The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1900-05-23
CENSUS SCHEDULES.
Are Being Distributed by the Census
Office to the Enumerators They
Contain Many Questions.

The blank schedules to be used in the
by the census office to the enumerators,
who will start to work on June |. The
schedules contain questions which some
persons may think prying. purposeless,
or excessive in number. But their num-
Der and character have been deter
mined by congress, not by the census
office, and all of them have been asked
in previous censuses. The only import
ant change since 1890 is that some
questions have been abandoned.
People are often offended at the
question. How old are you?" and are
apt to wonder what use the govern
ment can make of their replies Taken
as a whole the replies are as import
ant as any class of information the
! census office collects.
| Age returns penetrate and elucidate
every othcr branch of statistical knowl-
edge. They show where child labor is
prevalent, and whore the proportion of
persons able to support themselves is
| large or small. They reveal the great
number of colored children and the
short life of the negroes under present
! conditions. They make it possible to
ascertain whether the average length
OF life is increasing or decreasing, how
many men the nation contains who are
capable of voting or of bearing arms.
and whether the relative number OF
children is increasing or decreasing.
In Mohammedan or semi-civilized
countries like India householders are
often unwilling to answer the question
regarding the sex OF persons in the
house, but in civilized countries where
the sexes are regarded as on an equal
ity, such unwillingness does not ap-
| pear. The answers to the questions
show that in nearly all cities the
females outnumber the males and that
the same is true of most of the states
along the Atlantic coast The belief Is
widespread that taking the world in
general there are more females alive
at any given time than males, and that
II it were not for immigration there
would be more females in the United
States than males. But census stats
tics show that We can not explain the
great excess of males lover one and :
half milliom in the United States BY
immigration alone, for when the for
eisn-born are left out OF account. there
are still above 100000 more males thar
females.
Few would dispute the necessity TO
asking questions regarding race. AL
arguments regarding the future of any
particular race in this country, like tn,
Indian. the negro, or the Chinaman
must hinge upon the returns in tn
census. With the Indians, moreover
It is of the highest Importance to learl
what success the policy of the govern
ment has met with in establishing
them apart from their tribes and reser
Vations, and whether such Indians ar
increasing or decreasing.
Some mothers may shrink from stat
ing the number Of children they hav
had and the number who are living
But from the answers to these ques
tions, the country will learn whethe
the native American population is hold
ing it's own, or whether, as some hav
claimed, IL is being gradually SUP
= planted and displaced by the childre
! of recent immigrants
In the light of such explanations. an
only few of the most important ques
tions have been touched upon, 1t ma
perhaps be clear to the public that II
+. question has been ordered by congress
. or has been asked by the census offic
which, if properly and correctly ar
swered, will not lead to suggestive II
ferences regarding the American pee
: | pie and their work.