New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1900-09-10
day in November After that date his silence
may be broken. But then who will care?
PADDING CENSUS RETURNS.

PADDING CEASUS RETURNS.
The census returns of some of the Western
| cities are causing much CONSERVATION and
chagrin. Towns which in the decade between
| 1880 and 1890 made a show of marvellous
growth paper find themselves paying the
price of their imitation with a record of arrested
development and even retrogression. TO Omaha
In particular its own false pretences have come
home to roost. 1t is apparently a decaying
town. It's population is in round numbers only
100000, whereas in 1890 1t reported popula-
ton of 10000 Lincoln, too, which reported
5000 in $780, now has only 10000. AS far as
is yet known these two Nebraska cities are
the only prominent places in the country show
Ing an actual decrease in population Mr.
Bryans State devoted itself to imitation of pOpu-
lation even before he came forward to cham
pion imitation of currency. Even though 1t be
conceded that this decrease is apparent, not real
the towns are Inundated, and their influence
will perhaps be diminished through the cutting
down of the States representation in Congress,
which was based on false and padded census
figures. Moreover, many persons will never
understand that they have been really growing
all the time In their eyes the cities will have
lost prestige and that may mean loss Of trade
and wealth and chance of future growth. This
is the penalty Omaha and Lincoln pay for hav
ing cheated the rest of the country ten years
ago.
1t has long been pretty well understood that
several of these Western cities made padded
returns in 1890 Chambers of Commerce under
took to boom their towns by showing large
population. and every inducemeIt was held out
to enumerators to swell their lists. They did
so by copying hotel registers and otherwise and
all attempts to enforce accuracy on the part OF
the Census Bureau officials in Washington were
-.
ST. Paul recounts were ordered which cut down
the first figures for those two places 10000 end
5000, respectively. In many other places the
padding escaped notice A review Of the work
in Nebraska shows that the same tactics were
employed there, and probably about fifty thou
sand fictitious names were returned in Omaha
and over fifteen thousand In Lincoln.
OF course, such practices were fraud on the
rest of the country. They resulted in an unfair
distribution of political power In a close cleo
ton the Presidency might be decided by Ne
braska Electors who represented only the ex-
pectations of INSCRIPTIONS boomers" This over
representation still exists and is a factor In the
coming election, but it is wrong which can
be remedied in the future. Another wrong far
more important arising from the fraud cannot
be remedied. Owing to the padding all deduc
tons drawn from the census of 1890 are worth
enter into the calculation. And even when the
whole census is considered, the fact that even
a small proportion of the returns, which affect
the grand totals only slightly, are fraudulent
discredits the work. All figures Of death rate,
health, movements Of population into which
the padded returns enter are worse than use
less. They lead TO false conclusions which
may be of far reaching consequence in science
and sociology and have serious results in the ap-
plication of the fruits Of statistical knowledge
to practical affairs of life. The chain of sta
tistics recording the development of the country
from one decade to another is broken. The
value of statistics of any kind depends on their
accuracy and general belief that figures don't
lie." When figures are deliberately made TO lie
incalculable mischief is done. Omaha and the
other census padding cities deserve all the pun
ishment and humiliation that their fraud can
bring upon them. The discovery of 1t offers an
impressive warning of the need of greater safe
guards than we had in 1890 or probably have
now against ambitious and INSCRIPTIONS emu
merators. Severe penalties should be inflicted on
the makers OF incorrect returns. and the most
strict and impartial supervision must be exer
csed II our census is to be worth taking.