Los Angeles herald., 1909-08-15
SKILLED CLERKS
TO TAKE CEN SUS
EXPERTS WILL HAVE CHARGE
OF GREAT WORK
FORTHCOMING TASK WILL COST
ABOUT $14,ooo,ooo
Vast Project viii Be Accomplished
with Far Greater Ease Than
When First Count Was
Taken
BY JOHN HUBERT GREUsEL

BY JOHN HUBERT GREUSEL
WASHINGTON Aug. 4,-Sociolog-
lists from American universities are
rand planning the preliminary details
of the forthcoming cansus. 1t is de-
Signed to have every detail under ex-
perts.
During the period of greatest ac-
tivity more than $1,000 clerks will be
employed in the field and 4500 in the
office. This force represents a larger
body than the combined population of
Boston and New York, 120 years ago,
when the first census was taken.
The enumeration of 1890 cost $4,000,
and at that the money ran out and
the names were never printed The
forthcoming census of 1910 has behind
it an appropriation of $100G0,000, and
an emergency fund of $4,0000000 addi-
tional; in other words, the design is
to proceed regardless of cost, efficiency
being of more Importance than econo-
my. The aim is to make the census
of 1910 the most efficient ever taken
by Uncle Sam.
What It All Means
Does the Importance of the census
justify the expenditure of the vast
sum of $4,000 000?" was the frank ques-
tion l asked Director Durand.
Yes" he replied, for the census
is much more than gathering the names
of millions of people. The census
bureau is, in effect, a huge laboratory
of statistics, and pictures our nation s
strength as well as our weakness. 1t
portrays accurately the conditions and
af he oil niat
American statecraft must concern it
self. It's like the doctor feeling the
national pulse, to find out what ails
the patient, then our national law doc
tors may write the best prescription"
The facts gathered are almost uni
versal, as applied to American"
Precisely. The inquiry leads from
the homes of riches to the negro hovel
on a one-mule cotton farm; from
state prisons to churches; from hospi-
tails to workshops and mines-in short,
wherever the strength or weakness of
human nature is revealed. Our ex-
perts, with amazing skill, make a
statistical biograph of our times and
the inherent tendencies. good or bad"
Two contrasted Pictures
The first census numbered the inhabi-
tants of the original thirteen states. On
the whole it was vastly more difficult
to take the first census than it will
be the forthcoming enumeration of
1910. Conditions were much more diff
ficult. All work west of the Alleghanys
was practically abandoned. despite the
fact that there was an important in
terest in the northwest, but Detroit was
not reported neither was Vincennes.
It was the day of small things. Phlla-
delphia was the capital and Washing
ton, d. c., was still a paper plant
without a name, but popularity called
the Federal CITY" Only one wall of
the White House had been built, and
the site for the national capital build
ing had been scarcely surveyed.
Uncle Sans first census shows that
he was very green at the business. To-
day the records of that enumeration
would be thrown at once in the junk
pile as wholly impossible, but they
were the best that the times afforded
crude, weak and childish as a piece
of scientific work. In short. the first
census is a statistical curiosity whose
real value is purely sentimental.
Hid In Religious Terror
The enumerators were not even pro-
vided with blanks and they used
such odds and ends as they CHANGED
to have, or could beg or borrow. such
as butchers brown paper, bits of parch-
ment, the back of wall paper or slips
pasted in long ribbons.
One of the greatest difficulties was
a religious superstitution. Many of
the preachers were violently opposed to
the census, because in Bible times a
curse fell over the land when the chill
dren of Israel were numbered. The
first census shows a population of
5000, 900 whites and 100000 slaves, or.
every fifth person in America was a
slave.
Many of the family names, then COM
mon, would now be held ridiculous.
Here are some of the family names
culled from the old rolls:
Veal, Lamb, Pork, Iceman. Plough
man, Sickman, Tidyman, Uglyman,
Kicker, Cusser Laughter, Care, Pride,
Thirst. Drinker, Dancer, Short, Short
er, Sallow, Barefoot, Jolly, Kind, I'm
derhand Measley, Rowdy, Tongue,
Shoulder, Wrist, Hands, Bowels,
Glands, Whispers, Murmurs, Yells,
Grunts, Outlet Silkrags, Cowhorn,
Gait, Nails, Awl, also these and
others:
Joseph Came, Peter Wentup, Joe Sat,
Thomas SINNERS, John SmOthers,
Sarah Shippers, Ruth Shaves, William
Sorrows, Joseph Rodeback. Christy
Forgot, Agreen Crabtree, River Jor-
dan, Booze Still, Mercy Peppers, Web
Ashbean and Susan crystick.