The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1910-05-13
THE CENSUS.
docs the Census Have Anything to
DO With Taxation; II so, what?"

In the United States a census is
taken every ten years. In other civ
ilized countries various periods in
tervene. 1t may be interesting to
note that the United States was
the first modern nation to order /
count taken of the people. Great /
Britain followed eleven years later. /
The term census had its origin in .
Rome and the function of our pres /
ent curteous enumerator was per-
formed by high officer called CEN
sor. The Roman census was deem /
ed valuable in the adjustment of
claims aud suits at law. This would
seem to be a logical use. The OBJ
ject of knowing how many people
there were was almost lost sight of.
The Roman census was complete and
full, containing information about
persons, property and domestic rela-
tions. In the Middle Ages the CEN
sus was used to denote social rank
and for purposes of taxation And
to-day the inquiry is often put to
the enumerator, Does this deal with
taxation?"
Modern Europe was slow to
adopt census taking and to-day esti-
mates of the population of nearly
half of Europe are merely guesses
and the amounts are grossly exag-
! gerated as are all guesses about
! population. There seems to be a
universal desire to excel in numbers
which prompts people to estimate
| their local towns too highly The
| population of China to-day is count
/ ed that way. Some local authority
| places his estimate and sends it in.
! Thus one can see why the total pop
ulation of China is exaggerated by
! about one-third. When our first CEN
sus was taken in 1890 the returns
so far fell short of expectations that
great disappointment was felt and
dissatisfaction at methods of emu
meration was loudly expressed.
| Thos. Jefferson, then Secretary of
State, issued tables of results noting
that the tables fell short of expect
ed results and ne even went so far
as to supply the ommissions which
he supposed to exist. The results of
tiated the accuracy of the first CEN
sus and proved that the disappoint-
ment of the time was the result of
over strained anticipations accom-
panied by lively local desire every
where to excel in numbers.
The peculiarities of the new Con-
stitution made census taking a polit-
ical necessity. 1t says: "Represen-
tatives and direct taxes shall be ap-
portioned among the several states
which may be included within this
Union according to their respective
numbers, the actual
enumeration shall be made within
three years after the first meeting
of the Congress of the United States
and within every subsequent term
of ten years in such manner as they
shall by law direct"
So while the main purpose of the
census was to ascertain the number
of people in order to determine the
number of representatives, it was
also ordered for the purpose of a
direct tax. So the general fear of
the skeptical public that the census
may have something to do with tax
alton is not so unfounded after all.
But the danger of its use is slight
as will be shown. A general analy-
sis of taxation will show this. At
present the taxes paid by the people
are for township, county and state
purposes. The national government
is supported by the tariff, internal
revenue such as the stamp tax on
tobacco and Intoxicating liquors, and
by the sale of public lands; but in
case money is needed Congress has
power to lay direct tax on each
person or owner of particular
thing. But no direct tax has been
levied since civil war days. So we are
in little danger from a direct tax by
the national government. Then a
direct tax must of necessity be an
unjust tax. An example will show
this In the early part of the last
century the United States placed a
direct tax on carriages. Now the
Constitution says that direct taxes
must be apportioned among the
states according to their population.
Now suppose Virginia had 100, 900
; people and 10000 carriages and
p suppose Maine had $4,000 people
and 10 carriages in those days
Now direct tax falls on the owner
of the specific property taxed. One
state would be selected as a stand
ard and the others must measure
up according to population. Sup
pose again Virginia were selected
The government, placing a 81 tax
on carriages in Virginia, would de-
rive therefrom $4,000 from the 10,-
900 carriages owners. That would
be a direct tax and would perhaps
; seem not unreasonable; but accord
ing TO the constitution direct taxes
must be laid upon the states accord
. ing TO population. Now Maine hav.
ing half as many people as Virginia
would be expected to contribute hall