The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1908-11-14

OF the FAMILY. Inc number Is
punched on a card, which the CEN
sus enumerator has received from the
central bureau and when these cards
are filled they are forwarded to the
district supervisors, who are directly
responsible for all reports to the cen
sus bureau at Washington, where the
figures are tabulated and arranged
for publication.
The district supervisors number $3.50
and are appointed under the civil SER
vice rule. They are to have juris-
diction over an area about as large
as a congressional district. But the
large force of enumerators will be
selected from the names sent in by
the politicians who find this system
yerdant debt eliminator and is also
source of qualification to many an
ardent office seeker. But the poll
tician does not have full sway, for
each applicant Is subjected to real
examination which will debar any
one unfit for the task. Each enum-
orator is paid from $50 to $3.50, ac-
cording to the time he is required to
spend in his territory.
In the census bureau in Washing
ton there are nearly 1909 clerks
whose work requires a quick and ac-
curate eye and mind The tabula
ton and separation or all of this
homogeneous people into classes and
according to various tables is o great
enterprise and demands fit men. This
clerical force is chosen under the civ
IL service and is intended to be the
keenest set of mathematicians and
tabulators In the country.
Important changes in the tabula-
tion and compilation of the census.
and in the method of publication of
the returns will be made. For one
thing, as the modern spirit demands,
the returns will be considerably con
densed. One of the great draw
backs of previous censuses was the
bulkiness of the returns. The twelfth
census required 10 volumes for its
publication. Director North will
endeavor to publish the entire census
of 1910 in six or, at tire most, seven
volumes. This is possible if the NOR
tality statistics are dropped as is
planned. They proved unsatisfact-
ory as they were collected in the
last decennial census and were not
published until about two years after
the enumeration, hence the statistics
were utterly unreliable for use. This
elimination will lower the cost of
the census materially.
Another change that is thought to
assure accuracy and thoroughness
will be the fact that the next census
will begin the first day or April, in
stead of June l. as has been the Gus
tom in previous years. 1t was dis
covered that goodly percentage of
the American people had tendency
to go seaward in the summer months,
and hence the enumerators were GER
tain to find many houses deserted
and their occupants gone after June
1. II is thought that the first of
April will find most people at home.
The Crumpacker bill has a provi-
sion for a. five-year census of agrl-
culture. Secretary Wilson Is a firm
believer in this feature of the bill,
for the United States has advanced
so rapidly in an agricultural way
that he finds that the department
loses all its bearings utterly If the
census is taken only once in every
10 years. The fve-year limit for
the census of manufacturing has al
ready been inaugurated. The same
reasons which prompted this change
will hold good for the general cen
sus, and 1t may not be very many
years before congress provides for a
general five-year enumeration. This
country grows by such leaps and
bounds that a decenpial census loses
It's value in few years and no ac-
curacy can be expected from any
census figures eight or nine years
old
On account of this very important
reason congress will in the near
future be compelled to rectify this
acknowledged fault, and the census
will become a valuable asset to I'm
Gle Sam TO know exactly where he
stands financially, politically, social
ly and in fact, every way necessary
to advance the interest of his many
millions of Deople