The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1900-05-25
ELECTRICAL MACHINES
Must Save Vast Amount of
Work at the Census
Bureau.

(Wash. Special to Chicago Record.)
Down at the census office are q thou
sand or more electrical machines that
can almost talk, and the labor that they
save is impossible to calculate. But for
them it would require 10000 clerks
several years to tabulate and classify
and compute the information sent in
by the $4,000 enumerators regarding the
rs, 900, 900 people who compose this great
and glorious republic.
The first thing to be done when the
returns of the enumerators are sent in
upon large sheets of paper will be to
transfer the information they contain
to strong manila cards about AXIS inches
in size. The cards are impersonal, but
each bears a number and represents a
citizen of the United States. Eighty
million cards have been provided. Upon
this card are 240 symbols, which re-
present every item of information that
could possibly be reported by an emu
merator under his instructions-birth-
place, age, color, sex, occupation, num-
ber of children, &c. For example, the
"W" over at the left hand upper corner
of the card means white; 3D." black;
"Ch." Chinese; "Jp.," Japanese; "In.,"
Indian. In the next row IN" represents
male and "F," female. over in the
other corner are the signs for place of
nativity, which can easily be identified.
the upper letters representing the states
and the lawer ones foreign countries
En-" England; rs. A." South Ameri-
ca ok" Denmark; "Sz.," Switzer-
land; "Php.," Philippines islands.
This card is placed upon a machine
that resembles one of those tracing
- 80
maps, and the keyboard corresponds
exactly to its lettering. The operator
glancing at the return of the enumera-
tor, moves the key over the board
and places it carefully upon the spot
represented by the symbol wanted.
This causes a little knife to pierce a
hole in the card at that precise spot,
and when the operation is completed the
card resembles the perforated sheets
that are used in the orchestrions and
automatic pianos. D.
When all the returns from a census
district have been transferred in this
manner from the enumerators' sheets
to the cards the latter are packed away
in a tin box, properly marked, each
| box being large enough to hold 1000
cards, and it can be easily stored away
with other canned satisfaction, each
| box bearing a label indicating its con-
| tents.
/ do not think I can describe the
enumerating machine so that the reader
| can understand 1t. 1t is about the
size of an upright piano. Upon the
upright part is set Of dials, like steam
registers, one for each of the items
embraced in the population schedules.
| When the operator runs through this
machine the manila cards as above de-
scribed, and closes an electric circuit
| by moving a lever, a little rod runs
! through each hole of the card and
causes the dial at the other end of
| wire to register one. Therefore, when
| the operator has completed the pile of
| cards and has run them all through
the machine the information they con-
| tain has been accurately transferred to
the several dials, and the operator can
take the totals off on a slip of paper
prepared for that purpose. The dials
will show how many of the people re-
presented by those 1000 cards We're born
| in Ireland and how many in Ohio; now
many are married; how many are
naturalized citizens, and all the other
answers to the inquiries imposed by
congress upon enumerators.
The economy of the remarkable
method was illustrated beyond question
! in the last census, and can be appre-
ciated when it is known that Alexander
Maurice, one of the clerks in the last
| census averaged 1886 cards a day
about six and half hours Worthwhile
his highest record for any given day
was 1901 cards.
Anybody who will compare this work
with the old-fashioned tally sheets with
closely packed lines of figures, which
used to drive some of the census clerks
blind, and others crazy, can realize
| the value of the enumerating machine
which could not make an error under
any circumstances. 1t is estimated that
in the last census these machines saved
not less than 100000 in clerk hire. Both
were invented by Herman Hollarith, a
graduate of Columbia college, New
York, who was clerk in the census of
1880 and also in that of 1890, where he
/ invented both devices with the assis-
tance of DR.. Billings, now librarian of
| the United Libraries of New York;
Henry Gennett, of the Geological Sur
vey, and others who took an interest
in his work. He has since perfected the
apparatus and is now preparing to place
1000 punching machines and $50 emu
merating machines in the census office.
Mr.. Hollarth's inventions have been
adopted by France, Germany, Russia
and Canada, and are now being adapt
ed to railway accounts. Both the Penn
sylvania and the New York Central
Railway companies have introduced
them and are finding them very USE