The Houma courier. (Houma, La.) 1878-1939, 1903-11-14
INTELLIGENT MACHINES.
Clever Electrical Devices Used in the
Work OF the Government
Census once.

The most striking application OF MAJ
chinery to the purposes Of counting is in
the electrical machines used in the cen
sus office, writes @. *. Wead, In st. Mich
olas. Last summer tens of thousands Of
enumerators all over the country were
busy writing down on large sheets Ofpa-
per the anne Of all the people in the
United States, their age, color, sex, place
Of birth, occupation, etc. II the only
thing wanted were the number ofpeople
in the country, it would be enough to
count the James on all these sheets and
add them together. But the census ex-
perts wished to find out perhaps a thou
sand other things; as how many native
born white men there are aged 20, Is,
ETC.; how many foreign-born white men
there are of these ages; similarly for
women and colored people; then there
are the questions Of place of birth, occu-
patton, etc, to be answered, as how many
Texans were born in Ohio. Now imagine
that all the people in the United States
could march in a few months before a
thousand omcials, each one of whom
counted only the people Of one particular
class or description, as white males,
white females, white carpenters, italian
girls ten years old, negro farmers, etc.
then there would b%eobtaiDed the various
facts for which the census is taken.
The practical operation Of the census
gives the same results as this imaginary
operation. It comes about in this way:
For each one Of the 100000 people Of
the country a card a little larger than a
postal card Is prepared, containing all
the information on the enumerator's
sheets except the name, a number being
used instead. This information is ex-
pressed by punching holes In certain
places; thus a hole in one place means
white" another male" another "35
years, another Blacksmith, (" and 20 on.
These millions Of punched cards rep
resent by one the individuals OF
the nation, and they may be passed be-
fore the yes of the supposed thousand
officials, each Of whom is TO note his
special facts. Going a step farther in
simplifying the work, instead of the
oficial counters mechanical counters
may be substituted, and instead Of try
@43 ~ GNV LAGAoNAAu at ONG6 a BUldllGE
number may be used and the cards be
gone over several times. The machine
win pick out the facts 1t is told to pick
out, and no others.
The apparent intelligence OF the ma
chine may be explained thus: when the
card Is put into the machine some $50.
spring needles are brought down o. it;
wherever there is a hole n needle
goes through and down into a drop Of
mercury, and so closes an electric cir
cult and cause the pointer on a coun-
ter to NOV forward one number.
Thus as many Of the items on the card
can be counted at once as the operator
finds desirable; then another card is
put IN the machine and the same items
are counted II they are on it. Besides
this, the machine can be arranged to
count several items in combination. as
native-born white male doctors, and tits
Intelligent enough to ring a bell and
refuse 10 count Il the card Is not put
in properly, Of IS punched to raad Wild
over aged ten years, woman aged 70,
female blacksmith, or any other Oh a
score Of improbabiliHes or impossible
| ties.