The Portland daily press., 1900-10-15
A LIVELY STATE.
work Of the Census Department.
over.

for the United States census is completed.
In those localities where for any reason
the canvass has been delayed the special
agents viii shortly receive a call from
Mr.. Henry T.. Burlington. a specaI repre-
sentative Of the census bureau at Wash
ington, who has been assigned to this
State TO gather the loose ends Of the
work. Mr. Burlington has been making
Portland his headquarters, going from
here to other sections whenever his assis-
tancs has been REQ uired.
His duties, in a general way, are to in
struct local agents who are In any doubt
as to the application Of the rules in Ger
tain cases to personally call on all special
agents and report to headquarters as to
the progress OF their work, to assist IN
any districts where his participation can
hurry the canvass and to look up any
instances Of refusal OF manufacturers to
answer questions put to them by the
regular enumerators. Mr.. Bu fington
has been in the government employ many
years chiefly IN the department Of labor,
from which he was transferred this year.
He is an apt student Of human nature,
an interesting conYersationalist and an
affable gentleman.
The canvass OF manufacturing indus
tries in the Portland group was e0mplet-
ed several weeks ago. This group inolud-
ed Greater Portland, South Portland,
Cape Elizabeth, Westbrook and Gorham
Six canvasssrs were assigned to it, five
Of them designated as special agents, and
the sixth, who had general supervision
Of the work. was rated as chief special
agent. The five special agents were en-
ployed p working days. Nearly 1903
schedules, every one representing a man
ufacturing corporation, firm or indiFid-
ual, wers gathered in the canvass Of the
Portlan1 group.
There were % kinds Of schedules used
IN the canvass, 81 OF them known as
specials, while the remaining one, No. 3,
was a general form adapted to nearly all
small industries, This general schedule,
the simplest form of them all, contains
"a questions and sub questions, with
accompanying blank spaces for the an
swers, not including the II formal ques-
tions on the title page. 1t can readily be
seen that the special agents job was no
sinecure, for every blank space had to be
filed in with an answer, and If the ques
tion was not applicable to the particular
industry, the word 'None" must be
inserted. Everything had to be spelled
out; no ditto marks were allowed, though
there were numerous places where they
might have been used to the advantage
of the enumerator.
Assuming that he found the proprietor
or manager in, and in mood to he
quizzed about his business affairs, in the
name Of Uncle Sam,' the special agent
ordinarily had to spend from 20 minutes
to an hour in gathering all the informa-
ton necessary to I'LL out the schedule.
In some cases, where the manufacturing
is done in connection with a retail bust
ness, and only one set of books used, the
census man would find his time occupied
two full hours, in making up the returns
OF a single Industry.
But often as much time would be
wasted in fruitless calls as would be re-
quired to make out numerous schedules
Perhaps the proprietor Of an establish
ment would be at home nursing a cold,
or entertaining company, or at his sum-
mer cottage, and he alone could give the
information required. Perhaps the cen
sus agent might find him busy with
customer OF looking over a drummer's
samples, or having session with the
bookkeeper hun ting up an old charge
In such Instances the census agent had
to make a second call. OF a third, and
possibly a sixth call, before finding his
man in readiness TO devote the necessary
time to the government
The census rules call for book accounts
wherever available, and the questions put
to the manufacturer were of such an in
tricats nature that no little figuring was
required to arrive at definite conclusions
If the manufacturer desired, the blank
schedule was LETT with him for a few
days or a week, in order that he might
A4O4O ApoNAA9 grasp 4po puApOIb anu lOOk
up the accounts st his leisure. Some
times when the census agent called for
the schedule he had left for perusal, it
would be handed him by the bookkeeper,
neatly filled out. every item figured
down to the last cent" But such cases
were extremely rare.
The principal items in the schedule re-
lated to date OF establishment of the in
dustry, character Of the organization,
character Of the industry, the capital In
vested, persons employed and the amounts
of their wages during the census year,
the kinds and value of materials used,
cost Of rent, insurance, fuel, taxes, etc
the kinds and value Of goods manufac-
tured, amount received for custom work,
value Of manufactured products the pre-.
oeding year, and the kind and cost OF
power used. When the schedule was
completed, the person furnishing the in
formation was required to sign a oertif-
cate stating that the information was
correct, to the hest Of his knowledge and
belief.
To stop a busy man in the midst of his