Los Angeles herald., 1909-11-04

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lA A census-taking in the United
LG III States is that twelve times
in M 81 we have made inquiry INTO
IW y III our state as a nation, at
tkazREt9al total outlay of more than
So, 100000 The thirteenth
census will bring the total expenditure
to upward of $70,000000. Starting out
in 1890 with but four questions about
a single subject of inquiry-population
the work expanded in a hundred
years to such Il remarkable extent that
in 1890 there were thirty-one separate
subjects of inquiry, carrying 13,l6l
questions. The most remarkable eX-
pansion of the work of census taking
took place at the tenth census In 1880.
At the preceding census there had been
but twelve subjects of inquiry, em-
bracing only loo details or questions.
In 1880 the number of subjects of in
qulrv las increased from twelve TO
tw' Aty-six and the number of ques-
tions from 1856 to 1900. The lesson OF
the top-heaviness of the tenth and
eleventh censuses did not fail to inn
press itself on congress, and that body
limited the scope of the Investigations
of the twelfth census to four subjects
population, agriculture. manufactures
and vital misunderstanding all other
inquiries to special Investigations.
The thirteenth census will follow the
lines of the twelfth in the limitation
of the scope of inquiry except that
vital statistics will be omitted and
mines and quarries substituted.
About half of the United States is
now included in what is known as
registration area" where births and
deaths and the cause of death are
registered by local authorities The
permanent census now prepares an an
nual report on mortality statistics, so
that the occasion for vital statistics
inquiries by the thirteenth census has
been removed.
1t is Indeed far cry from the sew
enteen marshals and two hundred as
sistants, with their quill pens and
saddlebags, who took and prepared the
returns of the first census in 1890, to
the director and his force of 10000 as.
sistants, with their electrical tabulat-
ing machinery, who Will take the
forthcoming census OF 1910. Likewise,
il is long journey from the $4,000
that was spent in taking the first cen /.
sus to the s14000.000 that will be spent
In the taxing of the thirteenth.
The first census was taken wholly as
means of determining the number OF
people in each state, so that represen-
tation In congress might be fixed ac-
cording to the constitution. 1t was in
tended also to determine the appor-
tionment of direct taxes, the imposi-
ton of which the constitution makes
dependent upon population. The act
providing for the first census does not
mention the fact that 1t was to be a
census. 1t may be said that there Is
not the slightest evidence that the
fathers of the nation ever thought IL
would amount to more than count
ing of noses. The other matters of in
quiry have all come as ineidentals or
the main constitutional inquiry as to
population--a sort of by-product OF
these ten-year counts of population.
The trainers of the constitution put
a wise check upon the early census
authorities. They understood full wei
that there would be a constant ten
dency to exaggerate population, by
every state, in the hope of increasing
its representation in congress. To
overcome this was one of the purposes
of making the direct taxes distribu-
table In the same way as representa-
tion in congress. The state which was
tempted TO exaggerate its population
In order to get Increased representa-
ton in congress would find itself in
danger of having larger dHect taxes
than was its share. BY playing the
desire for a smaller showing of popu-
lation against the desire for the higher
showing, they were able to secure a
true report In late censuses the direct
tax provision has lost its terrors, but
such a careful watch is kept upon the
work OF the enumerators that although
there are many interests which would
exaggerate population, the chances for
doing so are growing fewer with each
recurring decennial.
There was disappointment over the
showing OF the first census. Many
thought Ii made the population too
small, on the ground that 1t was sup
posed to be for purposes of taxation.
Thomas jefferson unhesItatingly ex-
pressed his belief that II was errone-
Gus, and as secretary of state notified
the representatives of the United States
abroad that the returns were far short
of the truth, and he was careful to
supply many omissions In red Ink. Sub
seuuent events indicate that the first
census was, as a matter of fact, very
accurate one, and that the trouble was
In the previously made overestimates
of colonial population.
The second census differed from the
first in that 1t had an official head
the secretary of state When the legls-
lation authorizing the census was pend
ing congress was memoriallZed 10 eX-
tend it's inquiries to many subjects, put
the petitions were buried in senate
pigeonhole. The third census was the
first to include any sort Of inquiry out