Tazewell Republican. [volume] (Tazewell, Va.) 1892-1919, 1900-05-24
Census Queries.

The blank schedules to be used in the
next census are now being distributed by
the Census Office to the enumerators, who
will start to work on June l. The sched-
ules contain questions which some person.
may think pryiDg, purposeless, or excess
sive in number. But their number and
character have been determined by Con-
gress, not by the Census Office, and all of
them have been askediin previous cen.
suses. The only important change since
1890 is that some questions have been
abandoned
People are often offended ats the ques-
ton, "How old are you ?" and are apt to
wonder what use the Government can
make of their replies. Taken as a whole
the replies are as important as any class of
information the Census Office collects.
Age returns penetrate and elucidate every
other branch of statistical knowledge.
They show where child labor is prevalent,
and where 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 ofvoting Of bearing arms, and
whether the relative number Of children is
increasing or decreasing.
In Mohammedan or semi-civilized coun-
tries like India householders are often un-
willing to answer the question regarding
the sex of persons in the house, but In
civilized countries where the sexes are re-
garded as on an equality, such unwilling
ness does not appear. 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 wide.
spread that taking the world in general
there are more females alive at any given
time than males, and that if it were not
for immigration there would be more fe-
males in the United States than males.
But census statistics show that we can not
explain the great excess of males lover
one and a half milllon) in the United
States by immigration alone, for when the
foreign-born are left out of account, there
are still above 600, 900 more males than
females.
Few would dispute the necessity for ask
ing questions regarding race. All argu-
nents regarding the future of any particu-
lar race In this country, like the Indian,
The negro, or the chinaman, must hinge
Ipon the returns in the census. With the
Indians, moreover, it is of the highest inn
to learn what success the policy
If the Government has met with in estab-
ishing them apart fromItbeir tribes and
and whether such Indians
ire ncreasiDgIor decreacing,
Some mothers may shrink from stating
be number OF children they have had and
he number who are living. But from the
to these questions, the country
will learn whether the native American
population is holding its own, or whether,
some have claimed, it is being gradually
Implanted and displaced by the children
f recent immigrants,
In the light of such explanations, and
My few of the most important questions
ave been touched upon, it may perhaps
e clear to the pubic'hat no question has
cen ordered by Congress. or has been
sked by the Census Office which, if prop ,
rly and correctly answered, will not lead
, suggestive differences regarding the
merioan people and their work.