The Norfolk weekly news-journal. (Norfolk, Neb.) 1900-19??, 1909-10-29
Circulation of Value
Inestmbe AdversersThe Battle of Ballots Now Matter of
Hstory--Con Conducted Under Management
Myers Circulation Co, Inc, of Waterloo Iowa.

the administrative head or the purenvi,
which is under the jurisdiction OF
Charles Nagel, secretary of the depart
ment OF commerce and labor. AS
s!Stapt Director w. r. Willoughby,
with DR.. j. A. Hill. will have immedi-
ate charge OF the technical work OF
the bureau. The population returns
as of the date April 10. 1910. will he
obtained by Gl.OOO cnumeratOrS under
the oversight OF $50 supervisors. The
agricultural schedule also will be car
ried by $4,000 Of the enumerators and
will cover the farm operations of 1909
and the farm equipment on April 10,
1910.
The great Importance OF this sched-
ule will be realized from the fact that
about three times as much capital Is
invested in agriculture as in mnnufac-
lures. Six million farms will be visit
ed. and IL Is expected that II will de-
vclop that fully l5000.O00 people are
engaged in agricultural pursuits.
About 1000 special agents will begin
the collection of statistics OF manufac-
lures for the year 1909 on Jan. l..
Three hundred Of the regular enumer-
a!orS will carry schedules of manu-
i"ctureS in certain districts.
New Compiling Device.
About 1000 clerks in addition to the
permanent force of the census bureau
will be employed in Washington to
compile the statistics from the sched-
ules. Uncle Sans up to datcness In a
mechanical way in the present case Is
attestcd by the new equipment which
is to be installed to facilitate the labor
OF compilation. The use Of machinery
has made II possible to enlarge the
scope Of investigation included in the
schedule. because II Is now possible TO
deal with mass of data which could
not have been handled by the old
methcd Of making tallies. In 1900 the
schedule ~ POPULATION alone contained
twenty-five questions. Take the popu
lution Of 1910 at 9n.O0O.OOO. with the
same number Of questions, and this
will mean no less than $3.50. O000 OF
items TO he counted, to say nothing Of
combinations.
The present system Of tabulating re-
turns was first used in the census Of
1870. The vital factor Is a simple
thing. card about by Gh inches,
with holes punched In II. A position or
combination Of positions Is assigned to
"white." ''colored." etc. so that every
"A, to, IaI f1z
The schedules are all transferred tn
cards with the help OF punching ma
chine. This has a keyboard much like
n typewriter The cards are fed under
the punches from pack and elected
automatically. These machines, Of
which 800 have been ordered, can he
operated nj the rate Of from 400 to 800
cards an hour with an average OF thir-
teen or fourteen strokes TO the card.
How TabuIatins Machines Work.
There will he hundred tabulnting
machines. They somewhat resemble
an upright piano in appearance. In
place of the keyboard there is feed
plate and an arm carrying n pin box
near one end. AS card may have be
tween 200 and 300 positions and as a
tabulating machine has only sixty
counters. It Is necessary to run card
through several times in order to get
all the information.
After deciding what data are wanted
the little cups in the feed plate affect
ed are fillad with mercury, and cleo
trio connections are made with the
counters. Then when a card is fed
the pin box descends and wherever
holes have been punched for the an
swers required the pins dip into the
mercury and an electric current
causes the counters TO register. The
card itself is sufficiently rigid to pre-
vent all the other pins from dipping
into the mercury. II will be seen,
then, that the principle governing the
operation OF the tabulating machine IL
simple. This mechanism can be fed
by hand at the rate of Assoc or 1000
an hour.
In tabulating the population sched'
ule alone 10000. 900 cards win be pass
ed six times through the machines
When IN enumeration district IL com
pleted or when desired the totals
shown by all the counters nre printed
on paper tapes at single operation
and these are drawn out and the mum