The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1910-03-14


wrote that "the people of the United
States can well afford to pay for the
very best census they can get" He
penned this In connection with frank
confession of his own shortsightedness
In Understanding the cost of the
tenth census.
It's the old story--when you are III
get the best doctor you can afford.
The comparative chenpness with
which the thirteenth census will be
taken will be largely due to Director
Il. Dana Durand's economical meth
ods, to the Introduction of semiauto-
matte electrical card punching. tabu.
lating and sorting machines and to the
Inheritance of wisdom from the OK
perience gained by the permanent cen.
sus bureau.
Modern Methods For Accuracy.
Mr. Durand is responsible for many
of the new methods TO increase stats
tlcal accuracy at every step of the
census taking and to decrease the per
capita cost of the enumeration. The
card punching, tabulating and sorting
machinery Is the inventions of census
/ mechanical expert. and the patent
rights belong to Uncle Sam. The ma.
chimes are novel in plan and design.
are of greater speed and efficiency
than those they superseded and can
be built and operated at large saw
ing of money as compared with pre-
vious expenditures for this purpose.
Other money saving features are the
elimination of the vital statistics in
quiry from the work of the decennial
census. as 1t belongs to the permanent
branch of the United States census;
the reduction in the number Of sched-
ules, the piece price method of paying
for machine work. the omission of the
hand. household and neighborhood in
dustries from the manufactures branch
of the census and the reduction of the
size and number of copies of the final
reports.
The larger part of the $13.000.000
will be expended in the fiscal year
which began July last and ends
June 80. 1910. the first Of the three
years within which time the thirteenth
census must be over, the temporary
clerks and special agents discharged
and the permanent census bureau
with its Office force of 700 clerks again
performing It's annual intercensal func-
tions. Fully half of the total to be
nvnended will be Washlngton's share
and the remainder will be distributed
all over the country.
Congress has limited the thirteenth
census to four general subjects-pop-
ulation, agriculture. manufactures and
mines and quarries The director is
authorized to determine the form and
subdivision N inquiries. The inquiry
as to population relates to April Is.
1910; that as to agriculture concerns
the farm operations during 1000 and
calls for an inventory of farm equip
ment April 10. 1910; that relative to
manufactures and mines and quarries
is for 1909 al
An Army to Get the Facts.
The enumerators will carry only the
population and agriculture schedules
April 10. 1910. Special agents will be
sent out with the schedules for the'
manufactures mines and quarries
data. There viii be fully 8500o emu
| merators. of whom about $4,000 will
carry both the population and agrl-
| culture schedules, as II is estimated
that there are now fully 7,000O00 sep
arate farms in America. with farmers
numbering well up into n score of mil
lions. In 1900 there were many more
billions of dollars of fixed capital in
vested In agriculture than there were
In manufactures. strange as 1t may
seem, And the farmer is getting bet
ter Off all the time; his mortgage In.
debtedness Is decreasing fast. his tax.
alton is small as compared with the
urbanite's burden. and he has taken
TO automobile riding on large scale.
This is the heyday Of the farmer,
and old DR., U. S, Census is going to
diagnose him pretty carefully for fear
that with ease comes evil-that Is.
the neglect Of those essentials which
have made his prosperity possible.
Census taking every ten years Is a
tremendous task. 1t is the greatest
| SihS'V ppSihlluh uhutTtuhch ny bucIt
Sam with the exception of the Pana-
ma canal work and the assembling Of
an army In time of war. The Ameri-
can census Is the largest. costllest and
most accurate Of any taken by the civ
illzed nations. Its methods are the
most modern and Its equipment the
most complete. The census bureau
force comprises, first. Director Il. Dana
Durand of Michigan. who, although
only thlrty-eight years old. is older than
most Of the generals commanding the
forces in the civil war and who is. too,
a statlsticalIy Scared hero, veteran
In government service and likely to
prove the most practical and efficient
director connected with any of the past
censuses. Then there Is the assistant
director. William II. Willoughby of
Washington, former secretary of state
OF Porto Rico, Next In rank are the
hve chief statlsticlnhs = william O.
Hunt. In charge Of the population dlvi-
sion: lie Grand Powers. heading the
agricultural division; William NJ. Steu-
art. overseeing the manufactures dlvl-
sion: DR.. Cressy l.. Wilbur. the vital
statistics work, and DR.. Joseph Adna