Heppner gazette. [volume] (Heppner, Morrow County, Or.) 1892-1912, 1904-08-04
SKILLFUL MACHINES.
Electrical Devices That Act IN IN
Intelligent Manner.
Used in the 0OvsPnnsnt Census on.
to Slmplif7 the Work Of Duu-
Assstion-PsrtisuIa of
Operation.


| The electrical machines used in the cen
sus ONCE. writes c. X. Wead, In St. Mich
Olas. Last summer tens OF thousands o
enumerators all over the country wer,
busy writing down on large sheets Of pa.
per the names 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 OF people
in the country, 1t would be enough to
count the names on all these sheets and
add them together. But the census ex-
perts wished to ind out perhaps a thou
sand other things; a. how many native
born white ms there are aged 20, Is,
ETC.. how man. 7 oreign-born white men
there are Of th-se 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 few months before a
thousand officials, each one of whom
counted only the people of one particular
class or description, a. white males.
white females, white carpenters, Italian
girls ten years old, negro farmers, etc.:
then there would be obtained the various
facts for which the census 10 taken.
The practical operation of the census
gives the same results As this imaginary
operation. 1t comes about in this way:
For each one OF the 7700O. 900 people OF
the country card 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 80 on.
These millions OF punched cards rep
resent one BY one the individuals Of
the nation, and they may be passed be-
fore the eyes Of the supposed thousand
officials, each Of whom is to note his
special facts. Going Z step farther in
simplifying the work, instead OF the
official counters mechanical counters
may be substituted, and instead OF try
ng to use thousand at once q smaller |
1umber may be used and the cards be |
gone over several times The machine |
Will pick out the facts It 10 tod 70 pick
'ut, and no others.
The apparent intelligence of the ma
'hine may be explained thus: when the
ard is put into the machine some $50
pr1ng needles Are brought down on It:
wherever there Is hole one needle
,oes through and down into a drop OF
mercury, and so closes an electric cir
uit and causes the pointer on a coun-
or to move forward one number
'hus IS many of the items on the card
an be counted at once az the operator
nds desirable; then another card ID
ut In the machine and the same items
re counted II they are on It Besides
his. the machine can be arranged to
cunt several items in combination. as
white male doctors, and 1t 10
,telligent enough to ring q bell and
sfuse to count II the card is not put
properly, or 10 punched to read wid-
wer aged ten years, woman aged IL. {
male black smith. o. any other OF .
ore OF improbabilit1es or impossible
-. IL