The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1908-07-11
PREPARING FoR CENSUS
Enumeration Likely to Begin April is,
1910--Wlll Cost St4,000,00O

Iarmy or seventy tnOushnd people TO
take the thirteenth census I'm 1910,
says a Washington correspondent of
The Transcript, The task of making
the enumeration OF the ninety million
people in the United States, Alaska,
Hawaii and Porto Rico, and IN Guam,
Samoa, and the Panama canal zone,
will be one of enormous proportions,
1t will be the most gigantic work OF
enumeration that has ever been at
tempted IN this or any other country
and II Is intended to reach the acme
Of correctness and thoroughness Not
merely count and compilation con-
corning the population alone, 1t will
include q census of agriculture, man
lufactures, mines and quarries
Director s. N. d. North of the CEN
sus bureau is already getting ready
for the thirteenth census He has
been planning on It for a year or
more. 1t was hoped by Mr.. North that
the Crumpacker bill to provide for
the thirteenth and subsequent decen-
NAL censuses would be passed the last
session of Congress. But II failed OF
lenactment along with numerous other
measures of Importance by reason of
| the rush at the close OF the session
and the anxiety of the Congress lead
ers to hurry the session to an end
The Crumpacker bill however, will
doubtless be passed early the next
session II is the first bill of high
privilege on the House calendar and
it is expected 1t will be taken up The
first or second day of the session and
disposed of by the House 1t has not
yet been acted on by the Senate COM
mittee on census, that committee hav-
ling held back until the House had
opportunity to pass the measure. No
delay in the Senate, either in COM
mittee or on the floor, Is anticipated.
- 1t will cost about $l4,000,000 to take
the thirteenth census, but this Is not
carried In the Crumpacker bill, as II
is on the House calendar. 1t was in
the bill at first, but the speaker and
Chairman Tawney of the House COM
mittee on appropriations thought 1t
unwise TO make so large an authorl-
Zation year before II would be used
and there was also a feeling that the
appropriation should be put In one OF
the regular appropriation bills as The
legislative, executive, and judicial bill
The coming session OF Congress will
no doubt appropriate literally for
census purposes.
A census of the Philippines will not
be included In the coming decennial
census for the reason that one was
taken in 1903 and 1t is doubtful
whether the Philippines government
lWnulh ~ han tho Of 10
enumeration so soon.
Important changes In the taking
and compilation of the census and In
the method of publication OF the re-
turns will be made For one thing.
the returns will be greatly condensed
/ The twelfth census required ten vol
umes Ii is the expectation of Direc-
tor North that the thirteenth census
will be published in six volumes or
seven at the outside. The mortality
statistics of the last census will be
dropped. They were found unsatis-
factory as collected at the last decen-
! NAL census The reduced number of
volumes will considerably lower the
cost of the thirteenth census.
A change that is believed to be In
the interest of accuracy and com
pleteness will require the enumera-
ton of population to be made as of
April Is instead of June /, as has been
the case heretofore. The reason for
this Is interesting. The population Of
the United States is exhibiting more
and more tendency to go to the
seashore and the mountains and the
lakes TO avoid the hot weather and
1t is going much earlier than former
ly The result is that enumerators
who are set TO work June ! are GER
tam tn find many houses deserted and
their occupants gone away for the
summer. IL is thought April | will
be much more satisfactory date for
this reason. At that time OF year, the
exodus to the resorts will not be be-
gun.
Provision will be made for $50 dis
trict supervisors and there will be
several thousand in the clerical force
IN the census bureau establishment in
Washington The number of enumer-
ators will be $4,000. AS already men,
ltioned the total force needed to do
the work will approximate 10000. The
clerical force will be under civil SER
vice, bur Il Is thought to be impIac-
ticable to attempt to make the enor-
nous force of enumerators subject TO
the civil service requirements. Mr..
North considers 1t out OF the question
to try to select the enumerators by
lcivil service methods, though objec-
tons have been raised by friends OF
the civil service to the proposition
that its workings should not be ex-
tended to census enumerators. It is
apparent that those politicians who
are hostile to the civil service see ex-
cellent opportunities In the selection
of a vast body of enumerators in the
old-fashioned way. through political
Ipreferment. but there is unquestion.
ably room for doubt whether a work
able civil service scheme could be de-
vised to meet the situation.
A five-year census of agriculture is
a feature of the Crumpacker bill. No
doubt, Congress win make provision
for such a census. Secretary Wilson
believes such a census should be had.
Such is the progress being made by
the United States in an agricultural
way that he finds his department
loses its reckonings badly II the CEN
sus is taken for agriculture but once
in ten years. And in this connection
it may be said that iive-year census
of population Is something that the
country is likely to some to before
many years. Director North conf.
IDENTIFY expects it. Now, a census of
manufactures is taken every FIVE
years. The same reasoning that
prompted this will hold good, Mr.,
North believes for the taking of n
general census every FIVE years, in
stead of every ten years. The country
Is growing by leaps and bounds, and
LONG hefore the decanninl census 10