The Pioche record. [volume] (Pioche, Nev.) 1908-1925, 1909-10-23

the collection Of statistics OF lnanurac-
lures for the year 1909 on Jan. l.
Three hundred Of the regular enumer-
ators win carry schedules Of manu-
features In certain districts.
New Compiling Device
About 5000 clerks In addition to the
permanent force of the census bureau
will be employed In Washington to
compile the statistics from the sched-
uIes. Uncle Sans up to dateness IN
mechanical way In the present case is
attested by the new equipment which
is to be installed TO facilitate the labor
OF compilation. The use OF machinery
has made 1t possible to enlarge the
scope Of investigation included In the
schedule, because II Is now possible to
deal with a mass of data which could
not have been handled by the old
method of making taliies. In 1900 the
schedule Of population alone contained
twenty FIVE questions Take the popu-
lation of 1910 at 000O0.000. with the
same number of questions. and this
will mean no less than 2..250, 000Oo of
items to be counted, to say nothing Of
combinations.
The present system of tabulating re-
turns was first used In the census Of
1890 The vital factor Is simple
thing. card about 3 by 6h inches.
with holes punched In It A position or
combination Of positions Is assigned to
white" "colored." etc. so that every
possible answer Is provided for.
The schedules are all transferred to
cards with. the help Of punching ma
c,iire. This has q Keyboard much ike
a typewriter The cards are fed under
the punches from pack and elected
automatically These machines, Of
which 500 have been ordered. can be
operated 4, Tie l,.sa i fi'esl t's, to 800
cards IA hour with an average OF thir-
teen or forr,e,a strokes to the card
How Tabaia,ine Machines Work.
(. There win l.e hundred tabulating
machines They somewhat resemble
an uprishi liiaan ii appearance. In
place Of tbs Keyboard there ~ feed
plate and IN arm carrying pin box
near one cNd IS card may have be-
tween 600 and 500 positions and as a
taluIating inat hlne has only sixty
counters. II Is necessary to run a card
THROUGH several times in order to get
all the information
After decidn# what data are wanted
the little cups IN the feed plate affect
ed are filed with mercury. and cleo
trio connections are made with the
counters. Then when 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 1t will be seen.
then, that the principle governing the
operation Of the tabulating machine is
simple. This mechanism can be fed
by hand at the rate Of $500 or 4,000
| an hour
| IN tabulaiins me popuallon scneu-
u!e alone at'.Gea 900 cards VIII be pass
cd six ti,nass THROUGH tho machines
| When an enumeration district Is com
| pleted or when desired the totals
shown by all th" counters are printed
on paper tl.es III single operation
i and these ira drawn out and the nun
bers transcribed The Agricultural
| schedule will have a machine adapted
to Its special needs, which will regis
!, ter and add the value Of farms, stock
| crops. etc
Many tyrewriters. adding machines
combined writer's and adders and ma
chimes for computing percentages and
performing other arithmetical opera
lions will be nSed Heretofore mucl
leased tabulating machinery has beef
used at large expense. For this cen
sns very little will be required and l
Is estimated that this change Of polio.
will save many hundreds Of thousand
of dollars.