The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1910-04-24
KEEPING OUT CENSUS ERRORS
THIS COUNT To ma THE MOST
ACCURATE YET MADE.
Unusual Number % Checks 81 the Ennsners
atoFs- PnSsI~al strain SeVere- Many
women HAIRED Out-JBcls sans
Commands IN REGARD 60 Courtesy.

IA q city Ike New AOrk tt's = good deal
a question Of physical endurance. 20
much 10 that hundreds Of applicants for
ths Job VI cenzus enumerators. some OF
them professional men on their uppers.
had To bs turned down ~ not physically
able to perform tho work. some OF the
brightest Of these rejected applicants
were women.
Taxing the census az a form OF exercise
might bs compared 10 a pretty strenu-
ous football game. To be sure you aren' Z
expected to get the punches or he Knocked
down. though such things have happ-ned;
but YOU come near to using nearly every
muscle in your body and using them con-
tinnously, save in your sleep,nR hours.
for two weeks. Pedest1aniam doesn't
count for everything In ia. for added TO
ability TO leg il you must be able to climb
stairs. and that's where the rub comes.
There are about q hundred women
CENSUS enu" rrators out Of the I.5OO now
employed ing the count IN Manhat-
tan and ~ onx. II you've Teen lucky
enough {. ... been asked you age and
whether yJa happened to he married or
divorced by a woman enumerntor IN
seead Of by a man perhaps you have
noticed that she looked pretty husky.
The hundred women who got past the
supervisors eye weren't subjected TO
a rigid physical examination exactly. hut
they had TO satisfy him that they were
equal 10 the feat OF scaling go flights
az stairs q day. II wouldn't do at all.
you know. for Uncle Sam TO be told by
one Of his women helpers in the middle
OF the second or third day % the count
that there were really too many stairs
90 climb and that she would have TO lie
down.
Down az the head Office Of the local
oensus forces at MS broadway there were
a good many pathetic scenes two months
ago when they were picking the men and
women that are now going up and down
stairs counting noses A good many OF
those who passed the mental test had TO
BE- told afterward that they didn't have
quite the requisite amount OF Drawn and
muscle for the job. and with the two hun
dred or more women this came hard. On
the mental test the women led their male
competitors.
All kinds % folks turned up looking for
these census jobs. There were a few
lawyers. men % education and refinement
against whom luck had turned. and who
hoped in this way 10 make $40 in the two
weeks work. some found the physical
test harder than the mental. and two
lawyers fell by the waysido.
The mental test for the applicants con-
sisted in giving them a narrative m which
were the answers TO all the quest IONS on
their blank forms. Their intelligence was
shown Ia the way they found these an
swers and wrote them do~p- All the
papers were forwarded tAaa =. P-shing-
ton along with the recommendations 81
the supervisor and on tkss@ rcCommenda-
tions they were appointed.
That the JOB TO some looked easier than
Il was might be indicated 10y the fact that
there were a good many resignations just
before the count started on April IS
They came after the preliminary canvass
which the successful candidates had been
obliged to make to get the lay of the land
and an idea ~ how many stairs they had
90 climb: but there were more than
enough waiting 10 al their places They
viii get 2iS cents a name in most cases.
the aim being 90 AFFORD every enumeratnr
n chance TO earn between ESQ and go in.
the two weeks.
While the census il one ~ Uncle Sans
biggest Jobs and task that he only under
takes every ten years. IL wouldn't BE-
half ~ big an undertaking II every one
employed could be trusted Unfortunately
Uncle sam Is confronted with the neces-
atty Of keeping tAbs on his enumeratCrs,
and this involves a good deal 81 extra
machinery.
Try a. hard as the census folks have
IN the wears they have been at u, they
haven't been able 20 do away with the
padding Of names. though they are con
tinually on the alert for IT, For instance.
N YOU were census man or woman,
wouldn't II he a hit 81 a temptation 20
you instead Of walking up the seventh
Night of stairs TO stick in the names 81
John Jones and a lot 81 little Jone-as
and let u 20 al that. or better still. after
You had finished the day and got a hun
dred names to invent half a dozen or
20 mythical New Workers and get two
and half cents apiece for them It's
been done. but not ~ much a. you might
think.
To prevent Just this sort ~ thing has
taxed the ingenuity q the census officials
almost since the first census was taken
Every ten years they have been invent
ing additional safeguaTCls. bat despite
ali this there have been complaints 81
padding Generally they have cone
from Con gress districts where the polit-
icAl leaders have found that as a result
- the census mans count and the re
Sulting reappoTtionment the district has
got Ia he changed
This time IL ~ believed that Uncle
sam will get by far ths most accurate
count ever taken 81 the inhabitants 81
HIS dominiOns. One reason for this u
thar more men are beng employed TO
check up the enumeration
Heretofore a supervising agent has
generally had charge 81 a territory equal
IN size 20 a Congress district This time
the number has been increased and the
territory made much smaller Then
again instead % the supervising agent
being the only man 10 watch the enlner-
atoTs. this year there IL an additional
force Il inspectors. working under the
supervising agent. There are sixty-fouF
inspectors In Manhattan and The Bron
whose duty 1t IL To check up the /. 200
apumeraiors.
When the special agents were appointai
last January the first thing they did was
tn cut up the city into enumeration dis
tricts. Special maps Of each district
had 70 be made, showing the blocks and
large buildings. Then Il was up To each
special agent 70 familiaTi2e himself with
these districts by making almost a house
TO house canvass In this way each agent
With the assistance Of his inspectors took
What practically amounted 70 a tentative