Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1905-01-13
CENSUS BUREAUS WORK.
1t Will Investigate Our Manufacturing
Business.

making the Census bureau pcrlnt nel,
directed that il should take a census of
the manufacturing business OF the
United States in 1905. The bureau il
now entering on his work. By Jan. Is
nearly 200 persons will be engaged in
th"-t task. William NJ. Stewart, head "l
III" division ri mInuflriur, is in i'm
mediate charge Of il.
The Bureau hopes 20 have. The sta
tistics in hand by the middle Of March.
Their compilation ami III" drawing of
deductions from them vii, o,c ,!pv Il
lare" fore. of skilled workers during
the entire year. Possibly 4 preli.ni-
nary report will be ready by May l..
The plans for taking this special CEN
sus We're carefully matufed during the
latter part Of 1904. and the opening Of
the new year found the bureau fully
prepared To carry them out. Hereto
fore. manufacturing cenSuscs have
been taken IN con junction with the ten
year count OF population and naturally
th+v failed to receive that special at
fention which such a study demands.
THE success of our plan" said Mr..
Stenart to the corr respondent ot the
Transcript today. will depend largely
on the cooperation we receive from the
manufactures. The work is for their
benefit and we hope and expect that
they will gladly facilitate our investi-
cations. If they q" this. the gathering
of the statistics can be accurately and
quickly done.
The Bureau. Of course. pledges its
good faith that the individual manu-
It'll, ,l,,n 1,
tected; only totals are 10 be public. 1t
is guaranteed. for example. that if
ther" should be only two manufacture
ing establishments in the United States
making the same article. the returns
made by them would not BE- published,
bec;.uS" each would then know tile 9th
er'S figures. This guarantee that the
buSint - of Ia. Individual Will be pro-
tected from publicity. the bureau be
iieNeS. viii induce manufacturers will
inGiy tn supply tie Information desired.
The schedules so into great details. and
the full report ought to throw much
light on the business of the country
Under the general scheme Mr.. Steu-
art has worked out the bureau will de-
pend primarily on the mails in gather
ing information. The first step was to
compile list of the manufacturing
establishments of the United States
In this city the records of the 1900 cen-
sus We're supplemented by lists u;rie
up from city directories and by CORES
I""id"ncc with the public authorities in
the small cities and towns According
to IA" n'i"rau'S information 64D 900 es-
t"bli*hincn;S no" manufacture articles
oil KIM ilOt her thjc ~
h'f st""lt iJo,ooo may be termed fact"-
fic> IN the iulI sense OF III" word The
resi- as a ruI" are individuals. or con-
Germs. that do Il very SnrjIl business
Niin IN" list of establishments i'm hand
III" bureau "' Jan. began sending OUT
b.:ikS. accompanied by a circular let
Ter. IS.,in:, manufacturers; to mail The.
r. -trhS f." The bur- Iu as soon rs InSSi-
lie. 4 To ,tIte blanks have been sen,
\" about "ho.""o manufacturers. M.,nv
returns are already coming in
The bureau realized that MANY
manufacturers would fail to till out the
blanks and so Il second part of the
SCHEME Vas To 'iirid" each state au,!
territory. putting in one division the.
'''nh'i": embracing cities with any con-
siderable number of manufacturing e.
adjustments ana in IL second counties
which nave Dut few manufactures. For
IN" counties of the first division local
agents have been appointed and I.
counties of the second division special
agents of the department have been as
signed II, ginning with Jan. 16 u,
Si''riIf agents from the bureau will 20
1" their districts, taking supplies and
printed ms f,t. ~.
agents in the nearby counties They
viii call ON thcS.. local agents and scn
that the men get property started in
their work. Then the special agents
will return to the districts to which
they have been assigned. The local
agent will be- supplied with Il list of the
establishments in his territory that
hay" not responded by mail, and his
duty will be To call on the manufac-
turcrS :or the flled-out blanks and to
continue until he gets the information.
Tn" bureau will allow sixty days in
which IL gather these lists and for
ward them to the Department.. The
special agents viii perform the same
sort of service i'll the counties having
but few industries, and will keep in
touch with the local agents to see that
they are not failing down.
In a few states the bureau is CO.
operating with the state bureaus OF
statistics in gathering the information.
notably Massachusetts and Michigan
Various degrees Of utilization of state
and national census work have been
secured ana it is Director North :
plan ~ nush this cooperative IDEA rs
far as possible. In New York the
manufac curing census is taken directly
by the government. because factory in
Spcctinn seems to he the great aim Of
the local bureau. which is moreover
very busy this year. In Massachusetts,
the state bureau appoints the agents
for Boston and its environs. number
ing twenty-five men. While the census
office here sends its own men. number
in. fifty :,ito the rest Of the state. TIL"
cost of the manufacturing census Is
there divided between state and ma
ton.
In many other states cooperation OK
lists to the extent that the national Du-
reau furnishes copies of its forms and
Instructions. SO that the work will h.
uniform in method The schedule tn,