The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1901-08-20
HUMAN NATURE in CENSUS
Comedy and Tragedy Met With by
Enumerators Among Farmers.

enumerators who collected the sta
tistics for the 100000 farm sched-
ules sometimes met with varied
difficulties. In many instances the
farmers were reluctant to give any
statistics as to their crops and the
value of their farms, fearing that the
information was to be used in making
up tax lists. Others went to the or
posite extreme and, believing that
the figures for individual farms would
be published, gave extraordinary fig
ures in order to make a good showing
for their farms.
One Indiana farmer, who, it is to be
inferred, had a good farm to sell, made
return that from his fifty acres he
had raised 1000 bushels of wheat,
600 bushels of oats, eight tons Of hay,
400 bushels Of potatoes, $50 bushels
of apples, 1000 bushels Of corn and
43 bushels tomatoes in addition to
garden truck. He had fed 10 head
of cattle and 8 horses.
Another Indiana man had the cham
pion chicken. He reported to the CEN
sus bureau that he had obtained 1000
eggs during the year. In his schedule
he said he had one hen. When the
discrepancy was noticed he was asked
by the bureau to explain it, and he
replied that he had had chickens DUR
ing the year, but could not tell how
many.
In reply to some questions by the
bureau an Ohio wrote as fol-
lows:
Dear Mister Census Director am
ashamed to tell you how little we
raised last rear. you see My Old Man
is not much good. l have been mar
ried three times. The fust drunk him
self to deth and the second run away
about 5 years ago. Jim, he's My Old
Man now, amt any good nohow and Id.
like to get rid of him.
Last year the calves got into our
garden so much there wasn't any gar
den truck, and Jim he forgot to mature
the wheat SO it wasn't much and I
guess we didn't get morn 8 or 9 hun
dred bushels of corn and the appels
was all moldy and rotten. This place
belongs to me and I just told Jim i
was ashamed to tell you how poor off
we was and if i had to writ again like
this l would fire him off the place.
No more, from yours truly,
amanda t."
An enthusiastic amateur farmer who
lives in Chicago obtained a farming
schedule and wrote to the bureau that
although he hadn't much ground, he
thought he was entitled to be recorded
as a horny-handed SON Of toiE.F He
said he had about his house a yard
containing about a quarter of an acre
and on this he raised in 1899 three
bushels of potatoes, 16 heads of cab
bage, a bushel of tomatoes, two bush
els of peas, a peck of c%urrants, Is
quarts of raspberries, 81 ears of corn
and a peck of beans.
A ounce tree gave him three quarts
of ounces, and he also procured fit
teen. pounds of grapes and a bushel
and a half of apples. He fitted up
some bee hives in the garnet of his
house and from them had taken TWEEN
ty-one pounds of honey. In his cellar
he cultivated mushrooms and he es-
timated he had raised about three
quarts of those in the year.
The amateur farmer vas recorded
as the bureau thought he was doing
very nicely.
Perhaps the most pathetic letter
that came to the agricultural division,
was one from an old Vermont farmer,
who wanted to enlist the services OF
the bureau in finding his only son.
Part of his letter read:
81 understand that in taking the
census you take the names OF every
man, woman and child in the country,
It occurred to mother and me that
your men must find somewheres our
Tom, and if they have you would
know it. Our boy w!esntaway nineteen
years ago and we haven't heard on
him since. 1 guess I'm to blame for
it all.
81 worked him too hard, and we
often had words about it, until one
day he says he was going to be his
own master, and / guess he has. for
off he went and came ack.
Mother and me is getting old, and
she's almost blind. Nothing will sat
isfy her except Tom, and don't know
how to get him home. Now, Mr.. Di.
rector, if it would not be too much
trouble: could you have one of your
young meh look over the names and