The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1908-10-30
THE 1910 CENSUS.
Work of Preparation Has
Already Begun.
Director North Will Have 7O.OOO
Assistants This Year.
WILLCOST MILLIONS
Important Changes Of Methods
Will Be Made.
To Condensa Returns-Date OF
Starting April 1.

Washington. Oct. 31.-One OF the
busiest spots in washington today is
the office of Director S. N. ID. NORTH
The fact that the Crumpacker bill,
which was to have been passed the
last session. was lost in the grand rush
to finish and did not come up for vote
does not in any way lessen the activi-
ties. for Director North and his assist
ants know that 1910 means busy days
and only by energetic work in advance
can the results be handled. In the
taking of the new census for 1910, d.
rector North will have 10000 people un-
der his direction, for the simple purpose
of asking each individual number OF
ouestions which will be tabulated In
the census bureau. This census viii be
the thirteenth and will cover a mucn
larger territory than the census of 1900
and will take in it's count people rep
resenting AZ countries and almost every
industry known to man. The next
census, however, Will not lncIude the
Philippines, for the reason that one
was taken in 1903 and it is thought that
the Philippine government would not
care to go to the expense or another
enumeration so soon.
This tremendous enterprise will be in
charge of Director S. n. d. North OF the
census bureau and he is already MAX
ing active preparations for the great
task Mr.. North began it year ago and
several assistants are busily engaged in
getting the enumeration machinery in
line for the figures. 1t was thought
that the last congress would pass the
Crumpacker bill which provides for
the thirteenth census, but in the grand
rush to finish the session 1t was LETT
untouched. along with several otner
necessary bills. But because this bill
will give Director North all due rights
to undertake the preparations in earn
est, congress will dispose OF this Dill
among the very first when 1t conVenes
again in December.
'The census will cost Uncle Sam at
least S14, 900, 900, but the value received
for this sum by the American people
will prove that the appropriation for
this work Is not a financial waste.
In order to ask every citizen OF the
limited States and in all her outlying
possessions his name, $1,000 enumera-
tors will be appointed. In this country
one enumerator will be assigned to
territory which he can thoroughly can
vass in about three weeks. This
enumeration goes from house to house,
except the public institutions for which
special enumerators have been assign
ed and asks for the number, occupa-
tion, sex, nationality. etc. of the fam
aIy The number is punched on a card
which the census enumerator has re-
ceived from the central bureau, ana I
when these cards are filled they are
forwarded to the district supervisors
who are directly responsible for all re-
ports to the census bureau at wash
ington, where the figures are tabulated
and arranged for publication.
The district supervisors number $50
and are appointed under the civil ser |
vice rule They are to have jurisdic- |
ton 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 politi-
Av,A Vycfa pr61 rlf
debt eliminator and is also source of
qualification to many an ardent office |
seeker. But the politician does not
have full sway. for each applicant is
subject to real examination which
will debar any one unfit for the task
Each enumeration Is paid from $50 to
$3.50, according to the time he Is re-
quired to spend in his territory.
In the census bureau in Washington |
there are nearly 5000 clerks whose work /
REQUIRES quick and accurate eye and
mind. The tabulation and separation OF
all this homogeneous people into classes
and according to various tables is a great
enterprise and demands fit men. This
service and is Intended to be the keenest
set of mathematicans and tabulators in
Important changes in the tabulation
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 con-
siderably condensed. One of the great
drawbacks Of previous censuses was the
bulSiness of the returns The twelfth
census required 10 volumes for its publica-
tion. Director North will endeavor to
publish the entire census of 1910 in six or,
at the most, seven volumes. This is pos
sible II the mortality statistics are drop
ped as is tanned. They proved unsatis-
factory as they were collected in the last |
decennial census and were not published |
until about two years after the enumera-
ton. hence the statistics were utterly un-
reliable for use. This elimination will |
lower the cost Of the census materially. |
Another change that is thought to as
sure accuracy and thoroughness will be
the fact that the next census will begin |
the first day of April instead of June l. !
1t was discovered that a goodly percent
age of the American people had a ten
dency to go seaward in the summer
certain to find many houses deserted and |
their occupants gone after June l. It is
thought that the first of April will find |
most peoDle at home
The Crumpacker bill has a provision for
a five-year census of agriculture. Secre- /
tarv Wilson Is a firm believer in this fea-
ture 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 II the census
is taken onl~ once in every 10 wears The
flve-vear limit for the census OF mann
featuring has already been inaugurated.
change will hold good for the general
census. and 1t may not be very MANY /
years before congress provides for gen
eral five-vear enumeration This country
grows by such leaps and bounds that a
decennial census loses its value in a few
years and no accuracy can be expected |
from any census figures eight or nine |
years old.
on account OF this very importan. 20.
son congress will in the near future he
compelled to rectifv this acknovIedged
fault. and the census will become a val
liable asset to Uncle Sam to know exsct
lV where ne stands financially poiiticaII
socially and. In fact. every wav' nacessa-ss...
- advance the interests of his many mil /