New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1902-04-14
THE CENSUS SCHEDULES,
REASON ADVANCED WHY THE EARLIER
ONES AT LEAST SHOULD NOT
BE DESTROYED.


ate and become a law the government of the
United States will be guilty of one OF the "oiS'
pieces of vandalism that this country mas kho"h'
The paragraph In question provides for the safe
as waste paper the destruction by burning OF an
the original schedules from 1870 TO ls" III
elusive Through the 10 years of American census
taking these original schedules nave peeh pre-
served with great care, and the scheduIes 10 anu
including 1880 have been bound up into 4olo Voi-
umes The plan of enumeration was changed at
the eleventh census. 1890 by the use of separate
schedule for each family. instead of entering fo
names on a schedule. as was done at the previous
census. This change multiplied the schedules 10
nearly 100000 and. although the census OF l"'
returned the former method of entry our vast
population increased the total of schedules to near
" 100000. No attempt has been made to blnd the
schedules of either of the last two censusesr ana
the packages piled away in storerooms
All the schedules for the first century OF the
census are in the custody of the Interior Depart
ment Those for the first to the fourth census
inclusive are in a the first floor OF the
Patent Office and those for the fifth to the TENTH
inclusive stored the top floor of the interior
Department building, between F and G and sew
enth and Ninth SITS. The schedules Tor the eleN-
enth census are stored in the basement of the
Union Building in G-st. and those for the twelfth
census are in the possession of the Census Office
The original census schedules for the hrst -FOUR
censuses are in bound volumes as follows:
1890 % Volumes Of ORIGINAL PoPullson
population schedules 1910. "A volumes OF
original population schedules fourth census 90 lsL
original nufscturing schedules: total 1875 volumes
The original census schedules for the fifth TO
tenth censuses inclusive are in bound volumes as
follows:
Fifth census r lsp ~" .o ga volumes Of original
population schedules and 81 volumes Of original
seventh census 1850 of original reputation
81 vonmes Of original mortality schedules 20 volumes Of
Srgqa sS6a ta tats sna v q
Eighth census 1860 76o volumes of original population
IS yoIumes Of original manufacturing schedules 81 vol,
of original mortality y,s t'h as Ss ana N
Smith s7o eis ro1Ti of arrre
2s of original nostaty FGnsaulf original
original social st tn,sf 500 sR To ni
Tenth census 1880 s24 volumes Of original poPnaSn
70 volumes Of original manufacturing sche eo 2 so1
TgsI Sefective dependent delinquent schedules
total 800 volumes
There are also five volumes Of original population
schedules for Minnesota Territory taken IN 1891
The total number Of volumes In which me or'sind'
schedules are bound is 1915, including fve Tor the
census of Minnesota Territory taken IN 1894. Inc
number of volumes required 10 contain the scne"
ules for each census is as follows:
FRS. census 1870 volumes: second census 800 o =
1920 Volumes hfrh census 1870 l Isso s.s vol
census seb'b census is6o ninth census
yuium
total 1916 volumes
probablv no matter of fact American would quar-
rel with the government FOR destroying the semen
uIes for 1890 and 1900. There are two evident Iel
sons for thus disposng Of the schednles Iof "
two decades The first is that the system OF cree
.,oaI tonu,ation invented between 1880 and lss
ond apnlcd for the first time to the tapuiatlol VI
The latter census. tabuates and combines lac'S
With such marvellous rapidity and accuracy ina.
practically all the likely to be of statsticai
ei,Sriy or
dr,vr off and the schedules of these two censuses
may be said TO have been wrung Dry Inc o'ie'
reason Is that the enormous NUMBER OF scheuuies
makes their retention. If IL were clear thae
they possessed value. very great burden
upon the government The error which the House
has fallen into to be failure TO distinguish
between these recent burdensome and comparative
" yalueess schedules and the earlier ones "hlch
are not subject To Of these objections out On
the contrary deserve preservation by every con-
sidoration OF good sense and sentiment
Prior to 1890 all tabulation was done by hand IN
volving an amount OF labor so great In lSoo ana
involving so much expenditure that the tapulatloh
of certain tables OF nativity suspended when
the work for the whole country was about haIr
committed and from the Gata obtained up to that
point the remainder Of the table was estimated
Moreover. because O. the labor and expense the
contugal condition shown by the schedules was
not tabulated at all. Therefore the statistics OF
that subject are not of record back of 1880. but the
data for the previous decade are available from
the schedules at any time desired ana coulo
be tahulated by the electrical system at COM
parativeIy small expense at any time 1t is PROB
ably only question of time when this subject VIII
become as serious In the United States as II IS
now in France and elsewhere Similar arguments
applv to the schedules Of the ninth, eighth and
seventh censuses-lS7o 1860 and ls5o-which all be-
long to the class known as the modern census s.
The schedules for all the earlier censuses from c1
the sixth back to the first tbe eny v9 o.
entirely different from the pT h ones
Rnnes from isso back to 1850 The vol
umes 1870 1880 1920 1870 and 1900 are ya1 Fable
We're prepared before the days or use Of all
s she sdfns DECADES the country thny settled
parts of The continent now set 1 INTO sn pGp v Ph
Hardy pioneers. Indeed in such iocahmes, dne
nafn ad ahf of n
the States national characteristics were moi De
The national decennlal record; therefore becomes
Of priceless valve 1t rs 'f the fscts about him of
communities which literally ma, have been nd
tell II the story Of the origin and rise Of chcago
with the name and rsfo 1es OF wb each auneh9 tha
great community on its successful career How
is the fa to ahe student and
genealogst can readily be snTn se these early
volumes are interesting on their own Ss account
wns scarce and expensive and the early enumer
ators used whatever they found at hand The early
collection Of and age stained blanks the
ham nd CharaCte- OF WhlCn were as NdIlo as
the mer who ruled them by hand and hled them M
Some found in newspapers OF the perlod one one
or two in WALLPAPER others were sent In neatly
bound and lettered in coors. Many of the margins
contain quaint comments. and the descriptions or
local boundaries often amusing and most IN
teresting. =, -, ... -. 81. -
1900 to 1870 how much more can be said of those
of 1880. II -....,
The twenty-six volumes of irregular. time stained
schedules of 1890 a nation al curiosity. They are
the original records of the first complete periodic
census in the world. The names which there APP
near are those of every head of family lii the
fTnited states when George Washington was Presi-