Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1900-03-24
WHAT THE NEXT
CENSUS WILL BE

Fol more than a year Preparations
nave been going on in Washington
for the great enterprise in enumeration
that is to be commenced promptly on the
nrst day of next June. The results Of
this great undertaking will begin to be
seen about two years from that date.
n will continue to be brought out in
book form at intervals for several years
hereafter. This enterprise will be des-
ignated as the twelfth census, and the
publisher of the many volumes will be
the government.
The mere counting Of more than Is, 900
600 Of anything is a task not to be de-
spised, but when the rs, O00,0 900 that are to
be counted are human beings that are
scattered over 5000, 600 square miles of
the earth's surface, from the North Pole
to the Equator, and from the Atlantic to
the mid Pacific, the task becomes sim
ply %herculean. Such, however, is the
work that confronts Director Merriam
and his assistants, but they are perfectly
confident that they will be able to COM
plete the task within the time limit set
by law.
To accomplish this achievement, how
ever will require the engagement of a
small army OF men and women. In fact,
1t has been estimated that not less than
$4,000 people will be engaged in the work,
ana OF these less than 5000 will be en-
ployed at the census headquarters at
Washington.
THE HEAD.
At the head of the army is William r
Merriam, the director of the census, and
1t is his duty to see that the work is
successfully carried out. He has direct
intricate machinery that will be neces-
sary for the prosecution of this work will
be in his hands, and yet he does not
pretend to be an expert mathematician
or even a skilled statistic1an. He is sim
ply a. wide-awake Western man whose
life has been spent in the management OF
great enterprises. There are few men in
the country who have greater executive
ability or greater capacity for handling
large numbers of employees.
The statistician of the department. the
man who has all the technical knowl-
edge, with every census statistic at the
end of his tongue. is Mr.. F. H. Wines,
MIR. Merfiam's first assistant. Under him
are five chief statisticians, and two years
have been allowed for the gathering,
tabulating, printing n binding the sta
tistics relating to the four most impor-
tant subjects with which the census
deals-population, vital statistics, agri-
culture and manufacturing industries.
When this work has been completed
the bureau will take up a great variety
of interesting subjects. including the in
sane, deaf. dumb and blind, crimes, pau
perism and benevOlence, social statistics
OF cities; public indebtedness. electric
light and power, transportation, express
business, street railways, mines and min
ing and a vast number of other subjects
that have not been touched upon by pre-
vious bureaus.
In fact, it is the intention of the gov
that the twelfth census shall be
the most complete and perfect work of
Its kind ever accomplished by any civil
lied nation. In speaking of his work Di-
rector Merriam states that the census
will indicate the growth or decline of the
nation in every line OF public interest,
industry and Improvement.
An effort is to be made to show
whether or not the mad scramble for