themselves say they
would hot tell ii they knew. but as mat
ter of fact they DO not yet know the exact
result.
The bulk of the work in preparing the
returns has already been finished, but
the task of counting has not yet been
started
This was a busy day on the third floor
Of the Atlantic building. where Census
Supervisor Dingman has his quarters. The
whole force has been struggling with
might and main TO get together the last
names in the Washington rolls. The emu
merators have ended their work, and all
the names received by them are in Mr.
Dingman's hands. But there were hun
dreds Of people who were missed for one
cause or another. Some were away for
the summer. Others could not be reached
by the enumeratOrs- Many neglected TO
fiji the blanks which were left for them by
the census people. For all of these rea-
sons it has corle to pass that the special
work Of the Washington census officers is
keeping them very busy.
When a house was found 10 he closed for
the summer. the enumerator in whose dis
trict il lay hunted up the present address
Of the occupant. and furnished a memor-
andum to Supervisor Dingman. Then COM
menced search by mail for the desired
information. Letters enclosing enumera-
tion blanks were sent 10 the wanderer. and
he was hesought TO furnish the necessary
data regarding himself and his family.
Generally the appeal proved successful,
and the facts came back by mail. Some
times the answer was returned that emu
meratcrs had insisted on taking the names
Of the Washington people at the place
where they were spending the summer. In
such cases the benefit OF their numbers
was lost 10 the District.
Mr. Dingman has a force Of about TWEEN
ty special agents looking up people who
are still in town, but for one reason or
another were not reached by the emu
meratOrs. This is the last day in which
these figures can be turned in. Every
resident in the District who has not been
placed on the census rolls by tonight will
be lost TO the total figures.
The local Office force under Nj Dingman
recting palpable errors Of tSe enumerators
and early Monday morning the entire set
OF local returns embodied in $50 pOrtfO-
lios. will be boxed in heavy wooden cases
and sent TO the national Census Office on
B Street northwest
Washington is one OF the few large cities
which Will forward returns complete at
one time Other municipalities have doled
out their compilations a little at a tine as
I nj " IT, -
completed.
With the local returns OF the District
| forwarded 10 the National Census Office. all
that Will remain before the total p0puIa-
! tiOn OF the District can be announced is
the task Of counting the names That will
be done by the delicate little electric ma
chimes which have 50 often been dascrib-
ed. a force OF I.OO0 clerks will be set at
il. and they can complete the work in less
than day Accordingly. should Mr. Ding
man get his rolls into the hands Of the
counters early Monday morning. the vital
statistics Of the city could be known by
Monday night. But II is not settled thai
the task viii be undertaken at once
Director General Merriam already has
on hand fraEnertary returns from New
York Philadelphia, Cincinnati and other
Eastern cities. They viii probably be dis
posed Of. and then Washington viii be ia
ken up II is expected that the figures
will be ready during the latter part OF the
week. Then the public VIII know the off,
cial population Cf Washington city.
While the original purpose OF census
taking was 10 furnish exact information on
which to base Congressional representa-
ton such thing as representation is IN
known in Washington.
Supervisor DinSman's work viii not end
with the correction OF his population fig
ures. He is now busy with the manufac-
turing statistics Of the city, and they will
not be ready until the middle Of next
month.
A steady stream OF applicants for po-
sitions in the National Census Office con-
tinues. There is. however. little room for
ooutsiders now. At present 200 clerks
are on the roll, and about SEQ more are to
be appointed. The latter viii come ex-
clusively from the eligible list OF 1600
names which already has been prepared
The eXamiuati rs have closed and no fu-
ture applications for examination. viii be
considered