Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-10-05
ABSENT FROM SCHOOL
Charles F. Weller Makes
Statement.
DIFFERS WITH POLICE
BASES OPINION ON FACTS OF
CHARITY AGENTS.
Has No Controversy With Anybody,
but Wants Only the Facts
in Question.

THE two most important facts which I
cited in my criticism of the police census
were entirely avoided in the replies pub
lished in Wednesdays Star and Thursdays
Post" said Mr.. Charles F. Weller today.
1.-THE first was this: The police census re-
ports only forty-eight children out of school
in all of Southwest Washington. and no abb
sentees south of X street except six colored
children. on South Capitol street. can name
forty or more in single square in that
section. The local division agent Of the
Associated Charities knows personally, in
some of the squares mentioned in the re-
port, much larger number than the police
census gives. If the methods used through
out the city were the same as those which
discovered only forty-eight absentees In
Southwest Washington, then few citizens
will believe the police are correct in saying
that only III children between seven and
fifteen years of age are out of school. men
ton Southwest Washington because 1t is
the only section for which I have seen the
detailed returns.
My second suggestion was that the
school records of actual attendance had not
been compared with the total number of
children whom the police enumerated be-
tween the ages above named. Such COM
parison is essential to accuracy. That was
the method followed by Dr. O'Brfen, repre-
Senting the Civic Center. She compared the
record of school attendance with the popu-
| lation as given in the federal census The
police census now credits the city with a
much larger population than the federal
census enumerated, and 1t seems probable
| that the comparison of the school records
with the police report may Indicate larger
| list of truants than even the q, 434 disclosed
| by DR.. OBrien. At least this seems rea-
soma BILE that any refutation OF my criticism
! upon the police census report should con-
! slider my suggestion that accuracy could
not be assured by merely questioning the
l o1apl ytprr thntr
answers in any way by the actual school
returns.
Has No Controversy.
at is hardly fair of Commissioner West
| to say. If he is quoted correctly. that I shall
not engage In any controversy with Mr..
Weller 1 believe the police census was
| honestly and carefully made and that the
police officers did their duty We both
desire to avoid controversy. but Mr.. West
implies that 1 have charged the police
enumerators with dishonesty or careless
ness. Nothing of the kind was either stated
or implied. 1 only said that any one who
went about merely asking people whether
their children attended school would secure
unreliable data, because many would an
swer that their children attended when
they had only been entered at the first of
the term-and absent ever since, or when
the guardian was simply intending to send
the children to school later. l know and
earnestly respect the sincerity and earnest
ness of Washington's police department,
which, from the Commissioner himself and
the major down to the humblest subordi-
nate, has always seemed to me the clean
est, SQuarest set of officers to be found in
their respective lines of public service any
where in this country. They are not blam-
able because the answers given them were
incorrect. Neither does their undoubted
sincerity assure the reliability Of the meth
DDS used and the results attained by them
in the Unfamiliar lines of census enumera-
ton and statistical research.
For some reason the discussion of school
attendance has been shifted to criticism
of the Associated Charities for endeavor-
ing to enlist citizens in the improvement of
housing conditions, the prevention of tuber-
culosis, the augmentation of our excellent
health department and the giving of in
creased personal attention to neglected
neighborhoods and needy families, by quot
ing the abnormal death rates of Washing
ton. I need only say, briefly, that when
toms general death rate Is highest among
the forty largest cities of the country. her
tuberculosis death rate third highest, and
other preveutable diseases in similar unfor-
tunate proportion, we relied upon statistics
furnished to committees from the pub
lished report of the bureau of labor statis-
tics by Mr.. G. A. Weber, statistical ex-
pert in that department. Not I, but the
bureau of labor statistics, must bear the
responsibility for their correctness.
The Federal Census.
"The chief definite criticism, I believe,
which Washington officials have made upon
these bureau of labor reports is founded