The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1900-06-23
CENSUS TAKES MUCH TIME.
WILL BE SOME MONTHS BEFORE
RESULTS ARE KNOWN.

Daily Work of $4,000 Enumerators
Has to BE Handled IN Washington.
Three Hundred Tons of Blanks
Were Sent out-SeveraI Miles of
Shelves Prepared to Receive Re-
ports-Cities to Be Completed First
and Bulletins Posted Promptly.
Washington, June 22.-Director of Cen
sus Merriam to-day gave out the fol-
lowing statement for the information of
the public:
1.-THE census office is now in receipt of
many letters daily asking for information
as to the results of the census in partic-
ular localities, especially in the larger
cities. 1t does not appear 10 occur 40
the writer's that the census has not yet
been taken. The law allows until June Is
in cities of 5000 inhabitants, and in rural
districts until the LIST of July for its COM
pletion, and after that the schedules have
TO be examined by the supervisors of CEN
sus before they can be forwarded to
Washington, in order that the supervis-
ors may determine whether the work has
been satisfactorily done and may be in
position to certify to the correctness of
the enumerators' accounts for service rem
dered under the law.
THE following statement has been pre-
pared, showing what has 20 be done with
the census returns when received at
Washington, and why it must be weeks
or even months before the figures can be
given out in their entirety:
EVERY enumerator is required to fill
daily report card, showing how many
hours and minutes he has been at work
and how many persons he has enumer-
ated that day. Since there are approxi-
niateiy 5000 enumerators and thirty days
are allowed for the completion of the
census. the number of daily report cards
to be examined in the census office is
somewhere between one million and a mil
lion and a half.
immensely of the Work.
ut is difficult for any one not familiar
with census work to form an idea of the
vast amount of material to be handled in
all of the divisions of the Office. The
number of boxes containing schedules sent
to the enumerators in advance of taking
the census was 1850 and their total weight
was estimated at 300 tons. All of this ma
terial is returned to Washington, where
ID has to be sorted out and arranged in
order by states and the subdivisions of
states upon shelving aggregatng several
miles in length. There is an invoice of
schedule in every box received which has
to be verified.
Next In order follows the eXam'nati lion
in detail OF the schedules. Every schedule
has to be examined IN order to see that
the enumerator has NOT made an over
charge for his services. For this purpose
the schedule has to be compared with the
account rendered by him. Every possible
effort will be made 10 pay the enumera-
tors at the earliest practicable date.
Every business man knows that SO 900 bills
presented for payment in one day could
not be audited and pad at sight.
May BE Five or Six Months.
THE schedules then go to the clerks
employed in punching cards for the cleo
tric tabulating machines. A count of the
population will then be made by color, by
sex and by native or foreign birth, which
will consume possibly five or six months.
Not until this machine count shall have
been made for any particular city, coun-
ty or state, can the figures he given cut
for publica i'm. The cities will naturally
be taken up first, and as fast as the act
ual population. as returned by the enum-
orators is ascertained it will be posted on
a bulletin board in the hall outside the
directors room for the information of the
press"