The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1900-04-07
10 SIMPLE UNDERTAKING
scme Of the Dfmcult Problems Pre-
scented I'm the Taking OF the
Twelfth Census.
Especial washington letter.

Census taking is not the political
picnic that many people imagine. Few
appreciate the magnitude of the work;
the eleventh census cost more than
81. 900. 900. and in the twelfth census
an Office force of more than 1000 for
about two years and a field force OF
over $4,000 for from two weeks TO .
month will be employed.
Among the troublesome problems
which have to be solved by the GEN.
sus Office are the legal questions which
continually arise. The Indian census,
for instance, fairly bristles with legal
difficulties. In 1890 the census law
provided that special report" upon
the Indians should be made. A volume
of 700 odd pages was published, pro-
fusely illustrated and touching every
point of the Indian problem. For once
in history, "Poor Lo" was accorded
Justice. The volume was so pretty that
the edition 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 it authorize such a report as was
made ten years ago. 1t is at this point
that the real difficulties of the census
Office regarding the Indians begin.
The Indian population, then, cannot
be treated by itself and described in
separate report. 1t also seems IL
logical 70 class the Indians among the
ordinary population of the United
States. The Indian tribe is in many
respects a distinct nationality, al-
though since 1871 congress has been
doing it's best to destroy all traces OF
tribal independence or self-govern-
ment. Moreover, the tribal Indians
are not citizens of the United States.
The reservations upon which they live
are not legally parts of the state or
| territory which surrounds them.
Under such conditions it seems inn
possible for the census Office to class
| Indians as part of the ordinary inhab-
| itants of the states and territories.
| On the other hand, it is equally impos-
eible to ignore them and omit them en-
| tirely. For the constitution of the
United States says that: Represent
atives shall be apportioned among the
several states according to their re-
spective numbers, counting the whole
| number of persons in each state, ex-
GLIDING Indians not taxed" This fast
ems upon the census Office a duty that
seems plain enough. But as a matter
of fact. it would give the attorney gen.
eral of the United States some hours
of work to explain exactly what is
meant by the apparently simple phrase
indians not taxed" The uncertainty
in the phrase is in the meaning of the
word taxed" The tribal Indian. like
other inhabitants of the United States
is subject to the internal revenue duties
and the various stamp taxes now i'm.
posed by the United States. If he uses
a bank check, he must stamp it; il
he manufactures a box of cigars, he
must stamp it. Is he taxed" thereby
Just what ''tax" is, in the meaning
of the constitution, has never beer
definitely decided, although the ques
ton has been before the supreme court
many times.
Whether or not a stamp duty is tax
and if it is, whether it is direct tax
whether Indians not taxed" means
Indians not directly taxed, or whethei
It may not mean Indians not taxable
are questions that must be decides
: by the census Office before it can form
its plan for the Indian enumeration.
The last question has been sub
ject of debate ever since Indian cen
suses have been taken. In 1890 Their
i were about $4,000 civilized Indians liv
. ing among the general population o
t the United States. Such Indians ar
! citizens of the United States, but man
of them are too poor to pay taxes
!. Are they to be excluded from the POP
: ulation according to which represen
1 tation in congress is apportioned? W
+ count every Chinese and other alien O
whatever sort or condition. Befor
e the war we counted every negro slay
as equivalent to three-ffths of a whit
e man. 1t seems manifestly absurd
e believe that the trainers of the COZ
stitution meant to exclude class {
i citizens who are also natives, becaus
i of their poverty. In other words, tn
4 trainers of the constitution must hay
+ said what they did not mean. Wha
e they really meant was to exclude a
S Indians belonging to class not sui
: ject to taxation.
8 All these points are subjected to tt
O most careful examination in the eel
is sus Office, and when decision as to IL
g legal obligation of the Office has bee
k reached, the statisticians turn the
| attention to the economic and soci
l. aspects of the question in hand. E
p perts are consulted; the importal
lines of investigation are mapped on