Omaha daily bee., 1909-11-02

First Of q series Of fivs artiOlss undsr
the general titis "Ths Thirteenth oenSus,T
which win present an Interesting account
OF the preparations being made for the
great utooR-tafing inventory OF
the United states. The four articles to
follow will bsi
u-oathering the Data.
Uu~-Tabulating the Returns.
rv-soms Probable Results.
v-History Of CenEus-TaHnE.
Preparation is being made for the taking
Of the thirteenth census. the thirteenth
decennial stock-taking OF the United states
Of America. During next year the federal
will ask the people OF the coun-
try some billions OF questions, IN the az
gregate. and upon the answers to these
questions will be based the new measure
ments Of the growth OF the nation. TIL
questions and answers will relate not alone
to population. but also to wealth, health,
well-being and almost everything else that
enters into the life OF the busiest people
on earth.
Every man must answer the census TAX
er's questions. some will be asked only a
dozen or two. some must answer 100 or
more. This great statistical photograph
Of the American nation will cost the gov
eminent not less than t14,OO0.OO0. It will
require an army Of 5000 inquisitors. The
greater part Of the questioning will be
done between April Is and May 10, 1910.
After all the data is gathered will come
the work OF tabulating the returns, OF in
terpreting the data and OF publishing the
results. The completed work will repre-
sent the balance-sheet OF a decades doings
"a ,a,rl,. on OOO On b,sy neonie
The taking of the thirteenth census will
represent the most stupendous summing
up Of things ever undertaken by man. At
the present time the twelfth census repre-
sents the greatest statistical inquiry ever
made, but the thirteenth will excel the
twelfth as that one exceled everything
that has gone before. In the number OF
people to be counted It will be found. in all
probability, that there has. been an in
crease of nearly 20 per cent-14.OOO 600 more
people 20 be Intercepted than there were
last time. And Uncle Sam will have many
more billions Of dollars in wealth to count
this time. II he grows richer only half as
rapidly between 1904 and 1910, as he did
between 1900 and 1904, he will have over
$50, OO0O O0, 900 OF wealth to count above
what he had in the twelfth census. And so
It will be in every line of inquiry. This
means added work in the preparation for
the enumeration. added work in the actual
gathering Of the data and in the interpreta.
ton of it.
Although the most extensive and thor
ough statistical inquiry ever made, the
thirteenth census will be captained and
generated by the youngest set OF men who
ever have taken a federal census. Director
Durand is not vet SO years old. and his
lieutenants are for the most part but little
older than he. Secretary Nagel described
him recently in the somewhat slRngy but
highly expressive phrase, "a corking good
fellow He proved his mettle when he
gathered the statistics in the Standard oil
prosecution, and thai work resulted In his
being called to the present larger task.
There is another thing peculiar about the
initial work OF the thirteenth census. There
are more A. MS. Ph. D.'s and other col
lege men lined up to help make It a success
than ever before. They can prepare and
interpret census data as well as odd Fig
gers Grosvenor could make an election
forecast in his palmlest days.
The formative work Of the thirteenth
census, so far as preparing the question
lists is concerned, is now about completed.
There are many different schedules Of
questions that will be asked. The one
which will be used oftenest is the popula-
ton schedule, which contains thirty-three
questions, The next most important sched-
ule has to do with the farm. There are
some seven million farms in the United
States, and each farm schedule will have
on II from fifty to sixty questions. After
the farm schedule come those covering the
manufacturing industries, and on the gem
eral and special schedules will appear
many hundred interrogatories,
In the making Of the schedules OF ques-
lions there are many things to consider.
1t is by no means a simple matter of
writing down every question that happens
to suggest Itself TO the schedule-makers.
Upon the number and the character of the
questions asked depends the entire value
OF the census; and In the preparation OF
the question lists there r. more science
than In all the remainder Of the work to-
gether, There are two principles that must
govern those who frame q schedule. The
fewer and the simpler the questions asked
the greater the accuracy In gathering the
data; yet ON the other hand the more ques-
lions asked the more susceptible Of cor
rect Interpretation will be the data, So
the schedule-framer must find the happy