The silver state. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1909-1925, 1910-10-01
new CENSUS MAY
CAUSE CHANGES

WASHINGTON. Oct. There in
practically only one thing which You
can gamble ON about the census; that
IS, that the totals of population viii
have to be presented to congress bv
the time it meets in December. The
aspportlonment of representatives may
be changed materially on account Of
the changes in population, not to sav
the increases, and it will be up to con-
gress to decide whether the plan OF
apportionment shall remain as it now
is, which would result in some states
looslng one or more members of con-
gress, or whether there shall be n re.
apportionment on different basis.
This may look like simple mathemati-
cal proposition, but it is really q COM
pick problem ana is one which the best
politicians in congress will worry
their heads over.
Ambitious Cities.
1t is nothing new that hustiin9,
growing, ambitious cities should wish
to appear before the world as possess
ing larger population than they are
entitled to. A city which is growing
rapidly must have some element in Il
which makes it a desirable place to
invest in and to live in. It offers q
good neld for the man with money who
wants to grow up with live commu-
nifty and profit by the increased value
OF property. There is nothing to won
der at therefore, if most Of the am.
bilious cities have been trying to in
duce the census enumerators, aside
from the fact that often they live In
these cities themselves and are filed
with justifable pride, and are moth.
ing loath to get all the names they can,
for their compensation was based on
the number of names they could get.
The result, natural and to be expect
ed, of such a condition, has been that
some cities have shown an abnormal
growth. At least the director Of the
census has looked on it that way. He
has had his suspicious aroused con-
cerning the accuracy of these returns.
He has argued that some enumerators
have been too ambitious, and have re-
corded persons where none lived. Also,
he has heard of instances where local
citizens s bodies have taken a hand
in boosting population returns and
have put down as residents Of their
town persons who had stopped over
night at the hotels, or even were mere
lly passing through the city.
The cities which hanker after
metropolis classifcations are not
confined to any particular section Of
the country. They are found in the
lsouth-like Birmingham, Atlanta and
Mobile; in the central states, like Bay
City, Des Moines, East st. Louis, Kan
sas City, Detroit and Omaha; in tho
east, like Bridgeport, Newark, Jersey
City, Allentown, Bayonne, Hartford,
Waterbury,, Woonsocket, Yonkers and
lSchenectady-just think of Schenec-
} tady jumping 1909 per cent, from 81,
6s2 in 1900 to 1886 in 1910. That
would put to shame the efforts Of the
average "boom city, in any other
part of the country. Wonder if Mr.
Durand let Schenectady get past him
without a thorough investigation as
to "where she got itf" And we
must not forget the far west, where
Los Angeles, Oakland, Portland, Sc
attic, Spokane and Tacoma have made
magical growth. Sacramento, not .
boom city in any sense, gained SEQ
per cent, reaching a total population
of 1896. That was the first California
city to be given out-and after that
the census bureau rubbed its eyes and
studied the west s claims. No padded
returns are going to get past the
bureau if the director knows it.
Padding the Returns.
How would you go about it if you
wished to find out whether the returns
made to the office by the enumerators
were corrects Could you tell by look
ing over the figuresf Probably not,
and yet that is the way most Of the
errors, and perhaps frauds, are discov-
cred. For instance, 100 men NAV be
recorded from a workinpmen's hotel
on the 5th of the month, and on the
18th 100 more may be recorded from
the same house, and on the 14th, 100
more. proper scrutiny Of the re-
turns would check that up. Again, an
enumerator who enjoys a game Of
pinochle in back room may decide
that to make up for wasted time he
will add 100 or 200 names without the
trouble of hunting up owners for them.
The first thing he would be likely to
do would be to fill out every blank
properly. That would be suspicious
circumstance in itself, for it would
never happen that 10, or 90, or 70, or
even two persons in succession would
be able to fill out completely all of the
blanks ON a census sup.
In some eases the director of tho
census has believed that the frauds
were SO glaring that it was necessary to
order a new enumeration. In other
cases it was thought sufficient to make
a number of inquiries, and that took
time. too. In every case, the returns
are being scanned with the greatest
care, for it is desired to have as few
errors in the totals as possible.
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